Street tire/wheel combo for '00 Mounty 5.0L

[Mesozoic]

I originally purchased my '00 Mounty used with the intention of using it exclusively for light offroad duty, camping trips, mountain biking adventures, etc. It seems however, that the wife has caught the SUV bug and wants to make longer pavement-only trips in it as well, instead of driving our car (an '07 Mazda 3s). For this reason, along with the fact that I've got a set of 17x9 Cobra R replica wheels on hand, I'm considering running 2 sets of tires. One for offroad use, which are some 30x9.5x15 all terrains on 15x8 wheels, and another set for highway/street duty on 17x9 wheels with the Cobra R 5.9" backspacing.

Does anyone know if a) 17x9 with the 5.9" BS fits the 2nd gen truck well and b) what is a good tire size and recommendation for street use? I currently only see about 13-14 mpg with reasonably aggressive all-terrains, no lift, mostly stock powertrain. I've got a 1" phenolic spacer, a CAI, and a high flow muffler, that is all. I've seen some folks run 275-60-17 tires, but not sure what's a good balance.

 

[MAS Tequila]

I'm running now 265/70/18 Cooper AT's on 2014 Miustang rims.

But I'm using a 2" spacer.

The only rubbing I had was the plastic extensions on the front, which trimmed up nicely with the angle grinder.

MT

 

[Mesozoic]

I'm thinking of running some 255/60/17s on 17x9s with 5.9" backspacing, which would put the wheel 2" closer to the inside of the wheelwell... might be a problem, not sure.

 

[CDW6212R]

Those 6" back spacing wheels will be too far inboard, that's around a 35mm offset wheel(9"/2=4.5" is 0 offset, and 1.4" more than that is +offset(offset is from the wheel center), 1.4 x 25.4mm is in the 35mm range offset).

I have 18x8.5" wheels with 35mm offset, plus 1/4" spacers(6.35mm). It make my 8.5" wheels about 29mm offset, and they are just clear of the upper BJ's.

You need a wheel back spacing of no more than about 5 to 5.25", more than that puts them very close to the BJ's. Tires that wide will rub the sway bar in front at full lock, but that's not a huge problem.

I just bought 275/55/17 tires for a used set of 17x9's I got last year. The wheels I found have just 16mm offsets, which is just over 5" BS, and they should clear fine on the inside.

I think you need a different wheel with less offset, moving the wheel/tire outboard a good 3/4" more. Then a 275/60 tire would be workable, after R&Ring the rear parking brake cable to relocate it inboard of the V8 strut bar. I've got to do that for my newest 98 truck.