JB74 3 inch lift with 215/75r15 tires - looking for pics

I'm on the fence between getting a 2 inch lift kit or a 3 inch lift kit. I've toyed with a 2" sus+1" body lift, but the hassle of the body lift and lack of kits in my area (and anywhere really?) closed that door.

I like the idea of greater suspension travel/articulation but not keen on a 235 tire, don't want to go through gearing changes and clutch work. (The 235 seems to be the choice of tire when looking for +3"). I was able to score a decent price on some Yokohama G003 MT's and all my research is pointing to the 215's as the optimal size. There's part of me that also doesn't want to look all goofy if +3" and a 215 tire is a wonky combo.

My Jimny already has a winch + mount and rock sliders/steps. 5th tire is always on. Future plans include a roof rack and rear ladder. Recovery kit lives in the Jimny. 

Anybody have pics and/or experience of/with said combo?

Your centre of gravity goes up as you raise the vehicle and that reduces your cornering ability and can create problems in steering due to variation in castor angle. Also excessive increases in tyre size will put extra strain on king pin bearings and wheel bearings, front and back. I fitted a 50mm lift and 215/75r15 tyres and believe this to be the option for normal road work and reasonable green lane runs.

Roger

That front is hideously beautiful in a barbaric sort of way.

wrote:

I also saw this last weekend at the Jimny meet and from what I could gather it was running a 3inch lift and I would guess 31inch tires? I didn’t get to ask how it handled on the road. Also as you can see from the pics it no longer has the standard bumpers as I guess they don’t work at this level of mods. 

Think it had 245/75R16’s on. About 30.5”.

Sadly I didn’t get see how it flexed off road. I did follow it for a while, but they stayed on the perimeter path.

Personally I wasn’t that keen on the no bumper looK and in the U.K. I’m not sure it is actually road legal and did present sharp (and rusty) edges.

Would be interesting to know what lift kit it was running. The front ARB angle didn’t look great, but it might still have good road manners??

As for the iOS question of tyre height. I’m really torn on this. I also don’t really want to regear. At least it isn’t a planned mod at the moment. But there is no denying Jimny’s in general are under tyred in stock from.

Eg a Land Rover Series has an 88” wheelbase and typically the smallest factory tyre would have been a 205 x 16 (~29”). But Land Rovers could come on a 7.50 x 16 (~31-31.8”). The Jimny with an 88.6” wheelbase is running more like a 27-27.7” tyre. The smaller tyre certainly impacts ground clearance and all the approach/departure/break over angles.

I fell foul to this twice at the weekend. I turned up one track that I’d not even considered would be difficult in a Land Rover and promptly sat the Jimny on its diffs with all 4 wheels spinning.

Later on I also went across the side of a mound. I thought it would just flex, maybe scrabble and use the TCS, but drive straight through. But instead it sat beached on the transmission skid plate and drivers rock slider, again needing a tow out.

Of course ultimately both of these were driving errors in putting the vehicle in that place to begin with. But a 100% standard Land Rover 88 or 90 would even have seen them as obstacles.

I also like narrow tyres over fat ones as a rule off road. At least for terrain in the U.K. my current thinking is a 205/80R16 would be my choice of size. Same height as a 235/75R15 but less wide. But of course needing new rims for 16”. (A 6.50 x 16 would be even nicer, but so rare these days).

Sadly there doesn’t seem to be a tall narrow 15” tyre.

I think it will look goofy. 215s look best on a standard car. As a rule your tyre size should dictate your lift. There is little advantage to lifting just for the sake of it, and if you are adding weight with accessories the extra height is a disadvantage. Also lifts don't necessarily lead to better articulation.

It ultimately came down to a +40mm lift. Front springs from OME, and rear springs something locally produced. The front OME springs were same height as OEM but with thicker coils. Rear springs were seemingly same thickness but longer than OEM. Way less wobble/bounciness now and it seems to sit straighter, ie, no downward slant which I think it had with the OEM springs. 

Looks great in my humble opinion. 

Pic to illustrate difference. I tried to get the before/after photos aligned as best as I could. But the difference is evident when looking at the space between the wheels and body.

  Ok it’s a Sami… but the shape is the same. They are 215/70’s with an OME 40mm lift. I reckon it’s up about 2” on the front and 2.5” on the back. 

When the BFG’s are done I may go to maybe a 29 but I don’t want the wheel weight and lack of manners. I do want the breakover angle which is invariably where I get the current Jim stuck. 


With the little lift and tyres and different chassis arrangement it looks like I’ll have gained about 90mm from the stock Jim so that should make a noticeable difference. 

The 1st picture is 30x9.5r15 (the picture with box on the roof) and the second one 215/85r16 currently I’m running 3inch lift, but I hope soon I’ll get 5 inch 

Oh that looks nice. Perhaps some pictures of flex?