Wheel backspace

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Drkhorse

Drkhorse

Member
Supporting Member
1st Gen Owner
V6 Engine
4 wheel drive
Joined
Nov 15, 2023
Messages
17
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5
Location
Falkville AL
What engine do you have?
V6 engine
What year is your Sport Trac?
2004
What Generation is your Sport Trac?
1st Gen Owner
Ok, I’m confused a little so I’ll ask for help. I have an 04 ST 4x4 with obviously not the correct wheels on it, they were on it when I bought it. They have way too much positive offset and require wheel spacers to keep them from rubbing. I like the wheels but I don’t like having to use spacers. I contacted a seller on facebook market place selling parts from a wrecked 04 ST with the same wheels I’m running and asked him if he’s using spacers behind his wheels and he said no, how could this be? His ST is 2wd and mine is 4wd so is there more room on a 2wd allowing wheels with more backspace or do these wheels have different offsets depending on which vehicle they are used on? The wheels in question are shown in the pic of my truck. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
 

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Occams Razor….

If they are the same wheels… he probably doesn’t remember installing spacers. Or he bought the truck with the wheels installed already and doesn’t know. OR he’s running a different size tire… lots of razors here….

It’s uber rare that the same wheel will have different offsets. That normally only happens on staggered setups, and I HIGHLY doubt those wheels were a staggered set.

Have you been able to identify those wheels? Have you looked up what their offset is?
 
I have tried to identify them and I believed they came from the Ranger but then today I seen them on a 2nd gen explorer. I haven’t had a chance to measure them yet but I will when I get home. I’ve just spent more time researching the wheels I need and what their offset is, which is a -12mm offset which equates to a 4.5 inch backspace.
 

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It’s an 02-05 explorer wheel.
 
Oh ok, I didn’t scroll down far enough. So tell me this, if it’s for an explorer why doesn’t it fit without wheel spacers?
Forgive the dumb questions, I’m trying to understand
 
Last edited:
Ok, just looking for a logical reason why wheels for an explorer don’t fit a sport trac. I don’t mean to be difficult but I need to understand this.
 
I’m almost certain the offsets are different between the two. I think the 03 explorer is 44ish while the 03 trac is 12ish.

I don’t have a first gen.. but that’s what a quick search brought up.
 
Blown09 said:
I’m almost certain the offsets are different between the two. I think the 03 explorer is 44ish while the 03 trac is 12ish.

I don’t have a first gen.. but that’s what a quick search brought up.
Click to expand...
So that’s the answer to one of the questions I asked in my first post, is it possible the same OE wheels can have a different offset depending on the vehicle it’s used on.
 
I’m fairly certain those were never offered for the sport trac. They are explorer wheels. So, to answer your question… idk if ford offered that specific wheel in two different offsets. I’m 90% sure they did not though.

If you’re using the guy on marketplace as your source for this info… did you ask him if they rubbed? Did he install the wheels? What size tire is he running? Yours?
He could have just put those wheels on to move the truck. He could have put them on with narrower tires. He could be running spacers and just forgot.

If you like the wheels, get some high quality spacers and call it a day.
 
Blown09 said:
I’m fairly certain those were never offered for the sport trac. They are explorer wheels. So, to answer your question… idk if ford offered that specific wheel in two different offsets. I’m 90% sure they did not though.

If you’re using the guy on marketplace as your source for this info… did you ask him if they rubbed? Did he install the wheels? What size tire is he running? Yours?
He could have just put those wheels on to move the truck. He could have put them on with narrower tires. He could be running spacers and just forgot.

If you like the wheels, get some high quality spacers and call it a day.
Click to expand...
I do like the wheels and the guy on marketplace doesn’t live far from where I live so I’m thinking about meeting him to see just how it’s setup.
As far as ford stuff goes, I know nothing about them, I’ve been a Chevy man my entire life, this is my 3rd ford.
Thanks for all the help.
 

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