Biggest wheels on 99 Grand Vitara

[cbfb]

Hi

Very new to offroading (i.e. only done one outing so far) and quickly found that my shiny 99 Grand Vitara doesn't have enough clearance (don't ask me how I know this )

After talking to some of the guys in the local club, I've decided eventually it would be good to get a new truck so for now I just want to do the bare minimum to mine to enable me to do a few gentle trips with the club. Basic safety equipment obviously and then I was thinking maybe some secondhand mud wheels. Could just chuck them on before a trip and if I get an older Vitara as a toy later on I've already got the wheels for it then.

My question is though what is the biggest I can go on this truck without rubbing the arches round corners etc? Not interested in a lift kit due to expense and don't want to affect road handling as it's mainly a commuter. Just want to be able to get through the deeper rutted tracks without wrecking anything.

Cheers
Chris

[Jerry]

pm nstacey
front diffs on these are a known weak point

[Ralfie]

pm nstacey
front diffs on these are a known weak point

Bloody hell Jerry, why don't you read the post before commenting?

He wants to know what size tyres he can fit without any lift or other modifications, not what the vehicle weak points may or may not be.

Some one will know for sure but I understand that with the Grand Vitara you are somewhat limited as to tyre sizes and would suggest you can't fit larger tyres unless the vehicle is lifted or modified.

[cbfb]

Cheers Jerry, good to know the weak points to look out for.

Ralfie - not good news, was hoping I could add a bit just with a simple wheel change

[Rotazuk]

245/70/16 and you will still have to clip a bit of the front lower bumper , not noticeable so snip away .

could be 245/75/16 but doubt it and can't dig out the tyres just now to check .

Chris

[aLUX]

Where are you, what size you running now?

[churchill]

Where are you, what size you running now?

Some people say that 225/75/R16 is the largest that can be put on but it needs to be the 7in rim (deep dish steel one like lincoln has on his avatar)

I've got a 245/75/R16 off my Vitara that you can try a wheel on to see how it fits. The offset is different but it should give you an idea.

[lincooln]

hey, on my 93 I have 225 75 R16 The rims are off a later model like yours, They are equal to a 31" basically, well mine are anyway. Only small rubbing on mine, but I dont know what yours would be like as they are a bit different.

[nstacey]

Not interested in a lift kit due to expense and don't want to affect road handling as it's mainly a commuter. Just want to be able to get through the deeper rutted tracks without wrecking anything.

I've got OME lift springs and shocks in my Grand Vitara only a 1.25" lift though. It handles as well as if not better than on stock suspension. I think the kit was about $1400 installed when I did it 4 years ago so that's the downside.

With the lift springs on my SWB 1.6 GV which has 225/75/16 wheels on it, there is still a slight bit of rubbing at full articulation on the right rear guard lip. I run LWB rims.

225/75/16 is the equivalent of 29.5", which is about the same as the sizes that Rotazuk gave you (only his are 20mm wider)

I think that the LWB or SWB 2 litre have slightly different guards so you may not have a rubbing issue.

Also you probably need to stick to 16" as most people say 15" rims don't fit the larger brakes that later models have.

[cbfb]

Thanks all... replies below:

245/70/16 and you will still have to clip a bit of the front lower bumper , not noticeable so snip away .

could be 245/75/16 but doubt it and can't dig out the tyres just now to check .

Chris

Running 235/60/16 at the moment, by my reckoning that is a 27.1" wheel (correct me if I'm wrong). A 245/70/16 would be a 29.5" wheel, so would gain an inch of clearance (and obviously have better treads too).

Where are you, what size you running now?

I'm in Palmerston North (tried to update my profile but can't figure out how). Got 236/60/16 on at the moment.

Where are you, what size you running now?

Some people say that 225/75/R16 is the largest that can be put on but it needs to be the 7in rim (deep dish steel one like lincoln has on his avatar)

I've got a 245/75/R16 off my Vitara that you can try a wheel on to see how it fits. The offset is different but it should give you an idea.

225/75/16 is 29.3" which would be good. Not sure about the rims though, is there an easy way to check this without having the tryes off (sorry if that's a dumb question). Will post a pic of the truck at the end of this.

Would love to give yours a go but live down in Palmy so it's not a practical option (have tried to update my Location but can't figure it out).

hey, on my 93 I have 225 75 R16 The rims are off a later model like yours, They are equal to a 31" basically, well mine are anyway. Only small rubbing on mine, but I dont know what yours would be like as they are a bit different.

Yeah I'm pretty sure they were redesigned in 99, I think mine is the first of the new models so may not be comparible. would be good if I could fit those on though.

Not interested in a lift kit due to expense and don't want to affect road handling as it's mainly a commuter. Just want to be able to get through the deeper rutted tracks without wrecking anything.

I've got OME lift springs and shocks in my Grand Vitara only a 1.25" lift though. It handles as well as if not better than on stock suspension. I think the kit was about $1400 installed when I did it 4 years ago so that's the downside.

With the lift springs on my SWB 1.6 GV which has 225/75/16 wheels on it, there is still a slight bit of rubbing at full articulation on the right rear guard lip. I run LWB rims.

225/75/16 is the equivalent of 29.5", which is about the same as the sizes that Rotazuk gave you (only his are 20mm wider)

I think that the LWB or SWB 2 litre have slightly different guards so you may not have a rubbing issue.

Also you probably need to stick to 16" as most people say 15" rims don't fit the larger brakes that later models have.

Yeah $1400 is more than I want to go, having spoken to the guys in the local club I've decided not to spend too much on this and save my money for a pos to play with at weekends and keep this as a commuter.

Mine is the 2L J20A (see pic below).

Looks like the 245/70/16 is the favourite at the moment.

[churchill]

245/75/r16 = 30.7in. To reduce the rubbing I spaced my bumpstops out by 3mm at the front and 5mm at the rear. The fronts don't rub unless on full lock but the rears do rub on full articulation. Noticed a huge difference over standard road tyres...

[cbfb]

245/75/r16 = 30.7in. To reduce the rubbing I spaced my bumpstops out by 3mm at the front and 5mm at the rear. The fronts don't rub unless on full lock but the rears do rub on full articulation. Noticed a huge difference over standard road tyres...

What did it cost to fix the bumpstops? Is it easy?

Has it changed the on-road handling noticeably?

Cheers

[Jerry]

I ran wrangler ATR's on my diesel one, from memory 15" rims didnt fit, found the factory grandtrek at2's to be cr@p (slippery in the wet etc), i only went a size up eg 275 to 285 and that was a squeeze.

last time i looked TJM did an alloy bar for them, aliarc used to do them but no longer sell them coz of the airbag compliance. on that the airbag sensor (from memory) is behind the bumper on the drivers side. my one had a hook already fitted based around the towing loop mount and braced to the chassis.

[lincooln]

From what I can tell your rims are the same as mine. If you take a wheel off you can see the measurements on the inside of the rim. Should be 7" wide etc. The wheels I have are off a zuk like yours.

[churchill]

245/75/r16 = 30.7in. To reduce the rubbing I spaced my bumpstops out by 3mm at the front and 5mm at the rear. The fronts don't rub unless on full lock but the rears do rub on full articulation. Noticed a huge difference over standard road tyres...

What did it cost to fix the bumpstops? Is it easy?

Has it changed the on-road handling noticeably?

Cheers

I did it myself for free as I found the right washers lying around in my garage. You basically have to take out the springs, undo the bumpstops and fit the washer between the bumpstop and the chassis. It will effect the handling when you hit large bumps as the total travel is reduced but it shouldn't effect tarseal driving. I bought Cobra springs for mine for $400 and they gave me a 2 inch lift which offsets the reduced up travel of the bumpstop spacers. I put strut extenders $150 in the front and commadore rear shocks $200 in the back to give ~60mm more down travel all round for better articulation.

[cbfb]

Thanks all, will have a look at the wheel measurements tonight.

Was talking to a guy from the club last night who reckons the way to go would be to put a body lift on then run 15s, he had them on his apparently.

Seen some Hankook Dynamics MT in 215/75/15 for 600 with good tread, would something like that be a good option? Local so I could see about trying them first for fit.

[churchill]

You find that 15's probably won't fit over your brakes. You can changes the brakes, Rugard did that to his vit but I think he had to get it certified.

Oh another thing, if you go 5% larger on the tyre circumference the vehicle needs to be certified. Body lifts are a bit vauge, some say under 50mm is ok and over 50mm needs a cert.

A body lift would be a good idea, you could probably get 31's under it. Those 215/75/15 are almost the same size as standard tyres. Not sure if this is what you want?

[cbfb]

You find that 15's probably won't fit over your brakes. You can changes the brakes, Rugard did that to his vit but I think he had to get it certified.

Oh another thing, if you go 5% larger on the tyre circumference the vehicle needs to be certified. Body lifts are a bit vauge, some say under 50mm is ok and over 50mm needs a cert.

A body lift would be a good idea, you could probably get 31's under it. Those 215/75/15 are almost the same size as standard tyres. Not sure if this is what you want?

Yeah might stick with 16s, a few people have mentioned that about the brakes. The guy's I saw were 15s but not a standard zook rim, must have been something different that made them fit ok.

My 27" wheels would have an 85" circumfrence, so anything over 89" would need to be certified? That leaves me with 28" as the only option! How hard is it to get the cert?

Yeah you're dead right hadn't thought of that when you take into account the 1" difference in rims and the narrower tyre I'm not gaining any height at all

[churchill]

I've never done a cert but will do in the near future. I've been talking to one certifier and making notes on what he wants me to do so I can get the cert first time. It cost around $400. Funny thing is I've had two warrants and they havent pulled me up on anything and the insurance company said that if I passed warrants they would still insure me.

[cbfb]

I've never done a cert but will do in the near future. I've been talking to one certifier and making notes on what he wants me to do so I can get the cert first time. It cost around $400. Funny thing is I've had two warrants and they havent pulled me up on anything and the insurance company said that if I passed warrants they would still insure me.

Fark is that right, $400 is steep. Gonna just keep my road wheels I think and run those apart from club trips.

[Livewire]

For anybody looking back through these threads, I have just put a set of
225-75-16 Hankook Dynamic MTs on my 98 3dr GV.(On original wheels) Just a slight rub on the back of the left front wheel arch, may go away when I get the inner guard plastic clips fixed to keep it tight back in place. Only touches when at about half lock. Not a lot of room to go much bigger front or back wheels without some mods. Need to check speedo next.