Would like to possibly run a 15x8 steel (Crager, Pro Comp, Black Rock) D-window wheels but would like to know prior experience does 4.25" backspacing suffice or more toward 4.75"? What's a happy median? Will have Bilstein 5100's front and rear on stock springs with hopefully 285/75-15 - Rubbing issues there?

Let me know my happy place? Appreciate the help!

 

Google is your friend! Or some other non-tracking-of-all-your-personal-info search engine. Tacoma World.

I just went through this a little over a year ago, but unfortunately with things like wheel backspacing, I go deep, then once I have what I need, the information is purged from my head to make room for more current, useful data. What I did learn is that experienced, reasonable wheel sellers will often not carry a single steel wheel for our trucks (you didn't say what year/model you're asking about). I learned that a certain year range, which my truck falls into, has a very narrow range of what will fit without rubbing. Plenty of alloy wheels fit this range, but very few steel wheels do.

Can't remember who I talked to, but I kept noticing steel wheels that had width/backspacing/offsets that, according to the internet research I had done, should fit my truck. But on websites, they would say "this does not fit your truck". So I called one place and that's what the guy told me. Essentially that my year truck was very hard to fit, and they had been burned multiple times by selling a steel wheel the manufacturer claimed fit, and it wouldn't fit, so the customer would return a wheel they had put on their truck and realized it rubbed, so now it was basically "used" but they had to refund the money. So they decided that across the board they'd just say any steel wheel on their site won't fit my year truck.

Which is why I decided to go with the stock steel spare tire wheel for my black wheels...And I'm glad I did, though it took a lot of searching and I paid more than a cheap steel wheel is worth...

 

I think they look great for daily use. How do they compare weight wise with the stock 16" alloy wheels?


Andreas

 

Oh, I have no idea. I guess I could weigh them but of course tire weights vary quite a bit too...

I'm sure they're heavier. I use my truck like a truck, but nothing hardcore. Definitely lots of rough mountain and desert roads, but nothing like The Maze or rock crawling. With all the stuff I do, the truck is built completely adequately as-is, so I don't worry about it. My truck still had the 15" wheels. Not sure how much difference that would make. I would guess most people still have this wheel as their spare, so if they have the same tire on the spare as the rest of their truck they could compare weight. I don't have my alloys anymore. Couldn't even give them away.

 

Sorry for a 2001 4Runner Limited and after some research it seems a 16" wheel is friendlier with caliper clearance than the 15" but still need to dial backspacing. Definitely hard finding threads in regards to backspacing/offset/steel wheels and 3rd Gen. caliper clearance.

 

Compare tire prices, it might be more budget friendly to go with stock spare rims from newer Tacos that have 17” wheels. Then just get 4 or 5 spares from junkyards.

 

Yeah I never looked into moving up in wheel size. Benefit of that is the Tundra brake upgrade, too.

My "problem" was that I wanted new wheels, not old rusty wheels. I found aftermarket sellers, likely making a killing on finding old cheap stock steel wheels, cleaning them up & painting them then selling them for the same price as a brand new aftermarket steel wheel. But I want what I want...Not sure who makes the black steel wheel for Toyota, not the spoke type but the solid, sixteen-hole type, but I get the feeling it's one manufacturer making them for many, if not all auto makers. You see them on all types of vehicles, trucks, cars, vans, domestic and foreign. I doubt Toyota's are anything special. But for my tastes anyway, they look just right.

The black spare wheels like I bought aren't as wide as they should be for a 31" tire, either. But that's actually what I like about them. I don't like tire sticking out from my wheel wells. I like the look of an aggressive, good size tire that fits the wheel well. The narrow steel wheel pulls my tires in more than the alloys did. Every time I needed to put on my spare, I'd think "man that looks good", so...But I can tell that even at 40psi, my tires are wearing unevenly because the outside edges are getting pulling into the wheel.

Anyway OP I hope you figure it out. I don't remember if I found a ton of threads on BS, but I remember I found more than I needed for my truck, along with all the diagrams and everything explaining BS vs offset and all that.