Help me understand wheels and offset

Hi TW. I'm going to purchase wheels this afternoon (Discount Tire has some really good rebates right now) and wanted to make sure I won't make any rookie mistakes.

Because I can't afford (or justify) new tires right now, my plan is to use my stock TRD Sport tires (265/65/17). It appears the stock wheel size is 17x7.5. I'm looking at some MB 352 wheels which are 17x9. I believe the sales rep said they are -18 offset? I don't know what that means!

I'd like to keep about the same stance I have right now, to eliminate any rubbing at full lock or maxed out suspension, and I've got stock mud guards that I'd like to keep utilizing and not hang way out slinging mud/snow/slush down the side of the truck.

tl;dr - I'm on stock suspension, can I run my stock TRD Sport tires on a 17x9 wheel? and will -18 offset provide a stock stance so I can still use my mud guards and not have any rubbing issues or hang out past the guards?

Thank for the education TW! the two threads I found never really touched on the offset part.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/265-70r17-on-a-17x9-wheel.108715/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/17x9-wheel-265-width-tire.166265/

 

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stock TRD Sport wheels are +30mm offset. If you go to a wheel that's 1.5 inches (ie, 38mm) wider, you'd need 38mm less offset to keep everything centered, which would put you at -8mm. -18 is pretty close but will still push your tires out a little more than stock.

offset and backspacing are different ways of talking about the same thing, which is to say the position of the hub flange in relation to the width of the wheel.