[mainehunter]

Hey all. A little more advice if you can. After reading the cool article that Gwain posted about bringing you Grizzly up to 2016 and beyond, I have a couple more questions.
As I have said before, when I upgrade my tires, I have settled on 26 x 11 x 12, Kenda K587 HTR Bearclaws on all four corners, with new wheels too. I like the STI HD Beadlocks, but that's not a done deal. I want to gain some width as well, so I had been planning on adding 1" wheel spacers and overfenders. I have the 1.5 shims and purple spring ready to install if I think I need them once the wheel/tire combo is installed.

Question 1: Pros and cons of 4+3 offset wheels like they used in that article vs the standard offset with wheel spacers?

Question 2: Any advantage to using an 8" wide wheel instead of the standard 7" wide wheel with the 11" wide tire?

Thanks in advance...Mark

 

[Scoundrel]

Wheel spacers will add weight and put more stress on the hubs, studs, etc.
4+3 wheels will gain you a couple inches of width without the extra stress, but will cost more than wheel spacers.

The width of the wheel in proportion to the tire affects how much sidewall bulge you have and how well the bead seals.
Generally, 7" wheels are fine for up to about 12" tires. You want some sidewall bulge but you don't want it to look like a balloon.

See image below.

 

[mainehunter]

Wheel spacers will add weight and put more stress on the hubs, studs, etc.
4+3 wheels will gain you a couple inches of width without the extra stress, but will cost more than wheel spacers.

The width of the wheel in proportion to the tire affects how much sidewall bulge you have and how well the bead seals.
Generally, 7" wheels are fine for up to about 12" tires. You want some sidewall bulge but you don't want it to look like a balloon.

See image below.

Awesome, that's all I need to know. Thanks!!