What 18's and tires are people running
 

Well it's time for new tires for my boat and been debating swapping to 18's.
I've got 5x4.5 bolt spacing and have 8" of clearence between the hub and springs, brakes, etc.
Was wondering if anyone knew of any vehicles wheels would work or where everyone is getting there wheels. Also what tires would I have to run seeing as the weight of my vlx is much more then the normal fwd car that the size tires would normally go on.
I know there are lots of pro's cons to this but I don't want that speach. Just looking for help as to maybe find a used set of custom wheels and get the correct tires for my boat.

I found these 18s off a chrysler 300 for $300 at a junkyard (included tires). They fit perfectly but I had to remove my inner fenders. (I've got an older trailer that was made for pretty narrow wheels.)

http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/u...518_182220.jpg

I'm sure a bunch of people will be posting up photos of their $2000 wheel/tire combos but this is for the thrifty guys out there.

You have to look at how much total fender room you have from the hub face (where the wheel mounts to) to the outer fender, and the same measurement to the inner frame/leafs/whatever. Most trailers are setup to have a 0mm offset, so if the wheel was 18x8 you would need a 4.5" backspace. Most FWD passenger rims are a positive offset, so something like a +30 or +40 would sit in the fender too far and hit your inner frame. So basically wheels made for older Jeeps, older mustangs, classic cars, etc, those will work.

Tires you just have to be concerned about the weight rating. You would be surprised at the weight rating of most passenger tires. Take your boat with a full tank of gas and your regular amount of gear to a weigh station and see what you are at. If it's 5000, add about 1000 to be safe and find tires with a 1500lb weight rating. Shouldnt be too hard. For size, just figure out what diameter you are at now and find the equivalent in 18"... probably like a 225/45R18 or something.

I know I'll be swapping fenders but it's all bolt on aluminum so should be an easy job. Who knows maybe I'll build some since it's just diamond plate.
I'll check into some c300's.
I like the look of those, and the c300 is often modded so maybe I can find a used set easily.
I have 8" of clearence to the leafs or anything they might hit. So for peace of mine I need something with no more then -7" backspace.

Where would I find a decent weigh station?

Most truck stops have scales available.

I'm running 225/60/18 tires for what it's worth....

How much room do you have to the front of the fenders? I wouldn't see why you would need to swap fenders unless you were planning on doing that anyways?

300C/Charger/Challanger/etc stock wheels would be about a 5.25-5.75" BS, so you should be good. The bolt pattern on them is 5x115 and your trailer is 5x114.3, but it's honestly such a close bolt pattern that they can be swapped back and forth.

Most highways have truck weight stations somewhere that they have to stop for.. if its not busy just go through and usually its not a big deal.. or go when they are closed and typically the scales are always on.

Post the current trailer tire size and I'll tell you what the equivalent 18" size would be

Well, I took the wheel off and noticed I missed seeing a bracket before.
I've only got 5.25" of clearance.
So time to really start doing my research and measuring.
I have 1" on the sides and 2" of height.
205/75/14's so a diameter of 26.1"
a 225/60/18 is 28.6" so gaining 2"
now to start looking.

Run a 225/40r18 then, 26.0" overall. fairly common size also so will be lots of selection

If you run a 5" backspace wheel then that's about a +12mm on a18x8, so you would need about 3.5" of clearance to the front fender. If you go with a lower offset, you just need more front clearance.

Well lucked into a insane good deal on a set of 20's. I'll need to get a set of spaces for them to clear. Waiting to hear back from a few vendors to figure out who has the best one for my application and hub sizes etc..
I'll need to move the fenders out and up a little
Moving them out will allow me to lower the bunks down making up for the taller tires.

my boatmate trailer came with 18" Gear Alloy 723MB Nitro wheels and Nitto NT 555 extreme tires with load rating 103W (which is their extra load rated tires - 1929lbs).

My tires are good to 2095lb/ea (kumho exsta 275/45/20).
Just gotta make sure the spacers/adapters are rated for the same weight.

Good find on those wheels! Looking pretty sick!!