Wheels and tires and such

So it's almost the wet season down here in (soon not to be so) sunny South Florida, and my recent ventures with light rain have reminded me that having tread on your tires helps with traction in the rain. And while it may look really cool to spin your tires wildly on any wet road, it is highly unsafe, or so I'm told.

So I was looking around on tirerack and have taken a liking to some Yokohama tires. Specifically the http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPi...ar+H/T-S+G051&sidewall=Outlined+White+Letters and http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPi...Model=Geolandar+H/T-S+G052&sidewall=Blackwall The 052 is more of a sporty tire, and seems like it would move a lot more water than the 051. You can click the links to see the tread patterns, as I may be totally wrong and have no idea. Regardless, the 052 only comes in sizes of 17" and up, and since my wheels are 11 years old, I figured getting some slightly used rims might not be a bad idea if the price is right.

I've looked at all that stuff about offsets and backspacing and bolt patterns and understood some of it. I know(i think) that I need to find a wheel with a 5x4.5 bolt pattern, But I'm unsure about the offset and backspacing. As I understand it, I would backspace the wheel depending on the offset it has?

The kinda wheels I'm looking at are like these which apparently have a 42mm offset. If I got those then I would have to backspace them, or is that only if your go with something with a negative offset? If that's the case, what's the range of offset before they start to poke out way too far and look ugly? i'm guessing anywhere from 30mm to 45mm is OK?

I'm really lost right now, so any input would be great, on the wheels questions or just input on tires.

 

[jimbo74]

buying rims to fit your tires, thats a new one.....

offest and backspacing are the same thing, but in a different way if that makes sense... its like inches to metric kinda thing...... like offsets are in mm, and backspacing is in inches

 

[TTG]

Ahhh, OK. So the offset is measured from the center in mm and the backspacing is measured fromt he back in inches?

In all reality, I'm probably not gonna get the 052s and new wheels, was just a possibility.

 

[IAmTodd]

Those look like car wheels. I'd be afraid of putting too much weight on them.

 

[cherrybomb]

From my research, and the experience from the wheels I have installed. +25mm is "about right".

My wheel is an 18x9 with a +24mm offset. Which means, measured from the centerline of the wheel, the mounting surface for the wheel is offset to the "outside" 24mm from the center.

Wheels with 40+ mm is usually for front wheel drive, and you'll start to notice those sticking out. Plus, as someone else mentioned, they likely won't have the strength to handle the weight of your truck.