Wheel offset without causing issues | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Wheel offset without causing issues

Tonio1661

Member
Joined
July 13, 2019
Messages
23
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City, State
Indiana
Year, Model & Trim Level
2008 Explorer XLT V8 4WD
Hello Everyone,

I have reviewed a few other threads but cant seem to get a clear answer. I have a 08' Explorer XLT with stock 16 inch rims that has a 44mm offset. I am wanting to install a 16 or 17 inch rim that has 0mm or 12mm offset. What, if any, issues may occur with the install of such a dramatic change to the offset? I wanted to lower the offset to push the wheels out further from the fender for a more aggressive stance.

Thanks in advance!
 



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I understand your desire and agree it would probably look better, but I don’t recommend it.

I recall seeing pictures of a member on this forum putting the wheels from his second generation explorer on his fourth generation, and it looked quite good but these vehicles are already susceptible to frequent wheel bearing failures running stock wheels and tires.

Changing the offset of the wheel has a significant effect on the types of forces being applied at the wheel bearings.
 






Thanks for your response. Is there a universal range for how much you can safely lower/raise your wheel offset?

Would there be another method I can utilize to gain that look without putting strain on the wheel bearings?
 






I am sure someone on here would know better than me how much change would be considered an acceptable variation from stock.

Keep in mind that the appropriate offset for the vehicle will change in relation to a change of wheel width. The exact ideal millimeters of offset can be calculated, but it will be approximately proportionate to the change in width.

You should be able to put somewhat bigger tires on the stock wheels with out hurting the wheel bearings, again others on this for him would be able to guide you better in that regard of what will fit without rubbing
 






Extra weight of changing wheels and tires is harder on wheel bearings, than minor offset changes. Many tires that people change to, weigh 10+ pounds more than stock tires, and rarely is there a problem. If you keep the tires inside the wheel wells, the offset is likely not going to hurt anything. The front will be the hardest to fit bigger or wider tires, so do the math on the front carefully.

A change of offset from 44mm to 12mm, is moving the wheel outboard 32mm, which is just over 1.25". As mentioned, watch the width too. If the new wheel is 1" wider than OEM, and stock offset, then the rim will be 1/2" inboard more, and there is not always that much room to spare.

So with a wider wheel, the offset almost needs to be less, to keep the inner edge of the rim(and tire) far enough away from the BJ's etc.
 






Thank you for that detailed breakdown. I definitely think anything below 20mm offset with an increase to the rim width might be too much for what I want to deal with. Fun part is now finding the appropriate rim.
 






Have you tried posting on the modified forum? Might get more answers from people who've done it over there.
 






Thanks D Hook, I do have it cross posted after I realized this. So far only responses are from Stock Explorer owners.
 






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