We new the jeepfan.com 2018 JL Wrangler as part of our project needed new wheels to accommodate the 37″ tires since the factory 17×7.5″ wheels aren’t up to spec for a 37×12.50 tire. Almost all 12.50 width tires require an 8.5″ wheel to properly seat on the bead and provide even wear for the tires. It is a shame that Jeep doesn’t equip the Rubicon with an 8.5″ wheel. The new style factory wheel is very attractive, we are almost sad to remove them.
There are so many wheels out there and the choices are near endless. Now, we tend to stick to a cleaner look over busy/gaudy wheels so we were pleasantly surprised that we ended up on the Mopar Performance wheels (P/N 77072470AB). We found a pic on JLWranglerForums.com of a factory camo JL equipped with the wheels and we were sold.
What is very nice about these is that they are designed specifically for the JK and JL. The 17×8.5″ size is perfect for most tires but the backspacing is even better. At 5.25″ of backspacing tires will clear the suspension and sway bar while minimizing the tire sticking out of the flare. Factory JL/JK wheels are 6.25″ of backspacing the 1″ less of backspace is perfect and no spacers are needed.
The all black 5 spoke wheels will really look good on our JL with its Firecracker Red paint. We picked up a set of these from Quadratec and then the job was deciding on the tire to mount to these.
It’s was decided that we will mount up some Cooper STT Pro tires in 37×12.5×17 size to these beautiful wheels.
We packed up the wheels in the JL and headed to OK Auto in Stewartsville, NJ. They specialize in off road vehicles and have modern equipment that can mount and balance large tires. This equipment will also not damage expensive wheels during mounting.
Since the JL uses TPMS sensors in the valve stems we needed to have the stock tires removed from the factory wheels to move the sensors. It’s likely we will sell off the tires and wheels to recoup some of the money spent for the new stuff. TPMS sensors can run $50-$70 each.
The tires were already at OK Auto and once the Jeep was on the lift they began removing the original tires/wheels to get the new installation on the way.
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A tire/wheel was test fitted on the Jeep and with everything looking good the rest were mounted up. The silver lug nuts were retained for a little breakup to all the black.
In all these wheels are light in weight, simple in design, and attractive on the new JL. The 5.25″ of backspacing keeps the tires from sticking out to far without any rubbing.
Mopar 77072470AB Gladiator Wheel in Black
jeepfan.com 2018 JL Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon
jeepfan.com 2018 JL Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Project
