backspacing wider stance?

[Destroyer000]

hey guys sorry for posting in the general... i figured it gets more "hits" than the wheel/tire forum


a guy i know wants to put a new set of tires/wheels on his s10.. i know this isn't an s10 forum but i figured i would be able to get some insight here.. hes got a 02 4x4.. he just got done putting a 2 inch body lift in it an wants to run 30/9.5/15 tires.. hes going for the wide stance look.. well if aim correct i think the stock backspacing is 4.5? he was looking at a 3.75 backspacing wheel.. well the lower the backspacing the "wider" the wheel tends to look right? think their will be any problems rubbing or any thing with a 30/9.5/15 tire on a 3.75 wheel??

Thanks for the help fellas..

 

[Sunk]

Yeah, you're correct. Less backspacing means the wheel will stick out farther. It might help to know the stock tire size to tell whether or not they will rub.

 

[Destroyer000]

sry about that stock size is 235/75/15 so if he goes with a 30 its not that much bigger about an inch or so

 

[Sunk]

Yeah, 30x9.5 isn't much bigger. With 2" more clearance, he'd probably be set.

 

[AllanD]

Yeah, it'll widen the stance.

It'll also completely SCREW the front end, GREATLY increase the stress
and strain on the front end components, particularly the cartridge type
wheel bearings, tie rod ends and lower ball joints.

Ahhh.. but who cares about that it'll "look good"...

But then again you should expect impared judgement from a CHEVY owner

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[86ford]

as soon as i read your post i knew it was a race to see who would tell you that its going to eat wheel bearings, steering components, ball joints, blah blah blah. long and the short, allen beat me to it.

86

 

[brendank]

I think there's some pretty common misconceptions out there on this subject that I'd like to try to address.

When I decided to run a 15x10 wheel with 4" backspacing, I was told that the D35 would eat bearings like crazy. I was skeptical and decided to try it anyways. I ended up running them for years with no problems and regular maintenance. Maybe I lucked out. Maybe I was misinformed.


You're friend is considering going from a rim that's 4.5" backspacing to 3.75" backspacing. That essentially means that the moment arm that's created is being extended by 3/4 of an inch.(That's not the only thing to be considered here, but it's close enough for our purposes) Yes, it's an increase in stress, but it's not something that he should be worried about. The above is also true for ball joints.

I don't have the measurements from his particular truck, but I'd estimate that the increase in stress is less than 10%. That's well within the working specs of the parts. To say that he's going to "eat" suspension components is hogwash.

I'd like someone to explain to me how there is any additional stress applied to the tie rod end due to the backspacing change(omitting the fact that a wider tire/rim will do this, which would be true whether the backspacing was changed or not.)

Moral of the story is that if he wants to change the backspacing to make the truck look better, do it. If that means you'll reduce the life of your wheel bearings and ball joints by 1 or 2 weeks, then so be it.

 

[94STXRanger]

ok so im gonna have a 5 in lift soon and want some 15x8s and dont want my tires sticking in an inch from my fender flares, and plan on eventually having like32s, what backspacing should i get?
sorry not really trying to jack this thread.

 

[Destroyer000]

ya thanks for the replys.. i just wanted to make sure i was right on what i knew about the backspacing an it looks like iam ... before i ordered my wheels last year i didnt have a hole lot of info about this under my belt.. i ended up getting some 15x8s with a 3.25 backspacing... well thats a Huge difference from the stock 4 inch.. i too was skeptical about running them cuz of how far they stuck out.... i ended up eating 2 wheel bearings an a passenger side rotor.. i was thinking this might have happened because of the extra stress on the bearings but i think its from all the water i was driving in an never repacked them.. ever since then ive checked them an every other component an so far so good..

again thanks for the help fellas... looks like this is what hes going to order