Once LittleJimny was on its way we sorted out our "specification" with the guys at Roadworthy Suzuki. They were more than happy to meet our requirements for some customisations as James had put together a list to achieve his dream Jimny.
First of all a couple of pictures to show how "Gerald the Jimny" looked when he arrived at Roadworthy.
Each country has a different selection of colours available for the Jimny. In the UK we have a number of two-tone colours where the Jimny gets a black roof but we also have a couple of plain single (or solid) colours of which "Superior White" is one. Therefore Gerald was white, a lot of white.
This, in our opinion needed breaking up with areas of a different colour, indeed when we first test drove the new Jimny back in 2018 we said then that it needed a black roof.
Being from the off-roading side of jimny ownership we also wanted "proper" tyres. Ok so its mainly for the look as the Jimny can get most places on standard tyres, but Gerald was never going to get standard!
Back on the theme of colour, James felt that the sides and bonnet needed the white breaking up so black side protectors and a bonnet protector were added to the specification.
Finally, Gerald is a Jimny and in our experience Jimny's have a tendency to mist up and we found during our test drive that the new Jimny was no different. Therefore a set of wind deflectors was added to the list.
The overall list was therefore:
- Black roof
- Mud Tyres
- Bonnet protection
- Side protectors
- Wind Deflectors
Black Roof
We looked at a couple of solutions for a black roof.
Wrapping: This is the lower cost method and is widely available. There are plenty of choices of wrapping colour including many styles of black. However, James had had the roof of his Evoque wrapped in black and found that an issue was that the wrap can lift off when jet washed. We were told when it was put on to avoid very powerful jet washing and James was diligent in doing this. However when the Evoque went in for a service, the garage valeted the car and carelessly jet washed the roof and lifted the edges of what was quite an expensive wrap.
Painting: This is more expensive but has the advantage of being hard wearing and also able to achieve a high gloss (wraps always have a slight sheen). Another advantage is that it is possible to match the exact colour that Suzuki use on their two-tone Jimnys, Blueish Black Pearl Metallic - ZJ3. Therefore this was the way forward for Gerald as we decided it had to look as "genuine" as possible.
Whilst looking at Jimny roofs we noticed another variation in specification. Jimnys with black roofs have a decorative trim around the outside whilst the plain colours are bare. Working with Roadworthy we managed to work out the parts needed and these were added to the build list.
For reference, the painted roof was £600 inclusive of VAT and the roof trim kit is £160 (see here to purchase - https://www.bigjimny.com/store/roof-trim-kit.html)
This makes the cost of the black roof £760 which compares with £650 when specified on a two-tone Jimny from the factory.
Tyres
Whilst Gerald will spend much of his time on the road, however he has to look the part to fit in the BigJimny stable :)
However going too large on the tyres means new rims and problems with gearing. Therefore we looked around for tyres as close to standard yet looking like they mean business.
There are a number of tyres around so its a matter of preference. The ones we opted for are BF Goodrich KM3, these are the latest generation of their mud tyres. There are still some places offering KM2 tyres cheaper as they are end of line, some people do not rate the KM2 tyres very highly.
We got the tyres from https://www.oponeo.co.uk/ (although listed with a UK address, these tyres came from Poland, the delivery was prompt and the dealer fitted them for us before delivery.
Bonnet Guard
The Jimny is very bluff fronted (in fact is it a brick), people are already reporting stone chip damage to both the windscreen and bonnet edge. I therefore got a Bonnet protector from https://www.bigjimny.com/store/bonnet-guard.html
This is a straight forward bolt on guard, however it is not widely available in many Jimny markets so is quite rare. Again the dealer bolted it on for us but it is a straight forward job
Wind deflectors and Door Protectors
These are standard UK Dealer accessories. Our key aim is to break up the "slab" sided appearance of a single colour (white). We simply selected these from the parts list and they were fitted.
With everything done we collected Gerald from Bristol on the 21st September, all custom prepared for us by Roadworthy Suzuki. Here are some of the first pictures.