Jimny02 Alloy Wheels v Steel Wheels

I have been advised by Suzuki that the Jimny02 has the awful wheel/steering wobble because they changed from steel to alloy wheels to make it look 'pretty'. As the wobble is so hard to effectively repair without causing possible further issues (costing more....) is it not possible to just change the wheels back to steel ones? Or would this mean making modifications for them to fit.....

They're a straight swap - no mods required. Or you could try the five spoke alloys (I'm assuming you've got the three spoke wheels at the moment)

Thank you for that - relieved re the straight swap! All I can hope now is the garage will stop messing about, I can get the car back on the road and then.....look for someone to teach me off-roading! Thanks again.

You might have to change the wheel nuts as i believe the taper or shoulder is different for alloys and steels, although i could be wrong. just found this which explains the reasoning.

Mark

you will have to change all the nuts

Its not the wheels or the tyres its the bearing shims that have worn

There are a lot of story's around about the dreaded Jimny death wobble. Many include the 3 spoke alloys.

Before you go to the expense of changing wheels, search the forums on the subject.

My theory is that, sure worn kingpins and warp disks cause this wobble. But so does heavy wheel tyre combinations. Alloy wheels are generally heavier than steel wheels and can aggravate the wobble.

In my case on my 55 plate Soft top VVT with 7" alloys and AT tyres. I found that fitting a steering damper dramatically improved the situation to an acceptable level.

On my last 2002 Jimny, I went to expense of changing disks and checking kingpins and never completely resolved the issue. It was not bad, but very annoying.

If I see a cheap set of Modula wheels I will also change back to steel wheels. Purely for a weight reduction.

Hope the above is of help.

Cheers
Paul
Hertford

Wheel nuts are all the same, the alloys have the chrome ones because they look pretty, but still fit the steel wheels as the holes in the steels are flared to make up the difference in thickness.

O2 Jimnys are also spannish built, the axles were not made as well apparently, where the tollerences in the axle end are not so accurate so Suzuki came up with the shim idea as a fix.

Just to confirm that badly balanced wheels can indeed cause death wobble. Mine had it and a new set of tyres with fresh balancing and it went away.
No guarantee that its the issue but it certainly can be a factor.

Can't confirm if the 3 spokes are easy to balance or not.

Oh and to add I have a Spanish built Jimny without Shims and no death wobble!!!

Do we really think that the actually made different axles for the Japanese and Spanish Jimnys? Surely most of the parts would be common and just assembled in different countries? (sorry completely off topic)

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

pgatensuk wrote: ...Alloy wheels are generally heavier than steel wheels...

I think you've got that the wrong way round. My standard Jimny steel wheels were noticeably heavier than the genuine Suzuki Jimny 5 spoke alloys with the same tyre fitted.

As for nuts, when I bought my Jimny I changed the nuts for a set off eBay like the ones below. They were a perfect fit with my steel wheels and are a perfect fit with my alloys

No idea where you are located but if it helps we have a complete set of 5 steel wheels with 5 almost as new Bridgestones that were fitted to daughter's car where they caused no issues, they are all fully balanced and ready to go.
We replaced them with a set of alloys which came with grippy tyres and improved the looks of her car, we have stored them just incase we needed them but it is most unlikely that we will fit them again.
Get in touch if of any interest.
atb
Mike