Tire questions, I need help, please advise

[DrJones]

I have a mostly stock 2000 xj which I will be driving to Alaska and back from Utah this summer. I drive it mostly on the road with an occasional trip to my cabin that is one mile of gravel road and one mile of NO road. I need a pretty quiet road tire that also has some ability to run in softer sand. I'm now running the stock 16X7 wheel with a 225 70P 16 tire.

These tires are almost gone and I will be buying new ones before summer. I'm trying to decide if I should go to a different wheel at that time. I need to buy a spare since I don't want to be 400 miles from a town and have only the sissy donut spare. When I went to several wrecking yards, no one had the 16 inch wheels, although there were tons of the 15 inch.

I've found a place that can order me an OEM wheel used for $165. I want 5 tires and rims all the same, and I don't want to run tires that are not really common, since some places in the Yukon may not have a very large selection if I need one.

Why did they go to the 16 inch wheel with the 2000/2001 models? Is there any performance issue? Will the 15 inch wheels fit my 2000?

I'd appreciate any advise on this subject... thanks

[jdogg4]

jeep has had a 16 rim for some time they mostley put those on limiteds and upcountry and special edditions models if its just a sport it had 16's on them.

To tell you the truth the 15's are going to be better in the long run. 15's are more commen than a 16 when it comes to shops having what you want in a 16 is hard sometimes and 16 tend to cost more. about 15 to 50 bucks more per tire. If you have a chance before going get 15's

[Blupupher]

Jeep (and most other vehicles) are now starting to have 16" as a stock size on many vehicles. It is becoming more common, but as said, still not as common or as cheap as 15". You may be able to find a set of 5 15" rims for around the price of the 1 16" rim(and be able to sell your 4 16" to pay for the tires :D ).
Now as for the tire, any AT tire should work for you since your not planning on serious offroad, but may have a need for a slightly agressive tire once and a while. Many people sing praises of the BFG AT KO tire as a quiet, long lasting, good offroading tire.A friend of mine has the Yokohoma (I think Geolander?) AT and he is happy with the tire, but says he will only get maybe 35k miles out of them. For a good mileage and OK off road, Look at Michilen tires. Some of their truck tires have 50k+ mileage, but the offroad performance is less than others, which for you might not be a problem.

[jdogg4]

the BFG AT KO would be a good pick but I think there somewhat over priced unless you can find a good deal on them.