Tyre / suspension advice needed please

Hi

I'm needing to fit new tyres, the original from the factory Bridgestones are pretty much shot at 27k and after having the car for a year I'd like to mod it a bit. I need to keep it sensible as it's my daily driver and it spends a lot of time on the road; but I'd like a bit more ground clearance, more grip and widen the track a bit for stability. It mostly laning, muddy fields and hill tracks when it's off road; parts of the Scottish Hill Rally Dron hill section for anyone who knows it, as it's right behind my house . Just not at the same pace obviously !

The suspension's still stock at the moment, but will get a 2 inch lift on new springs / longer shocks when cash allows and 7x15 modular steel rims. I've seen castor correction bushes and they're on the shopping list as well, the panhard rods should be OK going up by 2" ? I don't want to be lifting it more than that due to the cost of camber correction arms, longer brake lines etc. as I understand they're necessary (?) and it rolls something chronic in a side wind on the motorway as it is :sick: ! Can Vitara or similar springs be used to get the lift ? it doesn't have to be bang on 2".

I want to avoid buying bigger rubber later for when it's lifted and on the wider rims as it really needs new tyres now ( the splatters up the side in the pick below show why, they're so worn it flings mud always as they just spin up with the slightest throttle ), so I'm having to compromise; I was thinking of 215 70 or 75, at a push 225/70's but that might be sheer optimism. Has anyone fitted any of these sizes and will they go on with standard rims / suspension for the time being ? I don't mind using bits for vits spacers to get a inch and a bit extra clearance in the interim, a bit of a bumper / arch trim is OK but I don't want to cut them right back.

General Grabber AT2's are the plan, maybe Insa Sahara or Malatesa Trac; has anyone had any experience with any of these ? Are they any good ? 205/75 or 80 in the same brands or Recip Trials with 50mm spacers are plan b. I already have the spacers, just a case of finding them...

Any advice would be appreciated, the other pic's the kind of look I'm thinking of.

Hello and welcome , Yours is nice looking motor, im thinking of doing the same with the spot lights as what you've done.

With regards to the lift a 2 inch lift with castor correction bushes should be fine. I have a 3 inch lift and am going to have to get the full correction arms as mine tends to wander and the bump steer is pretty bad. I'm not sure how far out the old panhard rods will cause the axle to be, with my 3 inch lift I definitely needed an adjustable.

Something else to bear in mind is you can lift the body/suspension as high as you want however the diffs will still be the same height as the standard Jimnys, cue the larger tyres. I have recently bought a set of black 5x7 offset modulars which have 205/75/15 tyres, these lift the diffs about 1 inch higher off the ground but dont have a huge impact on the (already poor) performance / speedo calibration. The main thing to be aware of when using bigger tyres is the wheel wobble you get with them. My wobble is pretty bad so am going to have to try and reduce/solve it. I got the brand new modulars from www.4x4tyres.com at £28 each and they also transferred the tyres from my old wheels to the new for £7 each which didn't seem too bad.

The main reason for the suspension lift is to allow for the articulation of the wider offset wheels and to raise the front and rear bumpers for a better approach angles. If I was to do a Jimny again I think I'd probably go for a 2 inch and the bigger tyres on offset wheels.

Here is the size different of my offroad tyres compaired to the standard tyres:


And here are my offset modulars on the car with the 3" lift:

Hi mate,

I have literally just got home from my mates garage, he has just fitted me some 215/75/15 BF goodrich's my Jimny is totally standard no body lift etc, I dont have any rubbing, catching whilst driving around. May be different off road mind.

I only have a very very slight wheel wobble, but that was there before I changed the tyres so props nothing to do with the tyres.

I must say the ride is much better than the standard tyres

Hi and thanks for that. You've done pretty much exactly what I had in mind, yours is looking good ! The lights are just £20 odd Ring jobs from Halfords, tilted outwards so the back follows the curve of the bonnet to see to the sides a bit on dark lanes. They cause a little bit of a shadow 5-6 feet right in front of the car as they overlap the headlights a bit, but it's OK and they do help.

I was wondering about the panhard rods as I saw an add for adjustables that said " for between 2 and 4 inch lifts " so I was a bit unsure if stock ones would be OK. Good point about the wheel wobble. It had brutal wobble on the stock wheels / tyres when I got it and the kinngpin bearings were shot so hopefully it'll be alright with the new ones in and the wheel bearings seem solid. I'm guessing bigger rubber amplifies any play in them ? I'm thinking the 205/75 on offset rims will work looking at yours, I eventually found a pic of a stock jimny on 215/75 AT's and they're VERY close to the arches / bumper on the front and not much better on the back. Way too close for my liking ! The picture of the bigger / stock tyres side by side is useful with the size, thanks for that.

The lift is planned for extra wheel articulation as you say; I found 8x15 alloys with ET25 a while ago for about £60 each but 7x15 offset steels like yours is my more sensible plan. The other reason was to try and improve the departure angle as it's got a detachable Witter towbar on it and god knows how many times it's belted the ground. Even with the ball removed it's frame still hangs lower than the back bumper and it's been caught a few times. It'll be off and on Ebay yet I'd thought about cutting the front bumper to just above the front number plate for better approach but until the rear's sorted I'm leaving it alone. Going by what you describe yours as doing 2" will be the lift I'll be going for. I really don't want it to be bad on road or the expense of the extra gear for the sake of 1 more inch lift, it doesn't seem worth it or necessary for what I need the car to do. For now, at least !

I've been lucky with the diffs so far; even when i've thought it was going to ground it's made it even if only just :blink: An extra inch or so wouldn't hurt in some of the places it regularly goes though, I'd thought about diff guards just in case until I saw the post about the axle being knackered by them.

Thanks again !

... but now I'm thinking again ! Cheers JimBru, your post must have gone on when I was doing mine. I was going by the photos attached when I thought the 215/75 would be too close but if they are all good on yours I shouldn't have a problem They must just look closer than they actually are in the pic. The raised spring seats I was thinking of might just give enough clearance if needed in the meantime until the suspension's done if they rub off road.

Looks like i'll be going for the 215/75 AT's or 205/75 mud terrains and the spacers as I'm not sure if a tyre with bigger tread will clear on the larger size and they're much the same price on tyre direct. I don't mind trimming the inside of the arches but I'd prefer not to trim them right back and risk the wrath of the local traffic cops if the tread sticks out past them :whistle:

Cheers !

when I get the chance I'll take some decent photo's of mine so you can have a look mate