2 wheel drive vs. 4 wheel drive rims

[brivy2011]

I have a new-to-me 2004 Pathfinder LE 4 wheel drive. It currently has oversize wheels and tires (22") which I want to replace with the OEM 17" size. I bought a set of four used Nissan rims but the tire guy says they are 2 wheel drive rims and need to get the 4 wheel drive equivalent. Is this true? If it is true how do I tell the difference between them? Thank you.

[patqx4]

uhhh.. as long as they're R50 pathfinder wheels they will be fine. I don't think the 2wd versions had different wheels, just the different trim levels.

[Towncivilian]

Yeah, they are be identical. I can't see why they wouldn't be. This page does not mention any differentiation between 2WD and 4WD models.

[Densetsu]

According to the '04 manual, there's three different rims, one for each of the XE, SE, and LE trims.

All three will have the same bolt pattern, so regardless, they'll fit on. XE and SE are 16" rims, LE had 17" rims. The SE and LE rims had a 20mm offset, the XE had a 50mm offset.

To be honest, I don't know much about the XE, but I always thought all models were available in either 2WD or 4WD. So whatever he means by "4WD rims", I have no idea. Maybe he's equating the XE to 2WD rims for some reason?

[brivy2011]

Thanks everybody for your help and the information. I believe this tire guy was unwilling or unable to help so he came up with this bogus story about seperate rims for 2wd and 4wd. I'll post back when I get this resolved.

[SBK03SE]

Good luck and welcome to Nico.