Wheels and Tires 15 -17?

So I posted this on the Wrangler Forums as well. Would love your input folks. I noticed about 75% of the Jeeps at the BBQ had 15" wheels...

So, I have a MOAB JKU and I really disliked the tires and wheels that came with it. I ended up selling those and going to a 17x9" wheel and buying some Cooper 33" tires.

I like the look of the combo but I have a 2.5" lift going in soon and will most likely be going up to 35"s soon after. For the same tire in 35x12.5/15 and 35x12.5/17 there is at least a $100 difference, per tire!

I know if I ever want to go to a 37" tire I am pretty much SOL with the 15" wheels but to be honest, this is my DD and I do not see going that big any time in the next few years.

So should I just stick it out and replace the 33"s with 35"s x 17" or bump down to the 15" wheels and call it a day?

-bill

I'm pretty confident you can't run 15" tires without a little bit of modification first. To the best of my knowledge the smallest factory size that was introduced with the JKs was 16", meaning your JK is designed to accept nothing smaller than that. My buddy's '09 Liberty is the exact same way. Those of us with older platforms had ours come from the factory accepting 15" wheels.

Backspacing and such shouldn't be an issue, but what will be is brake components. The backing plates will (most likely) rub your wheels, and you may have an issue with rotors as well, depending on how beefy Jeep designed them on the JKs or any upgrades you may have made. My father's '04 Explorer has the same bolt pattern as my YJ, but came factory with 16x7 wheels. When we tried swapping my old aftermarket 15x7 wheels on there they rubbed the backing plates, even with a smaller backspacing than his stock wheels. When we put my 16x8 Moabs on the Explorer though there were no issues at all. Just some food for thought.

The 17s are probably the best bet for your jeep. They have a higher load range rating and stronger side wall than the 15s. You have alot of jeep there plus you already have the rims, and the satin finish looks fine .
They may be 100 more per tire but you are getting more tire.
I do not know if the 15 in rim will fit on because of the brake rotor and caliper size.
I would stay with the 17s.
I have 16 in rims on my tj and I am going to upgrade to larger brakes in the future.