Re:Wheels and tyres options, advice please.

Our new Jimny has Vitara alloys as in pic:



They have +20 offset which is a little to narrow for the car in my opinion and I don't like the look of them very much.
Tyres are a mix of budget road tyres, spare is a piece of trash and has to be binned.

I'd like to replace them with steels and Yokohama Geolandar AT-S.

Now the options.

Wheels: 7J R15 or stock 5.5J R15.
Tyres: stock 205/70, 215/70, 215/75.

What I'd like to know is whether 215/75 will mess up the performance of the car and to what degree? 215/70 are similar in size to 205/75 many people fit and should make no problems but the bigger size Yokos are a few pounds heavier and my worry is the car will be sluggish.

The other question is: will 215/75 rub on wider 7J rims (the catalogue size is exactly the same as BFG MT KM2, it was mentioned that BFGs on wider rims may rub and on stock rims are mostly fine). For insurance reasons I don't plan lifting it in the nearest future.

Finally, if I opt for smaller size tyres I'm tempted to fit 30mm spacers or offset rims. They look much better, possibly improve stability and may eat my bearings.
What wasn't mentioned on the forum yet is whether they change the turning radius and general handling on the road. It's important for us, we are both new drivers.
Also, will the 60mm wider track change the way Jimny behaves in the ruts, or is the difference negligible?
And finally will 215/70 with 30mm offset come out of the arches far enough to raise unwanted attention of MOT technicians?

My options so far:
215/70 R15 on 7J rims with/without spacers or offset.
215/75 R15 on 5.5J or 7J rims, no offset.

Any advice is highly welcome.

Have a look at this it might help.
www.bigjimny.com/index.php/forum?view=topic&catid=7&id=51978

Just make sure that they are ok as that info is for a pre 2005 model but read through as I think other people have stated what they have fitted to 2005 onwards, I run 205/75/15general grabbers on -30 offset modulars no problems 2007 jimny

Have a look at the bottom of my post might help you a bit to decide on size

www.bigjimny.com/index.php/forum?view=topic&catid=11&id=57487

Thank you.

Just went out and checked full flex and full lock. 215/75/15 will fit judging by the size of gap left.

This leaves me with the performance question. Are the 215/75 sensible tyre for a daily driver in terms of acceleration, performance etc. There is some mixed opinions around. Maybe someone could compare the performance loss with them using percentage comparison, ie. 10%less performance... Generally how they change the way the car drives.

And the same goes for spacers. How they change the way it drives on road, offroad, in the ruts?

I've read all the topics on the forum that I could find and have a general picture of the Jimny tyres issue, it's just this couple of specific details that keep bugging me.

Also please be patient with me. I'm new to Jimnys and new to cars in general. This is our first. I have no own experience and nothing to compare to. That is why I rely so much on your advice, and all of you know how difficult it was to choose the first proper tyres.

Many thanks again.

P.S. Adamoffroad, great comparison photo. For a moment I wanted to buy the tyres from you, as i live in the near. Problem is I need a good allrounders now, KM2s are probably a bit too aggresive.

fshdck wrote:
P.S. Adamoffroad, great comparison photo. For a moment I wanted to buy the tyres from you, as i live in the near. Problem is I need a good allrounders now, KM2s are probably a bit too aggresive.

I run KM2's on mine and use it daily with no issues with noise.