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.

I run 215/75/15 KM2s on my jimny and love them. Road noise isn't an issue at all. I have a two inch lift and offset wheels. I'm lead to believe they fit fine without a lift however if you have spacers then they'll likely rub. It Hamas slowed the car down a little but IMO well worth it- it's epic off-road now

I went from standard 205/70 R15s to 215/75 BFG KM2s. The difference between 215/75 muds and standard tyres is about 6%. They make the car feel a little slower, but not drastically. I noticed it on the first few drives but after a week it seemed normal. The speedo goes from over-reading slightly to being spot on (when compared to a GPS). I had to remove the front mud flaps and one screw in the wheel arch where the wing and bumper meet, but my springs are fairly old and my jimny sits about an inch lower than normal. As a daily driver it is absolutely fine.

Re. spacers, IMO the only benefit is the look. They will not affect the turning circle. They make it easier to fit into ruts made by landrovers, which some see as a good thing. But if the ruts get too deep, the extra width of the spacers make it much harder to steer out of the ruts, or avoid them altogether so ultimately you are worse off.

That's what I needed to know. Thank you very much.

What size are your rims on this photo?

Same as mine 7x15 with 30mm offset

And would you be able to tell me how far they poke out? Would ET0 be in line with the wheel arch? I’ve heard that any offset destroys bearings.