Hey everybody,
Virgin poster here.
I just got a price quote from a local tire guy who also does liftkits.
I told him what I wanted as far as look.
He quoted me for:
6in fabtech lift
17 x 8 typ3 wheels (MKW)
Cooper DSC ATR LT315/70r17

I have some concern tho and instead of going to him and looking silly i decided to do it over the internet and look silly.

when i go to coopers site they recommend a rim width of 8.5-10.0
when I look at MKWs site they recommend 265/70R17 with the rim size on my price quote here in front of me.

I can see that the diameter of the wheel and tire match, 17. But, i guess my question is, is the "8" in the 17 x 8 rim size the width of the rim? And will that be ok considering Coopers recommendation of 8.5-10?

I trust his recommendation considering the fact that there were 6 nice looking lifted trucks there that the mechanics own. And the 2 race cars at the shop AND the amount of business the place does. That said, I still want to be educated a bit and not be blind to what they are doing.

Also, I sort of have a brand loyalty to BFgoodrich A/Ts since I had them before on every truck i owned, 3. I noticed at BFGs site they also recommend an 8.5-10 inch rim width for both the 315/70r17 and the 35x12.5. would they work on the rim I'm getting?
heres the wheel I picked

Anybody have experience with MKW? How do they hold up to weather? i live near the ocean and everything rusts quickly here.

thx for reading all that.

edit: omy didn't mention my truck. Its a 2005 f150 screw FX4

 

well you should be using a 8.5'' rim what will happen is the tread will stick out further than the rim width. we would see that at least once a week at the tire shop i worked at. people put over wide tires on to small of rims and just made them fit. i will see if i can dig up a diagram of what i mean.

 

this is what i came up with

 

kind of a bad image but you get the idea. the bottom part is the tire the upper is the rim

 

thx ford390gashog,
This is information I'm happy to know.
I'm thinking he is trying to match the tire as best he could to the rim that's available from his supplier maybe? Because the 8.5width MKW has has a diameter of 18 and neither Cooper nor BFG A/Ts have an 18 diameter. all 16 and 17.
Should I push for a different rim manufacturer then? One that has a 17 x 8.5 available?
Is keeping his setup dangerous in any way?

 

or find another tire. they must make a tire in that size.

 

by no means do i know any thing about tires but i noticed you did'nt include what your quote was, so i'm wondering why you are trying to force the 315's if you think you should have 265's get them. again i'm not sure but i dont think the 315's are much taller than the 265's that 2nd number 70 being the hight, what about maybe a 285? if this helps my cousin has 31's on factory 04 xlt rims. he has'nt had any problems been on here a good year now maybe longer. by the way i think your rim choose is sharp i think it'll look good sorta still has the fx4 look to them.

 

hi exiled,
I simply told him the 'look' I wanted. I mentioned 35" tires to him when he asked what I was looking for. After that he said to get a 6in lift and the tires he recommended. The 315/70r17 is very close, within millimeters, to the actual size of the BFG 35x12.5, which I know I like. (checking out tire size of trucks I see in parking lots) He also showed me a picture of an FX4, that he setup with the same stuff, that he finished a month ago. It looked really nice.
Thats how I got to where I am.

As far as getting 285s, my current, stock, tires are 275/65r18. Those are 30.5" diameter. The 315/70r17 he recommended is 34.85 inches tall and 1.18 inches wider than what I have now. which i think looks perfect with the 6in lift.

 

Heres Coopers sizes
http://www.coopertire.com/us/en/Prod...#sizesAndSpecs

and BFG
http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/asset...rain_ta_kd.pdf

only BFG has one model with 18" diameter268/65r18

Am I understanding this sizing thing correctly? Cause I get the feeling I'm not.
I'm using this to understand the sidewall info
http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/bfgap...or/vehicle.jsp and then clicking 'sidewall markings' on the right side.

 

Anybody familiar with sizing want to address my concerns?
I talked to my tire people and the guy I'm dealing with is out all week. When I told someone else what I was concerned about all they said was "if Mike says it will work, it will work" I asked if there was any danger of tires flying off my vehicle and he said they wouldn't have recommended them if that was possible. The obvious expected answer which doesn't help much.

 

my dad has those tires on his chevy... 285/75/16 they are pritty nice tire... id get them in a bigger size...

 

First of all I am no expert but over the last couple of months I have educated myself on tires because I want to upgrade my '04 scab tires & wheels (tires much more than wheel - Generals 255/70/17 what a joke) anyway here's what I know. Rim size: the new fords come with either 17 or 18's (diameter of wheel) and they have a 6-135 bolt pattern. This is newer bolt pattern and many wheel manufactures have limited wheels with this pattern.For the 17 in: Also they have 6in back spacing (to clear brakes/calipers) with a 44mm (+) offset (how much the wheel sticks out of the well). Any aftermarket rims should have similar numbers so they look good in the wells. Also the rim width on the stock 17's is 7.5in. This is important because all tires have a recommended rim width for their tires (the 255 are 6.5-8.5). As the tire gets bigger the rims must be wider (example 285/70/17 Cooper ATR is 7.5 - 9; a 315 of the same tire is 8.5-10) so the max size you would want to put on stock 17in rims is 285. By the way they fit with no rubbing that I have seen (no leveling/lift). Hope this helps and is not too late, I haven't been online lately. Just a note it took me endless searches to get the above info, this site is great but the info is spread over numerous threads.

 

Hey thanks, I dropped off my truck tonight. I pick it up thurday afternoon.
My guy mentioned the new bolt pattern and this is why he only had 3 rims for me to choose from.
My stock tires are 275/65r18.
I kinda gave up caring and just went with what he recommended. I've been doing house renovations for the past 5 months and am at the point of just wanting things to be DONE!. It carried over to my truck.
I saw a pick he had of a black 05 fx4 that looked really nice, exactly like I want. He said they were the same tires and the same 6" lift. I couldn't tell from the pic, I just know it looked good.
I'll post pics when it's done. Thursday night sometime.
hopefully it will all turn out well

 

half of an inch wont make a difference.. you will be fine with a 8inch wide rim. The only thing you might want to do is run your PSI in the tires a little lower than usual so there is an even patch on the ground or else the middle might wear out quicker (if u can kinda picture that). hope to see some pics of the truck soon. sounds like it will be bad-a$$

 

Hey Black2004FX4,
I like the black grill!

Mines done.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...29#post3118029

and pics in gallery
thanks for the tire tips