[MISSN2]

Hi Guys, I've been doing a bit of reading about tyres sizes for a Jimny and was wondering what is the best best size tyre for a Jimny? My Jimny has a 2" Ironman lift, Arb bar with winch andI am looking for a little more height than the standard 205's has to offer. Is it 215/75/15 or 235/75/15. Also what size rim will suit 15x7 or stock rims? also what offset?

Any info would be great.

Cheers Matt

[Jezza86]

the best size is a 31"x10.5" on 15x7-24mm rims. they will take you everywhere so long as you gear the transfer with 27% reduction gears and chop your guards.

im asuming Best means "no compromises the biggest and best wheel that will make my car go places"

or you can compromise down to 30x9.5"s because you want to keep some guards, and run -13--15mm offset 15*7"s and only want to run 20% reduction gears

or you can compromise down to 235/75/15 because you want to keep the majority of your guards, and -13--15mm offset 15*7"s and struggle on stock gearing, or give up on the idea of 100kph alltogether

or you could go cheap and fit up 215/75/r15's on stock rims, not gear it, still do 100kph, retain your fuel economy and drive it more with all the money you've saved.

[pezz]

31's will be the best way to munch cv's

[MISSN2]

Ok I don't want to go to extreme. How much guard will need to be chopped for 235/75/15? Or should I just try 215/75/15 first before I go chopping?

[shep]

I am pretty happy with my 245/75/16 tyres. Had to chop a few bits off to stop scrubbing but.

[Mike57]

I suggest 215/75/15 is the largest size you want without gearing changes. Standard rims are fine for this size. No guard chopping either.

[MISSN2]

Ok thanks will try some 215/75/15's has and one tried the kumho KL71's?

[GraphicX]

only thing with kl71s is that they're directional, in that a tyre fitted to the left of your car has to stay on that side & the same for the right tyres (unless you remove them from the rim). means that your spare tyre is either a left side or a right side but it's still good enough to get you home either way.

[Jim_Aus]

im running 215/75/15 and i had to trim the front as it was rubbing on full lock...

[pete_79]

Start with
THIS
THEN THIS

If they don't have what you need, you can try HERE

[Jezza86]

pete_79 wrote:

Start with
THIS
THEN THIS

If they don't have what you need, you can try HERE

i expected all 3 of theose to be search.php

[Mike57]

Jim_Aus wrote:

im running 215/75/15 and i had to trim the front as it was rubbing on full lock...

In some Jimnys you might need to trim the rear of the inside front arch a little or do as I did and just wait for a mm of tyre wear. I have noticed that this varies from car to car. Does not say much for the manufacturing tolerances. Never worked this out properly. If you stay with stock offset the chances are you will have no issues.

[Bugsta]

I don't believe a Jimny can benefit from 9.5" or 10.5" tyres. In fact, the wider the tyre, the larger the footprint and the higher the rolling resistance. For a vehicle with such a small power plant, you're making it worj harder than it needs to. Also, for a vehicle so light, you're spreading that weight over a larger area. "But that's a good thing" you say? Well, when you're rock crawling, maybe, but the weight of the vehicle can only spread that load so much. In sand, surface area is what gives you grip, but back to power, you're just putting unnecessary load on the motor and the steering, which also gets harder, in all terrain, with larger a footprin.

In mud, wider tyres means you are floating on top and not biting into the hard stuff at the bottom.

And of course, wider means more scrubbing on turns.

I feel that 235/7.5" is about as wide as you need, in any height.

[zukenutter]

Gearing aside I think 235/75R15 is the best all round tyre size for a Jimny and a standard rim will hold the bead better at low pressure than a 7" rim.
On soft sand, anything wider than 235 will bog the engine down and require much lower pressure to hold momentum.

[Jezza86]

zukenutter wrote:

Gearing aside I think 235/75R15 is the best all round tyre size for a Jimny and a standard rim will hold the bead better at low pressure than a 7" rim.
On soft sand, anything wider than 235 will bog the engine down and require much lower pressure to hold momentum.

my KM2 30 muds are actually pretty awesome on sand at 10psi.

[zukenutter]

And 235 would perform the same at 13psi. I'm not saying 30s don't work but I've run both and 235s are better.

[Darkness!]

MISSN2 wrote:

Ok I don't want to go to extreme. How much guard will need to be chopped for 235/75/15? Or should I just try 215/75/15 first before I go chopping?

My Jimny has 235/75/R15s on and there was no guard chopping carried out, nor gearing changed.

[Jezza86]

Darkness! wrote:

MISSN2 wrote:

Ok I don't want to go to extreme. How much guard will need to be chopped for 235/75/15? Or should I just try 215/75/15 first before I go chopping?

My Jimny has 235/75/R15s on and there was no guard chopping carried out, nor gearing changed.

just because you can, doesn't mean you should. i put gearing off myself. id prefer to be over geared then under geared.

[Darkness!]

I bought it with those tyres on and they are brand new. Personally I would have gone a tiny bit smaller.

What is to be gained by changing gearing? I cruise at 95km/h sitting on about 3000rpm in 5th, and it seems pretty capable in the bush.

[Jezza86]

What youll find is the car will use less fuel and be more responsive in 4th/ fifth overtaking. The m13 engine is close to labouring and cannot produce the required power to maintain 100kph at such low revs. Gearing increases the revs so the engine has more headroom and you can drive up a steeper incline because the engine can develop the required power without droping to 4th.

[Jezza86]

Likewise a m15/16/18 has higher power output and can develop the required ppower at lpwer rpm, partially negaiting the need for gearing

[Darkness!]

Ah, good stuff. Yeah it is a bit of a turd going up hills at 100.

[MISSN2]

All good guys just put on some 215/75/15 BFG km2's today . 235/75/15 were just to close to the guards even with the 2" lift for my likings. Didn't really want to cut the guards.

[GraphicX]

should have dynapro mt 215/75/15 fitted to my jimny early next week. really hoping they don't ruin the acceleration & top speed too much, not to mention fuel economy.

have you taken yours out for a good drive yet missn2, you found it just as responsive or has it suffered a bit ?

[pete_79]

You shouldn't notice too much difference with 215s.

The only thing that really stood out me was when trying to crawl in low range.
It just felt like I was being pushed a little bit more and had to ride the brakes a bit harder. I was stalling on descents for a little while until I got used to how it felt.

[GraphicX]

guessing you had to ride the clutch a little more to overcome that, my clutch is already a little slippery at times (actually starts to stink when out playing in it, burning smell). i'm hoping i don't have any issues with the larger tyres & towing my camper on the highway.

[Gwagensteve]

Time for gears. Off road there should never be an instance where the clutch is being feathered or slipped other than at idle.

Steve.

[GraphicX]

for me it's time for a new clutch ... timing belt ... brake pads & rotors ... etc ... etc lol.

due for 100k service :/

[Mike57]

GraphicX wrote:

should have dynapro mt 215/75/15 fitted to my jimny early next week. really hoping they don't ruin the acceleration & top speed too much, not to mention fuel economy.

have you taken yours out for a good drive yet missn2, you found it just as responsive or has it suffered a bit ?

I have this same tyre and this size. The added weight will reduce fuel economy slightly and you will notice the lack of power going up hills but that just means changing down a little earlier. I have heavier rims as well. Overall it is quite acceptable. Don't forget to allow for the larger tyre diameter when calculating the fuel consumption.

[Poz93]

I found that the 21/75.15 tyre made me Jimny speedo exactly right... Like when I compared it to the GPS speed. I never compared the GPS speed to the stocky tyres so there must have been discrepancies with the speedos accuracy!