17's on my feets, oh yeah!
When shopping for new wheels, I started out by oohing and aahing at all the shiny things that were on the covers of my Jeep porn mags [cough]
Quadratec Catalog[cough]. '
Man, those 20's are hot!' I thought to myself. And yeah, they look good now but with absolutely no offset they are gonna end up beaten to hell after the first time I take them out on trail. And so my criteria began to shape itself. I knew I wanted something with an offset and I also knew that down the road I was planning on lifting my JKUR and running a larger tire. Larger tires can get crazy heavy, so looking for a light weight but sturdy wheel was important too. Ok, since we are talking about keeping the weight down so that my Jeep doesn't get bogged down at highway speeds (I gave up 6th gear in my last Jeep thank you!) it might be wise to take a minute to check the tire weights (& prices) depending on the sizes.
Let's say I wanted to run a 35" tire on a 20" wheel later on when I got a lift. Using a Goodyear MT/R tire as my example that means my tire weight goes up to 71lbs and my wheel weight goes up to 42 freakin pounds! (an increase of approx 40lbs/wheel??) However, if I stick to a 17" wheel, my tire weight only jumps to 64lbs for the same over all diameter. Not to mention a 35" tire on a 17" wheel is over $100 cheaper/tire! With a spreadsheet on hand tracking weights, sizes, & costs I further narrowed my search down to a 17" wheel. Which conveniently meant that I could get it NOW since I have tires mounted on a 17" wheel set up. Woot! The kind folks at 877-iamJeep informed me (incorrectly actually!) that the OEM Rubi wheels weigh in at 27lbs each. So, I'm hunting a 17" wheel with an offset, in an 8.5" width that weighs less than 27 lbs., and has either a flat black or argent finish. The finalists are...
AEV Pintler Wheel in Argent. It's a little on the heavy side (27lbs), especially if you add bead locks. I do really like the recessed valve stem protection and they look fantastic!
ProComp 8188 Wheel in black. It's the featherweight of the bunch at 24lbs/wheel, I like the black design and the offset but I can see those shiny metal accents on the lip getting chewed off by the first rock the think about meeting. Will it work with my OEM TPMS sensors?
Dick Cepek DC Torque Alloy Wheel in Black. Not the lightest of the group, but pretty close. I like the depth and the design and they are designed to work effortlessly with the OEM TPMS sensors & the price won't break the bank.
If you've glanced at my avatar once, you already know that the winner is the Dick Cepek DC Torque Alloy Wheel in Black! I think these wheels look amazing on the billet silver, almost like they were designed to be there in the first place. I'm disappointed that the folks at 877-iamJeep folks incorrectly told me the OEM wheel weight as I was looking forward to shaving off a few pounds of rotational weight, but so it goes. OEM Rubicon Wheel is 24.7 lbs./wheel, the DC Torque weighs in at 25.1 lbs./wheel. So, it's really a wash for weight differences of that size. Over all, I'm very happy with the look. Not too blingy, I think it'll survive the trails nicely, and they'll look great wrapped in a set of 35's (37's?) one day.