I present you my Jimny - Advice needed!

Hello, Big Jimny members,

I want to introduce myself and my Jimny:

I'm Bruno, I live in Switzerland and I have just purchased a 2000 Jimny to have as my 3rd car, in my homeland, the Azores.

The car was used only for competitions and it has a lift, a winch, steel bumpers, heavily trimmed arches, a snorkel, 31" 10.5 R15 tires and steering damper. I guess it may have some more modifications (gen 2 TB and caster correction radial arm bushings for example), but I haven't went through the whole car yet.

I did not have the chance to drive it before I bought it, so, I was a disappointed to verify that the car is basically undriveable on the road...

I am looking for advice on solving this issue in the most efficient way possible, with the following in mind:

• It will be used 2 to 3 times a year for a few days (mpg and component wear are not important)
• It should be safe to drive on paved roads up to 100 km/h, at least
• I would like to keep the tires as close to the current size as possible
• What lift do you guys think it has now? I would consider lowering it, if it helps with the on road driving...

Here are some pictures:







Thank you all!
Bruno

Hello Bruno and a BIG(Jimny) welcome to the forums.

Unfortunately I can't help you with any of your questions, but I'm confident someone will be along soon that can

Good luck!

Welcome to the forum. Essentially in that trim that Jimny is never going to be civilised as a road car, the centre of gravity is too high and mighty as those tyres are off roading they will be nasty on road. To tame it a little bit I would first off check that the gearing is modified to accept the size of the tyres it will be obvious if its not as it will be difficult to get moving from a start and will have no power to get up hills. Assuming that the gearing is reasonable then next I would be after a set of less ridiculous tyres like a bfg all terrain. Next I would look at putting the anti roll bars back on the front with suitable additional mounting to account for the lift. Next I would investigate the condition and suitability of the dampers to try and control the centre of gravity as much as possible. It is possible to have a Jimny that tall and still have it reasonably drivable but it's not simple or particularly cheap to get it right especially if someone else has just thrown it together in the first place as a pure off road toy. Best of luck.

First thing i notice that the steering damper is on the wrong way round for a LHD
i 2nd what Lambert says go for a lesser aggressive tyre if you need Mud terrain tread
look at cooper sst pro or bfg km2 or whatever you like but if you can stay away from retreads

And welcome to the forum

Jack

Thank you guys for your input!

I was checking with local authorities on legalizing additional tyre sizes and was informed I won't be able, at this point, to do nothing bigger than 215/70R15, 225/65R15, 205/65R16, 215/65R16 or 225/60R16.
For larger diameter wheels, I will have to go through a thorough technical inspection, which is not available in the island the car is in... I will consider it later on.

Given this and the available tyre choices for these sizes, I've decided to notch down the car a bit, putting in some 205/70 r15 muds. I expect the car will be pretty strange with such small tyres, so I will be dropping the suspension height a bit also.

What do you guys think the current lift is?

If I fit 2" springs, would the current shocks work?

Any suggestions on m/t's for the sizes mentioned?

additional things I should consider when making these changes?

Additionally, I will inspect all bushings and steering damper and try to find a used original anti roll bar.

All opinions are welcomed

Once again, thank you very much for you great help!
Bruno

All of those tyre sizes will fit on standard suspension. I can't tell from the pictures but if it has a body lift then any suspension lift ontop of a body lift will make it look very silly on standard size tyres. So my advice would be fit standard springs and shocks.