Looks scrawny on 30's...any suggestions?

Hello, everyone!

I just got my 1997 Wrangler Sahara (bone stock) back in April and am looking into some bigger tires / wheels. I've been thinking 33"s and matte black bullet hole wheels would be great but everywhere i look it's saying that 31"s are the largest tire size that will work with stock suspension due to rubbing. I'm not wanting to go big on lifting (larger tires / body lift / suspension lift) as this is my daily driver for a 45 minute commute one way 5 days a week and I already have to hike a leg to get up in it, but the way she's sitting now she just looks plain scrawny on 30"s.. Any suggestions?

 

when i got mine it had 31's with a 2" spacer lift. looked real good. i think it was rancho with some procomp mud terrains and was perfect as daily driver ( don't get the procomps because the rubber is softer than others and as a daily driver you will wear them down quicker; go with some BFG AT) . Remember that once you start going bigger you run into a world of things that also need modified and your daily driver becomes a gas guzzler and very expensive with upgrades. get some cheap grab handles to help get up in it. My buddy is running 33's and with a 4" lift. I don't see anyway you can run these size tires (33) without doing some sort of body lift or suspension lift. Also, when you run 33's there is a lot more rubber and weight you will be trying to spin on the road which will cause sluggish speed and more fuel usage. Go with the 31 and a 2" puck/spacer lift and you will be happy. i'm not keen on too much body lift. I have a 1' body lift with 4" suspension and its great for extra articulation but i have seen some jeeps that decided to go with 4" body lift instead of suspension and it looks ridiculous.
just my 2 cents.

 

I like Big's thoughts on body lift. Don't go more than 1in. More than that is not legal in many states and definitely not safe if wheeling. I really like metal cloak fenders. http://www.metalcloak.com/category-s/284.htm You can run 35s on a TJ with no lift using their highline fender kit. I bet if you are going to wheel it hard you should probably stick with 33s if you go that route. As far as the sluggishness and poor fuel mileage, you can fix a lot of that by re-gearing. Use this formula to choose your new gear size for optimum fuel mileage.

new tire diameter X Old Gear ratio(stock) / Old tire diameter (stock) = round up or down to closest gear ratio

example

35in X 3.55 / 30in = 4.14. . . closest gear ratio depending on manufacturer is 4.10/4.11 gears

This will put you back into the stock power band for best fuel economy.