215/80R15 tyres

hey all,

looking for some help,

looking at getting some mud tyres soon hopfully,

and have been debating 195/80R15 or 215/80R15,

i like the 215s due to the every so slightly more ground clearance,

as my jimny is my daily driver and has a 2.5" lift on it fuel consumption does concerne me some what,

will the 215s make it worse or just the same with the 195s?

pros and cons please guys?

cheers

215/15's will be worse and the arches will need trimming, just the front and rear of the front wheelarches.

Thanks

Gary

Actually 215's will fit no problem. you will have to trim about 2" off the rear arches at the bottom, but other than that you'll be fine.
I have found that you will get an extra 2" or so of clearance, but top speed will be affected, and you may have to use the Low box more often offroad as you loose a little control when trying to go slow.
Also, overall gearing will be screwed too as you ll be doing about 20% faster than teh speedo is reading.

You can drive with the taller tyres, but you will have difficulty keeping in 5th when the revs drop .. so fuel economy will be impacted quite noticeably

Strange how different cars need different bits trimming ! I'm pretty sure you'll need to trim the arches somewhere with the 215's, whereas you should get away with it on the 195's. Gearing will be better on the 195's.
I think 215's are the start of the slippery slope towards a rocklobster box and some big tyres!

Gary

This is indeed very true ... We now have the "Bug" for 31's but that means an investment of £1000 for a new TC Box.

Here are a few PIx of our 215rx15's .. you can see the rear wheel arch that has been doctored in the second picture..





The Jimny currently has KAP +2" springs .. with Martins "extra" 1" shock relocation brackets on the rear

think ill just stick to my 2.5" lift and 195s,

i just wanted to double check before totally writting off the 215s but if im fuels going to get a hard beating then 195s are the way forward for me.

cheers for the replys guys very helpful.

Hi Check my post here it has a bit of measurement that should help

Found it on other forum ... I will be fitting 215/75/15 and hope not to have to trim anything, but if I do fine

hey guys i found that with 215 75 15 tyres that on a 2" lift i did'nt need to trim anything but i would often catch the front wheel arches. But when i went to 3" and had to put new lower arms on i had to trim the arches and the front bumper on the side and underneath lol so i bought some wide arches with a lot of clearence but the problem with that is i've now ordered some 30 x 9.50's

It is indeed a vicious circle ..
we have 215rx15 diamondbacks and these are 29.6" diameter. with out 2" lift, we have only minor trimming, but we have reciently purchased a 2" lift as we too fing that under extreme compression, the tyre touches the frotn wheelarches. Usually we adjust our speed to compensate, but it is hoped the 2" lift will give us the cleasrance we want, plus a mate has just put 31x10.5x15's on his sports track and now we want to put them on the Jimny as they would look awsome .. But now we have to look at castor correction, different TX ratio's.... Im afraid were on that slippery slope