Kawasaki Teryx UTV - Wheels and Tires

Back

2012 Kawasaki Teryx

Mod: Wheels and Tires

Wheels

The wheels I picked are ITP SS108 in size 12 x 7. So 7" wide. Bolt pattern 4/137 12mm for Teryx. Although ITP calls the offset 5+2 they actually measure 4+3.25, as fully described in the next section. This is important especially in the front where the tie rods can interfere if the tires come too far to the inside and if they really measured 5" on the inside I don't think they would actually fit!
I picked the Matte Black 12x7's which are part number 1228289536B (or old number is 12SS208BX).

Tires

For tires, I don't race but and I wanted tires for riding rough 4WD trails in the Rockies or Moab, no mud ever. I don't care about weight and mainly I want a tough tire that won't get a flat. So I wanted a monster 8 ply tire.
I considered ITP BajaCross but ended up with the PitBull Rocker. Another possibility was the PitBull Growler but in the stock size of 25.5" it is only a 6 ply but may be a better tire in snow.

The exact tires I got were the PitBull Rocker Uber Xor, the fronts are 25.5x8R12 and rears are 25.5x10R12. Tread depth is 32/32" front and 36/32" rear. Reports are they stick great and wear great and even though they are 8 ply the sidewalls flex and the ride is not that stiff. See JacobsAtvMagazine.com review.
Everyone reports that the diameter measures a lot more than 25.5", maybe a half inch to an inch more.
I purchased them from Matthew Bell at ATVOutfitters.net after reading online recommendations and I highly recommend them for knowledge, price and support.

Here are pics of the tires and wheels. I ran the front tires and got them muddy before I received the rears.

THESE ARE SOME BADASS TIRES !! hehehe...

Here is a comparison of the stock front tire (with only 20 miles on them) and the Rocker 25.5x8 front. Though there is no weight on the Rocker to squat it down a bit, it is still quite a bit taller than stock.

Wheel Offsets and Critical Clearance:

I am a motorcycle guy and didn't know anything about wheel offsets so this took a bit of education. I'll summarize it here and tell you what is critical on the Teryx for fitment.
Wheel Offset definition: There is a great explanation HERE, but basically the offsets are specified as INSIDE+OUTSIDE basically. As an example: On a 7" wheel, a wheel offset of 5+2 means that from the hub mounting surface it is 5" to the inside of the rim and 2" to the outside of the rim as shown here:

On the Teryx, the one critical dimension is on the front end - the wheel offset must be such that the tire still has clearance away from the tie rod end. Here is a picture of the stock OEM tire/wheel combo on my 2012 showing that it is only about a finger thickness away from rubbing:

So the critical measurement is the INSIDE offset (the first number X, in X+Y).
I measured the stock front wheel that Kawasaki makes specifically to fit properly and allow the right amount of tire to tie rod clearance as well.
The stock OEM front wheel has an offset of 4+2.5, the ITP SS108 I picked measures 4+3.25 (even though ITP calls this a 5+2 !!! crazy.) So the ITP is the same inside offset as stock and they both have a 4.0" inside offset so the clearance isn't a problem.

Wheel Offset Comparison:

	Stock	ITP
Front	4+2.5	4+3.25
Rear	5.5+2.5	4+3.25

Track Width:

Here is the overall track width dimensions on the stock setup and my aftermarket wheel and tires. The track width is the distance from outside of one tire to the outside of the other tire on the same axle.

One thing I wanted was to find wheels that would keep the overall track width (outside of tire to outside of tire) under 60 inches wide so it would still fit on my 60" wide trailer.
The track width is dependent on the OUTSIDE offset (and to some degree on the difference in overall width).
I also did not want the front track width to be wider than the rear. I ended up buying the same wheels front and rear but this was a little tricky because the stock rear wheels have an offset of about 5.5+2.5 as I measured it, so the stock wheels are wider yet have less outside offset than the ITP wheels so the ITP wheels will push the tires farther to the outside and create a wider track.

The calculations show:
.. the front outside offset goes from 2.5" stock to 3.25" on the ITP so that should increase the track width by 1.5" (= 2 * .75").
... the rear outside offset goes from 2.5" stock to 3.25" on the ITP so that should increase the track width by 1.5" (= 2 * .75"). Plus the wheel width decreases on the ITP so the combination pushes the tire outside further and increases the track.
Well all of this is speculation based on wheel offsets, in actuality the tires themselves are a bit bulkier and add to the width as well, and this is what I actually measured:

Track Width Comparison:

	Stock	ITP/PitBull
Front	56.5"	58.5"
Rear	57.75"	60.0"

Below are pics where I measured the stock track widths for OEM vs. ITP/PitBull:
Here is the front stock track width of 56.5" and the ITP/PitBull track width of 58.5":

Back