31 10.50 15 tyres and correct wheel offset / width

1066Boy wrote: Don't do it. Its not necessary!!!

Also agreed, but it might be a personal taste thing? i see you all admire Daves S200 KYS, which uses 31x10.5r15 :evil:

Also agree that the 7.5r16 land-rover tyres are the 'ultimate' choice for the jimny having followed Brett (maverick), Dave and others around the lake district this summer. That said - i managed to keep up nicely with the big boys using 235/75r15 tyres, rocklobster and some diff guards

Riccy

Riccy wrote:

1066Boy wrote: Don't do it. Its not necessary!!!

Also agreed, but it might be a personal taste thing? i see you all admire Daves S200 KYS, which uses 31x10.5r15 :evil:

That's because Daves jim is a heavy old thing. I am a strong believer that 215/75/15 is the sweet spot for a standard ish jim.

1066Boy wrote: I am a strong believer that 215/75/15 is the sweet spot for a standard ish jim.

I agree as it places a whole lot less stress on the system.....however

I am just doing the same, selling my Wrangler 235/75R15 on 15" Wellers and going for 235/85 R16 on 16" Vitara deep dish steel rims.

Why? because they look good, we are going a bit more pavement princess.

(Looking at "Tyres direct" who are cheaper but 4x4tyres said they would price match)

Each tyre manufacturer will have set a minimum and maximum rim size for each and every different size of tyre they produce, though finding the information on line isn't always as easy as it could be but a phone call or email to whichever manufacturer you prefer will provide the goods. Generally the rim should be around 70 percent of the width of the tyre give or take. As mentioned above narrow is generally better on a Jimny because they are so light, unless you are constantly driving in a swampy bog.

This is what I've always liked about Suzukis, we all build them differently to suit our own needs and how we think it will 'look right' and we therefore end up with a multitude of great looking 4x4s... So everyone's' opinions differ...

So these are my experiences -

I started on 235/75/15s and a 'standard' rocklobster transfer box, I thought at the time this would be the optimum size for my blue greenlaning Jimny... the gearing / speedo was perfect, but I didn't have enough ground clearance for the type of 'lanes we drive...

So I went up to 31"x10.5" Maxxis Trepadors, these are on 15"x7" rims with a -30 offset, to get the gearing about right I now have a 4.87:1 / 1.63:1 ratio transfer box from Rockwatt, and again the gearing and speedo are about right for my application.

Hope that helps, again it's my experiences, not forcing my opinions on anyone...

The gold daily driver has worked out very well remember too... that's a VVT model with earlier transfer box and diffs fitted, that's got 235/75/15 BFG MTs on it, but I think it would be better geared with 30" or 31" tyres, so that's a good gearing option too, but not sure how the 'standard' transfer box would last up to greenlaning / offroad sites...

Dave

Thank you everyone for the input and help!

I will be fitting a 5:1 rocklobster along with the 31’s and I will also be uprating cv’s and shafts no doubt. 31’s are what I would like to go for - I know it’s not to everyone taste but it is the look I’m pursuing.

Like Dave I will be taking it down a lot of green lanes so would like the clearance.

It seems however there is no definitive answer as to what offset or width works best with 31’s? Some say 7” wide and some say 8” wide and then some say 10”. Also same with the offset ha? Really not sure now!?