Will aftermarket wheels widen the wheelbase of a truck?

I hear people talking about tires rubbing when putting bigger tires on stock wheels.

Probably a dumb question.

CJW1500

wheelbase is the distance from the center of the front axle(wheel) to the center of the rear. what you're refering to is what i call the vehicles stance. a negative offset rim will give the vehicle a wider stance. there's probably a technical term but i can't think of one. it's the distance between the front tires or the rear. if you post more info on the specific application, i'm sure someone could answer your question better. the general answer is yes, but aftermarket wheels come in many different widths and offsets(backspacing). even the same size as your stock rims.  

I have a GMC 1500 with 265/75R16.  If I did get new wheels they will be the cheap Chrome Mod's.  I will probably be getting Mickey Thompson MTX in 33/12.50R15, or Nitto Terra Grapplers in the same size. 

If anybody has any comments on either of these tires, they will be welcome. 

CJW1500

Why change rims to 15"? If your already running 16s, I'd stay witk them.  You can run a 285/75r16 without any trouble.  Valleycat is right, a negative offset rim will make your stance wider but don't go to far or you will end up looking like some lowrider on wire wheels. Not to mention that they will add stess to your ball joints and steering linkages.

Kinda off the subject but why chrome mods when for less money you can get black rockcrawler wheels in just about any size you want.

i agree, black rock crawlers. as far as tires, mickey t's seem to be too expensive for what you get, i don't know about the nitto's, they're not really proven yet. most guys on these boards say the bfg m/t's work well offroad and live longer on the street than others. i've ran the bfg a/t and loved them. they just didn't cut it in the mud.

How many miles are possible from bfg m/t's.  Are their any a/t's that any of you can say are worth looking at?  How about Yokohama tires?

Also, is it possible to run 285's on 16x7" rims, as said above?

CJW1500

If you're looking to increase the track width of your truck then wheels are a good place to start. But more importantly is the tire.

All wheels built for RWD applications are negative offset wheels, the difference is in the amount of offset, or backspacing, that the wheel has.

Generally, when the lug pattern of a wheel is drilled for your vehicle it will fit your vehicle. If your stock wheel is a 16x7, generally a 16x8 and a 16x10 will stick out of the wheel well more. On most newer vehicles a 16x10, though wide, still looks great. Because the backside setting of the wheel is changed as it is made wider, a 16x10 doesn't make the wheel stick out 3 inches more than the stock wheel. Some of the added width goes into the wheel well.

What we find is that changing the stock wheel to a 15x8 or 16x8 gives enough added width to increase tire width.

If you're looking to go 35x1250 or something like that you'll absolutely need a 10" wide wheel, otherwise the 8" wheel is fine.

Usually a stock truck tire is a 245/75R16 or 255/70R16. Changing these, on a 4WD truck, to a 285/75R16 makes a drastic difference in the width of the contact patch on the road as well as the overall height of the tire.

For wheels I would choose an off-road specific wheel if you're into heavy off-road use, otherwise use a Center Line or something like that if you can. Center Line wheels are very strong and very light weight.

For tires it's always better to use a good all-terrain, the Terra Grappler is a good tire. Mud-terrain tires tend to be way too noisy and uncomfortable for street use. Check out Goodyear's Wrangler MT/R. It's like a mud tire but classified as a "maximum traction" tire instead. It's great. Jeep uses it stock on the new Wrangler Rubicon.

Hope this info helps.  

it's hard too predict how long a tire will live. it really depends on how well you take care of them(keeping the rotated,balanced,correct pressure) and how much off road abuse they get.  for an a/t, i've only ran the bfg's and that was before the ko series. i had good luck with them and know others that have as well.  any other input i can give is just he said-she said BS that i've read on the boards and magazines. the other guys in this thread seem to be tire guys so they can probably help you more than i. they know what customers are buying and how long it takes before they come back for new rubber.

"track width" can't believe i couldn't think of that term before.

Why change to 15's from 16's boggerbilly asked? compare tire prices and it will become apparent. look at the difference in price between a 285/75/16 and a 32x11.5x15. If you are planning on keeping the truck for the life time of 2 sets of tires, go 15's and the money you save on tires will pay for some cool 15 wheels, while the stock 16's get sold to the 16 year old kid down the road who just bought a rust bucket for a couple hundred bucks.