I know we have the tire discussion every other day, but I am talking rims.  Wild, Bent, Zig, Drone, go easy on me on this one and type slow.  I am the new kid remember.  I run 235-75R 15's now. The tires are mounted on 15X8 rims.  The "tire experts say I should be running a narrower rim for that size of tire.  I have not dropped the current combo down to 8 or 10 lbs to see if I keep a bead or not, so before I do and find myself way up some Forest Service trail/road, is that combo going to be OK?  Is it more a matter of the quality of tire I run or the size?  If I do not have a turbo'd fire breather and want to stick with the small 235's what off road rim should I hunt down, or do the current rims work?

when i was running 235's i was using some aftermarket jeep cj rims- 7" wide. i could air down fine and never popped a bead(i've never had it happen).
i tried 8" wide with 31's, but switched back to 7" to reduce rub.
8" for 235/75 r15 sounds wide to me, but i never tried it.

I like a narrower rim than the tire calls for, I run an 8" wide rim with
the 33-13.5 Swampers and they call for a 10" rim, I did run stock
rims with 235 75 tires and lowered them to 5 PSI without any problems
but that's a 5.5 wide rim.

For a wide rim you might see if you could get a wider tire, but a lower
sidewall, like a 65 or 55 series so you retain the same overall tire diameter
but fit the rim better

235 75 tires are about 28 to 28.5 tall, you can use a tire calculator to figure
the aprox tire height for the metric series tires

rascott- how does changing the rim width change the tire width or height that caused your rub difference.  I am still working on the fender cut out plan we discussed a few days ago?

Wild- stock rims are 5.5 right?  If I am thinking correctly, then I need to be looking for a rim from 5.5 to 7 wide for this tire?  I am not sure how a wider tire would work in my region.  It seems the guys with wider tires don't do as well when things get wet and sloppy due to the high clay content in the soil.  The guys that run with pizza cutter tires are able to get thru the surface and down to something solid that they can use.

I guess it depends on how deep the clay is, I don't like mudding, too much
cleanup, but there are two thoughts on the tire selection and why you would
want that tire.

First is the one you said, skinny and get through the muck to
the ground that is solid, first problem I see with that is chewing through the
surface to get to the hard ground, and the power/time that takes as well as
the momentum you loose, like being in a mud bog situation. I take the sand
rail approach, wider is better, float over the soft mud and kick tons of the stuff
to propel you over it, and being we have fairly light trucks, that is easier than
you think, although you aren't going to get there with 235 series tires, no way.

Mud and  especially clay is sticky and slippery, there isn't an A/T mud/snow rated
tire out there that will do anything in mud, in my opinion the bare minimum tread
pattern is an M/T tire, BFG MTs or any really open tread patterns, I look at a BFG MT
as an All Terrain tire, they work well enough but still pack with the sticky mud.

I haven't seen many tires that shed the sticky mud like the Swampers do, I love them
and they work well for what I do, the mud racers use the Boggers to propel them
through the mud, and look at the sizes, wide profiles to float and aggressive to throw
the mud and not pack up.

Your problem is going to be, getting a big tire stuffed under your truck without major
mods and lift, and the power to turn the big meats, you get the tire and the power
and you will  be amazed at the stuff your truck will blast through.

Food for thought

Wild

re: rim width and rub.
i had a set of 8" rims with 31x10.5x15 tires that i tried out. they rubbed more than the 7" rims w/same size tires.
perhaps there was a difference in off-set that made this happen, but i didn't investigate further-

Good wheel & tire tech site at: http://www.rsracing.com/tech-wheel.html, particularly the offset/backspacing chart and diagram.
 
235/75R15 usually call for a 6-7" rim and near zero offset (not backspacing) wheel.
Most tire manufacturers post the recommended rim widths for their tires.
BFG TA/KO chart at: http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/tire-selector/name/all-terrain-t-a-ko-tires
Measuring rim width for their 235/75R15 TA/KO is 6.5".

"Section width varies approximately 0.2" (5mm) for every 0.5" change in rim width" [from measuring rim width].

I can tell you that the bias ply swampers do not like to be run on too narrow of a wheel.  I tried running some 31x11.50 TSLs on some stock 5.5" wide wheels and at low pressures the tire beads would push right off rim beads.  I guess the sidewall is too stiff and doesn't allow it to "roll" quite like the thinner sidewalled tires.  I put them on 8" wide wheels and they stayed on the wheel beads fine.

Yes, Bias Swamper tires have monster sidewalls, the word is to pull
the valve cores and drive them flat until the sidewalls get hot, and
this will improve the flex at lower pressures on light vehicles

My Swamper sidewall says that each tire has a weight capacity of 2600
Lbs, and the whole truck only weighs 2500    I got plenty of tire for
my trucklet

Wild

Wild; what you are saying does make since when I consider the tread surface vs. weight on my quad.  The link Merlin sent was helpful and indicated that the BFG MT |removethispart|@ 30" would work on the 8" rims I have.  That is only an inch taller and wider than what I have on now.  Mine is a dd/grocery getter so it has to have some manors on the pavement.  I too do not like mudding, but with deer and elk seasons being in Oct and Nov I don't really have much of a choice but to mud her up.  Rascott told me he has 3 and a scosh inches of lift, I have 2.5, he runs 31" tires, so I should be able to squeeze 30's I think.  Worse case scenario is I have to put a small BL on.  My only fear with a BL is how it will affect the support that is part of my lift that runs across the top of the engine compartment that stabilizes and ties the two strut towers together.  Would you guys agree that the BFG MT's are a good compromise between full on swampers and a street tire?  I don't mind spending a few bucks on tires for this rig because it is so light they will last forever.

Sky- how much lift are you running? fender trimming on your rig?

Sky- how much lift are you running? fender trimming on your rig?

I only ran those 31s for a short time.  Then I went to 33s.
Mine is a samurai, so not really relevant to your app.  But FYI, I probably have 1.5-2" of lift over stock, and the fenderwells are cut.

Medford...
With a body lift the structural part of the strut tower stays put and the body lifts up from it. You will have no ill effects on your struts by doing this... I have always ran wider than recommended rims and have not had an issue with it (even aired down) Your best bet would be to air down well below what you run on the trails when hunting.. say 4-6 in the rear and 6-8 psi in the front, and do a little parking lot or vacant lot crawling around... put it through the paces and make sure she stays on the bead good. If it does you should be fine at 8-10 when hunting.. Plus you always have a spare  . I have always liked wider rims (appearance reasons) and have had many tire shops say my rims were to wide for the tire and some refuse to mount them... but I found someone else to take care of it for me...

Zig

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Thanks for typing slow.  My rims are 15x8, but the bfg site says that is too wide for the 235's, so I will just have to run 30x9.5's which is on 8/10ths taller and 1/4 wider.  I know what you mean about the strut towers, but my pro comp lift has a brace that runs over the top of the engine and I will need to trim on the top of the strut tower opening and figure out how to flex or move the air intake between the stock filter box and the engine.  Zig, what is the tire rim combo you run?  Here are some pics.

Thanks for typing slow.  My rims are 15x8, but the bfg site says that is too wide for the 235's, so I will just have to run 30x9.5's which is on 8/10ths taller and 1/4 wider.  I know what you mean about the strut towers, but my pro comp lift has a brace that runs over the top of the engine and I will need to trim on the top of the strut tower opening and figure out how to flex or move the air intake between the stock filter box and the engine.  Zig, what is the tire rim combo you run?  Here are some pics.

Where did you get your pro-comp lift kit?

I forgot you were running the ProComp lift... Currently I am running 37x12.50x17 on a 17x8 rim. On my old kick I was running 33x12.20x15's on a 15x10 rim and prior to that I ran 29x10.50x15 on a 15x8 rim...

If you had to BL it, you could always cut back the inner fender to clear the strut brace,,,

Zig