Wheel offset, how important?

[LRJ]

Lot's of threads on here about tires, and what are the largest you can fit in your wheel wells, but I don't see a lot about wheels and wheel fitment. I'm toying with the idea of getting new wheels for the Sierra, but any wheels I find that I like are quite a ways out of factory spec for offset. I found a great resource to explain wheel specs and fitment on-line at "wheel-size. com". They recommend trying to stay as close to OEM offset as you can. From what I can see, ( at least in my case) the main reason would be to reduce the scrub radius of the tire.  Any comment on what changing the scrub radius is going to do as far as handling and tire wear? (My example would be stepping up very slightly in tire size to 275/70 18 and going to a rim that was 18X9 with an offset of 0.)

 

Looking around, I find very few aftermarket wheels with the factory offset of 44mm. Hard enough to find something close to 20. Is this because most folks looking to the aftermarket are looking for larger, fatter tires that will require wider wheels and therefore different offset to keep things in the right place?

Thanks,

LRJ

[Dirtbiker]

I have 275 70 R18 on fuel 18 x 9 with +18mm offset. There are zero issues with fitment. No rubbing at all . Tires line up even with the fenders basically. I do have the factory plastic mudflaps though not thick rubber ones. 
Most aftermarket wheels will not be close to the factory offset. 

No issues with wear either. I have gas engine and run Duratrac tires and for some reason the back and front tires wear almost dead even without even rotating them. Diesel trucks are probably different though as the front end would be heavier. 

[gearheadesw]

I'm running a +12 offset on my wheels, like 5.4 inches of backspacing, with 285 75 18's. Try the Ebay thing, enter the wheel size you're looking for, 18 x 9 180x8 bolt pattern, for example, and about 2 thousand choices should pop up. I also didn't want the tires sticking way out past the bodywork. Those 275 70's should fit with everything stock.

[LRJ]

Thanks guys. I did some reading on scrub radius and dug up some interesting info. I'm not so concerned with fit, more so with tire wear and handling. From what I read I can't see the minimal increase in scrub radius making much if any difference at all, especially if I went with a wheel similar to Dirtbiker's +18 setup. Interesting that GM ended up with a setup that gives 0 scrub radius. Seems lots of vehicles have positive scrub designed in.