What advantages are there of wider wheels? Such as using 10" wheels with a 12.50" tire over 8" wide wheels? Isn't there a higher chance of losing a bead at low pressure with a wider wheel? Are wider wheels just nicer on-road or something?

It gives you a bigger foot print and allows for more of a bluge in the side wall kind of protects the rim.  

It gives you a bigger foot print and allows for more of a bluge in the side wall kind of protects the rim.  

Wrong. The thinner the rim, the more it is protected, because the less it sicks out. I thought that was quite obvious to anyone.

Ideally, you want to run as thin of a rim as you can, while still maintaining a proper footprint for your tire. The thinner the rim, the more youcan air-down without losing your bead... wide rims are for extremely wide tires (ie: 16" wide boggers), or show-trucks.

If you want a wide footprint, air down... I run 31x11.50 tires on 16x5.5 rims. With this width, I can air down to completely 0PSI and never lose a bead unless my front tires are turned full-lock and budged against something and I gas it hard (the spool in the rear likes to push like that).

Now, If I were running tires that were a 14" wide or somethng, I might step up to an 8" wide wheel, but there's a reason why in the competitive world you will rarely, no, I'll say never, see anyone who's winning running a wheel wider than 8" who isn't running beadlocks. (and is actually winning anything)

Hell, there was a guy running 44's in top-truck a year or two ago running 15x7 rims, and he never had a problem with "not having enough footprint" - then again, I wouldn't ever advocate running anything larger than a 40 on a 15" rim anyways, just because you'd need a larger wheel to handle the larger brakes you'd need to stop those tires, and the sidewall flux on a 44-on-15 is ridiculous.

I went with the 15x10 with my 12.5" tires because I wanted a wider stance and it had the BS available to allow the clearance I needed to fit the tires on my Kick.

I have also heard that keeping the rim within the width the factory reccomendes for the tire makes them easier to ballance and handle alot better on road.

Zig

So then there should be no problem running a 10.50 tire on a 5.5-6" wheel? What about running a 35x14.50 on a 8" wheel?

Strictly offroad with no 'legal' on road driving.

if the "footprint" is not on the ground properly cause your rim is too small, your rubber will not flex the way it was designed to, it will definately affect it's life expectancy/reliability.  My friend with the 35x14.5 ran the tires on a 8 inch ford rim.   the tire was really rounded, had a small contact area most of the time till the mud got deep.   most manufacturers give you a basic idea of rim width for a specific tire, it's there for a reason

i've never own'd bias plys' looking at LTB's
heard bad things about flat spots

with a newer gen tracker or even older
how quickly do they develop?
Will I notice the flat spots if I drive with decent PSI' and the truck never sits for more than 12 hours at a time?

Flatspots are just a problem for the girly-men... I ran my LTB's at 20psi on my Tracker and never had a big problem with flatspots, but then again, the ride was less than smooth

if the "footprint" is not on the ground properly cause your rim is too small, your rubber will not flex the way it was designed to, it will definately affect it's life expectancy/reliability.  My friend with the 35x14.5 ran the tires on a 8 inch ford rim.   the tire was really rounded, had a small contact area most of the time till the mud got deep.   most manufacturers give you a basic idea of rim width for a specific tire, it's there for a reason

Hrm... if I go with the 14.5's I'll get some 10" wheels, I guess... Kind've makes me want to go with the 10.50's, though, since I'm a tightwad

LTBs will devolop flat spots in 45 min
sitting with 3 PSI in them on 8" wheels

Flat spots are a temporary thing, they
round out just fine after driving for 10-
or so miles, I run 15 PSI on the street,
flat spots are small and almost no ploblem
at all

I also run a 33 13.5 LTB on an 8" 2.5" back
space wheel, no problems with beads poping
or wierd wear patterns, center wear is from
too much pressure, remember just because
the tire says 50 PSI on the side wall, does not
mean you have to run 50 PSI. Also stock skinny
205 tires were supposed to have 23 PSI factory
recomended, bigger tires need less pressure, I
run the LTBs at 15 PSI street, 5 PSI if I plan on
hitting a trail close to home

Wild

So then there should be no problem running a 10.50 tire on a 5.5-6" wheel? What about running a 35x14.50 on a 8" wheel?

Strictly offroad with no 'legal' on road driving.

I wouldn't run it any other way for either width =/

if the "footprint" is not on the ground properly cause your rim is too small, your rubber will not flex the way it was designed to, it will definately affect it's life expectancy/reliability.  My friend with the 35x14.5 ran the tires on a 8 inch ford rim.   the tire was really rounded, had a small contact area most of the time till the mud got deep.   most manufacturers give you a basic idea of rim width for a specific tire, it's there for a reason

Then either your friend was running tires that were an extremely thick sidewall/ply (which, by rating should not have ever been on his rig per its weight), or was running the wrong pressure in them.

Alright, I'll throw another wheel/tire size for speculation: What about a 36x12.50 TSL on a 15x8 wheel? The height of the tire should make up for the width of the wheel, correct? And it should be able to keep a bead pretty well when aired down to 5-10 psi, right?

thats a perfect width I ran 37x13.50 on a 8" rim and never had any problems.

Alright, I'll throw another wheel/tire size for speculation: What about a 36x12.50 TSL on a 15x8 wheel? The height of the tire should make up for the width of the wheel, correct? And it should be able to keep a bead pretty well when aired down to 5-10 psi, right?

Yep,the only time you need a 10" or wider wheel is when you're a) running beadlocks, b) running 14" or wider tires.

we run our
15/35R15 TSL's on 10's- never a problem
36/12.50R15 TSL's on 8's- never a problem
34/9.50R15 TSL's on 8's- bead problems at 11 PSI!
but thats just us

stu