Our '02 Libby ltd keeps soldiering on (and on a single income, that's a good thing!). I bought a set of Bridgestone Dueler 689's for it 2 years ago and truly they define the phrase 'Buyers' remorse'. Hands down the WORST example of 'name brand' tires on the planet - Noisy, no grip (slide down my mildly angled concrete suburban driveway all "winter" long) and honestly have not weathered that well (garage kept all winter long) - their only saving grace is a stiff sidewall.
I've decided to bite the bullet and pick up a set of Cooper AT3's, they've reviewed well everywhere and I've had Coop's in the past with good results. I'll be running the 225/75/16 to pickup a little speedometer correction (off by about 3-4 MPH - 29.3" vs. 235/70/16 @ 29.0")
What I regret more than buying the Bridgestones is letting go the set of steel Libby wheels I had picked up along the way. I had plans to refinish my existing Aluminum rims (the standard 16x7") and sub in the steel wheels as an interim solution. I never got around to it and stupidly sold the steelies.
My buddy at work has dumped the better part of $4K into his '13 Wrangler (Lucky B'stard!), new rubber, rims and lift. He kindly offered the 5 stock steel wheels from his JK to me FREE - Nada, bubkes
. For the most part we know they won't fit (directly). If you don't know
is your friend. The JK has a 5 x 5 bolt pattern, the KJ runs 5 x 4.5. Both run 5.5" backspacing and 71mm hub.I've seen one pic on the net of a KJ sporting JK 18" Aluminum wheels, made possible by wheel adapters. I'm not sure that's a direct comparison as the 18" wheel may have a different backspacing.
As I write this post, I realize more and more I don't want to use a wheel spacer to make these rims fit. At $200 for four quality adapters, It's not an inexpensive option, there's the constant maintenance to deal with and the strain on the hub bearings too. I'd bet money It'd all fit though, as there have been reports of 255's mounted to stock rigs with success.
What I'd like to do, is bolt on a set of 15" Cragar Soft 8's for $375 (rims, caps and new hardware) and jump down to a 235 75 15 (more affordable as well), problem is - the Soft 8 is only available 15x7 with 4" backspacing - right back to the original problem!
Or dilemma if you will.
