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I think I searched the forums and the rest of the internet for what I am about to ask, my apologies if it has been discussed, it's not because of lack of effort.
I just got my gen4 Jimny and the only modification I plan to do for now is just to add some more off road worthy tires. I want to go with the most popular 215/75/15, but none of the brands I am looking at have that size available in my country. The Toyo Open Country AT plus, Cooper Disc. AT3 Sport2, General Grabbers, are all available in 215/80/15.
One dealer will have 195/80/15 (original size) and 205/75/15 Toyos very soon. The only thing I can find at the moment with 215/75/15 size are the BF Goodrich KO2.
My questions would be: I see that compared to the OEM size, the 215/80 profile adds 32 milimeters ( +5% ) to the overall diameter, while the 215/75 adds about 11mm. From reading this forum and the internet I got the impression that 215/80/15 will definitely fit, but if anyone has put 215/80 on their Jimny, will my gearing be somehow affected? My first gear low range especially and also performance.
My uses are about 60/70% on road ( city driving, b road driving and a bit of highway) and 30/40% off road ( dirt roads, gravel, rutted and rocky roads, mountain trails ). My options are: get the Toyo or Grabbers at 215/80/15, get the BFGs at 215/75/15, wait for the smaller Toyos I previously mentioned or just wait for better size in general.
Based on my experience with larger vehicles, a 5% increase in diameter is going to have a noticeable impact on performance - yes, they were larger vehicles, they weighed more, but they also had bigger, more powerful engines.
I'm in a similar position to you, although I have not yet started looking at the available tires - I plan on switching to an all terrain tire, and would be prefer something a little wider, but, I'm holding off until at least the first service has been done (I've had the car just around three months now).
Something else to be aware of - larger tires don't just affect the gearing, they affect the braking as well. More rubber means more weight further away from the center of the wheel, and this has a significant impact on brake performance - the JB74 doesn't have the largest of brakes, they appear to be adequate with the OE rubber, but this may not hold true with larger heavier tires.
I do have a list of components that I'm working on to allow an upgrade to vented rotors and larger pads to deal with the situation, but it is at this point an "untested upgrade".
I think I searched the forums and the rest of the internet for what I am about to ask, my apologies if it has been discussed, it's not because of lack of effort.
I just got my gen4 Jimny and the only modification I plan to do for now is just to add some more off road worthy tires. I want to go with the most popular 215/75/15, but none of the brands I am looking at have that size available in my country. The Toyo Open Country AT plus, Cooper Disc. AT3 Sport2, General Grabbers, are all available in 215/80/15.
One dealer will have 195/80/15 (original size) and 205/75/15 Toyos very soon. The only thing I can find at the moment with 215/75/15 size are the BF Goodrich KO2.
My questions would be: I see that compared to the OEM size, the 215/80 profile adds 32 milimeters ( +5% ) to the overall diameter, while the 215/75 adds about 11mm. From reading this forum and the internet I got the impression that 215/80/15 will definitely fit, but if anyone has put 215/80 on their Jimny, will my gearing be somehow affected? My first gear low range especially and also performance.
My uses are about 60/70% on road ( city driving, b road driving and a bit of highway) and 30/40% off road ( dirt roads, gravel, rutted and rocky roads, mountain trails ). My options are: get the Toyo or Grabbers at 215/80/15, get the BFGs at 215/75/15, wait for the smaller Toyos I previously mentioned or just wait for better size in general.
I put 215/80R15's on mine within a week of getting mine. (I couldn't stand the ride of the standard Dunlop tyres). If you are doing that much off-road driving, you will really appreciate the bigger size. The General Grabbers get very good reviews here in SA and are very popular on Jimny's. Yes they do affect your fuel consumption and performance, but I would much rather sacrifice those for the improvement off-road.
Thanks for the replies guys, for now I have decided that i will keep it more tame. Narrowed it down to:
1.) Toyo Open Country AT plus 195/80/15
2.) Cooper Discoverer AT3 Sport 2 195/80/15
The Toyos are cheaper and have amazing reviews and seem to be the lighter tire. The Cooper also seem great all round. I will have to decide or roll the dice. I will report my decision and experience.
Them toyo open country tyres are well worth the money. We use them on the pickups at work and seen them pinch on curbs and tree stumps and not had one fail yet 'touch wood'.
I replaced the stock tires after about 2,000 km with a set of Yokohama Geolandar G015 in 215/80R15. If you're thinking about this size, I bet you'd appreciate the extra height gain. I'm a fairly brisk driver, I frankly don't feel the impact of power loss. The vehicle certainly does though, my mileage used to be in the low 30's (MPG) on stock tires. Now it's often in the high 20's. The gearbox also does a bit more gear-hunting when going up hill in high gears, but not enough to bother me too much. I personally think the downside is worth the added lift. I later found out this tire also comes in 225/80R15 in Japan, which I regret not realizing early enough. I'd totally get the same tires in that size as my next set... that's if I don't upgrade to 16's.
