How do you know what the backspacing is on a wheel?

[Kial]

I just bought a piar of 33 BFG mud's from my friend. They are 33x12.5/r15 or 16, how can I tell what backspacing they are? I know if I wanted to put them on my car then I would need a 3 3/4 backspacing right? How do I know what the wheels and rims I bought are?

thanks

Kial

zeke180@yahoo.com

 

[RangerX]

Kial,
I'm assuming you bought these 33s mounted on rims. Lay one tire face down. Take a ruler or anything with a straight edge and shorter than you rim diameter, and place it so it sits on the rim edge to edge. Then take another ruler or a tape measure, and vertically measure from the lug nut holes to the bottom of the ruler. This amount is your backspacing. You can run a range of backspacing, stock is 4.5", best for 33s is probably 3.75". I ran 33s with 4.5 stock rims for a couple years. It's not bad, just not optimum.

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Bill Collins
93 Ranger XLT 4X4
Modified

 

[Kial]

THanks RangerX for the reply

Would 3.75 be the best backspacing for 35's?
so the only way to tell is with a ruler huh?
thanks for the info and yes they are mounted together.

Kial

 

[Ray Lobato]

Hi Kial,
I hope you ment a set of 4, and not a pair of 2 tires. If so, then you need to buy another pair to match, because you will really mess up the ABS if you run different size tires. Dead Link Removed

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Happy Wheelin'
Ray L.
97 XLT 4X4 4.0L SOHC



[This message has been edited by Ray Lobato (edited 02-10-2000).]

 

[mattadams]

Kial - here is a good link that explains a lot about wheels and has a good diagram about it and everything. http://www.mickeythompsontires.com/wheels.html
Just scroll to the bottom of the page, unless you want to see what wheels Mickey Thompson has available.

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Matt Adams
94 Explorer 4-door nick-named "Tippy" http://bart.is-s.com/~explorers/explorer/explorer.html

[This message has been edited by mattadams (edited 02-11-2000).]

 

[Kial]

Hello Matt or anyone else on the board,

As you know I got a pair of 33x12.5/r15's from a buddy of mine, they are brand new and I got them at cost. He said it will be about two more days till he gets them in, but I have already paid for them. He said he had a pair of them in storage somewhere where I live and he would pick them up really soon for me. What if the offset is not 3.75? is there any way to change this or have a professional tire guy change the current offset of the tire to what I need?

This is a really important question in which I need answering, my buddy says he doesnt know what the offset is, kinda weird but I guess Ill just have to wait till I get the tires and I measure them. BUT I NEED TO KNOW OF THE CURRENT OFFSET OF A WHEEL CAN BE CHANGED. THANKS-X!!!! Dead Link Removed

-Kial-
zeke180@yahoo.com

 

[mattadams]

I think you may have tires and wheels confused. Tires have no offset, wheels do. And no, as far as I know because wheels are usually one piece, or two pieces welded together, there is no way of changing the offset.

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Matt Adams
94 Explorer 4-door nick-named "Tippy"
http://bart.is-s.com/~explorers/explorer/explorer.html

 

[rpenner54]

This place will take any steal wheel and make it the size you want it. http://www.stocktonwheel.com/ I have never done business with them but they advertise in the back of all the magazines and I have seen their wheels before. They were beadlocked but other then that they looked very impresive. It is possible to change steal wheels but in the end it probably is not worth it. Considering you can get a nice looking steal wheel for about $35 each and taking them to a place such as the one above would go way past that.



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Ryan Penner
1992 Explorer Sport