Newbie tire question

I have a '13 JK Sahara with 18" wheels. Stock tire is P225 70R18 112S M+S.
What I want to know is how much of a larger tire I can run on this wheel?
What is a good tire for general trail use, I live in a mostly desert area so mud can be a problem.
Can the wheels be powder coated black or is it cheaper to purchase new wheels.

No lift as I am disabled from combat and have a hard time getting in and out some times. I plan on new fender flares and spacers.
I am looking for a bit more ground clearance and mid trail use and some off road, not wanting to do the crawler thing but get out to go camping where no one is going to be.
Budget is a strong consideration.

Without a lift probably 285 maybe 305 but thanks for you're service!

A lot of people here like the Nitto Trail Grapplers myself included. You may want to even look at the Terra Grapplers since you mentioned light trail use. A buddy mine runs them on his 2WD truck and they ride extremely well and are more than adequate for the offroad he can do in 2wd. With no lift, 33" tires would fit nicely on your rig, maybe throw on some 1.5 wheel spacers too. For the wheels, a common thing is to spray them black with a few coats of plasti-dip.

While I'm thinking about trying the Trail Grapplers. I loved my KM2's

Beyrgut said:

A lot of people here like the Nitto Trail Grapplers myself included. You may want to even look at the Terra Grapplers since you mentioned light trail use. A buddy mine runs them on his 2WD truck and they ride extremely well and are more than adequate for the offroad he can do in 2wd. With no lift, 33" tires would fit nicely on your rig, maybe throw on some 1.5 wheel spacers too. For the wheels, a common thing is to spray them black with a few coats of plasti-dip.

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I have the Terra Grapplers on my Ram 2500 4x4 and take it everywhere and do not worry about it getting stuck. Living in Florida there are a lot of swampy areas which I just truck through not even worrying about getting stuck. I have abour 45,000 miles on them and still have a lot of tread left.

R/
Will

So Im looking at the Nitto Trail Grapplers but the finder on the Nitto website does not show them to fit my Jeep. I see many have them on their Jeeps and I dont understand. I am very green at this, the army taught me to destroy not repair so I am not much of a mechanic. I just need it broken down Barny style so I understand how the tires fit the rig I want to build.

Thanks
Raven

Did you check the optional/plus size link on their locator? Below is a link to one of the results, but I know you can run 35x12.5 on stock wheels, just need wheel spacers. I would just give Discount a call and let them know what you are looking for and they should be able to get you the right tire size.

Nitto TG 285x65x18

I'd go 305 or 315. You will wear the centers on stock wheels faster. If you go 315 you will need to either trim the fenders or go with the flat fenders. I went the Bushwacker flat fenders and do not currently have a lift. 07 JKU

I would go 315 I have then on mine with no lift, I did cut my fenders though and added spacers to the stock wheels.

Sent from my XT1030 using WAYALIFE mobile app

so the websites that tell you yes or no to their tires fitting your jeep don't usually consider the facts that jeeps are usually modified. A stock jk can fit 33's but the problem that comes up is most 33's are 12.5" wide. Well that is too wide to fit on the jk. but with mods like new wheels with less backspacing or wheel spacers that push the rim away from the body you now can fit that 33" tire. Most people would look at you like you had 3 heads if you said you wanted to put a 37" tire on your vehicle. But with the right amount of lift and enough backspacing in your wheels that suddenly becomes possible.

So the point of what I am saying is you can pretty much do ANYTHING you want to your Jeep with the right amount of know how and resources.


Now onto what matters. I would recommend going with a 305x60x18 Nitto Terra Grappler because even with the stock fenders it will fit pretty well and it will give you the best of both worlds in on and offroad usage. The size that I mentioned is a 32" tall tire with a 12" wide footprint and that width will give you pretty good traction and the height will keep you from getting too tall. Many on this site run Nitto and for good reason. They are very well built tires that wear well hook up nicely and are just reliable and thats something that I want out of my tire. You can also run the Nitto Trail Grappler which is one of the most popular mud terrains on the market these day and I can tell you from driving them on the road and wheeling them that they are GREAT if you don't mind the loss in gas mileage and the price tag that comes with them. They are also not sold in as many sizes for the 18 inch rim like the Terra Grappler is.
One last thing about tires though. If you are going to run a with a tire that is wider than 255mm or 10.5" on the stock rims that is when you will need the wheels or wheel spacers. If you decide to get wheels and tires at the same time I would highly recommend going to 17 inch wheels instead of sticking with 18's because 17's are the most popular size in the jk market and there is also a very large selection of tires out there that fit 17 inch rims.

Best of luck to you and hope this build works out for you.

WOW Thanks. I understand a bit better now. I may consider getting the 17" wheel, spacers and a 33" tire, then on to bumpers. I'll need a lot of help there too.
Thanks
Raven

Yeah sorry that was a mouthfull lol

This is something that I realized. The longer you spend researching the better your chances of making a the right choice

Yeah when I went to my 35s I opted to not get them in for the stock 18s and bought new wheels instead. If you go the route of buying 17in wheels just be sure they have 4.5 of backspacing and you won't need to get wheel spacers. The money I saved on tires by going to 17s instead of 18s went a long way towards get new wheels with the correct offset. Figure you save $50 a tire x5 (roughly) plus another $200 for 2 sets of wheel spacers that Discount will not install for you.

Also, if you go through Discount I highly reccomend the tire certificates, the cost of them for 5 tires is less than replacing one if you have to, cheap insurance.

Beyrgut said:

Yeah when I went to my 35s I opted to not get them in for the stock 18s and bought new wheels instead. If you go the route of buying 17in wheels just be sure they have 4.5 of backspacing and you won't need to get wheel spacers. The money I saved on tires by going to 17s instead of 18s went a long way towards get new wheels with the correct offset. Figure you save $50 a tire x5 (roughly) plus another $200 for 2 sets of wheel spacers that Discount will not install for you.

Also, if you go through Discount I highly reccomend the tire certificates, the cost of them for 5 tires is less than replacing one if you have to, cheap insurance.

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Just imagine if you went to 15's

Army_Vet said:

Just imagine if you went to 15's

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If i went 15s and 35s my jeep would look like it was wearing clown shoes :bleh:.

Beyrgut said:

If i went 15s and 35s my jeep would look like it was wearing clown shoes :bleh:.

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Well Clown it up!:wings:

Oh yeah something i forgot. When it comes to wheeling there are 2 things I recommend getting first, even before tires and a lift. One is a cb so that you can communicwte with everyone else. The second is for non rubicon owners. A set of quick release sway bar links. They allow you to disconnect your front seay bar and let the front adle articulate more and that really will make a big difference in your comfort and abilities.