I have been under the impression that on all wheel drive vehicles the four tires must be purchased as a set.

Is it the same for XJ's? I do have a spare that is the same brand and size but likely not the amount of wear.

After driving around in the XJ for about two weeks off and on, I finally bought a tire wrench today. Guess I should be glad about that. I drove the XJ home @ 20 mph for about 14 miles. Tire is still holding air. But that's as good as it gets in this tale.

If I get a set of winter tires as opposed to A.T's, Could I put 16's on an 87 XJ. Regardless, what should I be aware of if I go looking for as set of wheels for these in a junkyard?

Ron

 

yeah, you can go with 16's or 17's for that matter, but you want the overall tire size to match what you have if you are still stock height. otherwise, 16's that are say, 245/70/16 will be larger than 245/70/15 for example.
but if you have a lift on, overall tire size will depend on the size of your lift.

when changing rims, you just need to have your existing bolt pattern. yours should still be 5 on 4.5
you can look into jeep tj wrangler, zj grand cherokee, xj, ford ranger, ford explorer.

if you find some jk wrangler or wj grand cherokee wheels, you would need a set of wheel adapters, they are basically a set of spacers that will adapt the bolt pattern from yours to 5 on 5. just watch the overall size.

245 is width in millimeters, 75 is percent of width (sidewall height), then times that by 2 and add your rim diameter (16 or 17)...

 

unless your jeep is running in 4wd full time and thats your only option then yes generally speaking you should replace them as a matching set. but if your vehicle has a 231 or 242 and you can select 4x4 on demand the wear on the tires wont be such an issue because you are not using 4x4 at highway speed.

 

and the size difference between a nearly bald tire and a brand new spare is minimal, as long as the size is the same stated on the sidewall.
all four tires has to be the same size with either an all wheel drive or 4 wheel drive, especially if you select the 4 wheel drive option.

 

Thank you for the help. It will be a while before I have to get snow tires and wheels.

Ron