Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I recently purchased a 2000 Grand Vitara v6..

It has a set of crapy road tires on it at the moment. What I would like to know is what tire would people recommend for it.

The tire placard says 235/60/R16

I have had a look into it and most manufactures don't make a tire with that low profile. closest fit I can find is a 235/70/r16, however my speedo will be out significantly.


any ideas anyone?

Generally if you're going to go for a more aggressive tyre for wheeling, most people try to fit a bigger tyre too (which of course gives you a bigger range).

If you're just running standard height springs, a 29" tyre is at your max - actually you'll still scrub. If you get about 2-3" lift, 29" fits no scrubbing, and there are guys out there running 31s with a little guard trimming.

Figure out which size you want to go for, and then read the reviews on this site to figure out which one will suit your needs. 29-31" tyres are pretty plentiful.

(Sorry, I'm not too sure what the metric measurements are in 16s)

Look up GV_Qld in the members section to see what I would consider the biggest you can take a GV while still keeping the IFS and most of your panels.

PS. Your speedo will be out, but there are ways to correct this - I don't find it a problem, you get used to it.

I went though this problem when I got my car. Ended up doing a home made 1" body lift to clear the 235/70R16's with no problems. A 1" Spring lift later on helped even more. Hoping to go to 31's fairly soon.

If you go for the 235/70R16's with no lifts, you will need to do probally two things. Remove the rear mud flaps. They just get in the way, and remove a small section of the front bumper, although I'm not sure if you will have that problem with your model. Mine is the 1999 model, forget if bumper changed after that. The removal is really minor.... just need to allow the tires to clear the bottom of the plastic when turning.

If you need tyre size conversion go here....

http://www.s-series.org/htm/calc/tiresizeconv.htm

or here:

http://www.mahindrauk.com/calculators.htm

or here....


etc etc

You start with about 27.1" (235/60/16). You'll run 235/75/16 with maybe a little rubbing (28.9").

For cheap lift you can buy coil spacers in 15mm or 30mm which should help you clear them and will set you backa few hours and approximately $100. 1" Bodylift on Vitaras is also easy. More than 1" starts messing with all the plastic alignment on GV's and starts looking nasty.

You can also look at other sizes like 215/75/16 (28.7"). Work out what will fit.... if you don't mind 1/2" wider or narrower there's heaps of options.

If you dont want to cut anything or get too serious on the suspension side like Jeff has done with his calmini stuff 30"s are probably a reasonable limit with a bit of lift in the body and suspension.

i have had 3 grand vitara's and run 225/75/16 BFG AT's on two of them and 235/70/16 cooper AT's on the one i currently own

although i have now got a OME coil lift both the above tyres fitted without touching (for some reason the canadian built soft top gv2000 rubbed in reverse on full lock!!)

i compiled this chart below if it's any use?

o/e215 x 65 x 16 686mm
215 x 70 x 16 711mm +25mm
225 x 70 x 16 719mm +33mm **BFG AT's
225 x 75 x 16 745mm +59mm
o/e235 x 60 x 16 688mm
235 x 70 x 16 733mm +47mm **Cooper AT's
235 x 75 x 16 754mm +68mm


Karl

I found Bridgestone make a All terain in a 235/60r16

It would be ideal if I could put 235/70/r16 BFGs on. I am looking at a suspension lift in the near future (possibly the OME) so this would be fine for clearence.

What my major concern is the speedo being out by 8%. That would mean if my speedo said 100km/h then I would be actually doing 108% Is there anything I could do or have done to correct the speedo?

235/60/R16 is a shocking tyre size. Its way to low in profile, and would be crap off road. MY vitara came with 215/65/R16 and they were shit

jono83 wrote:I found Bridgestone make a All terain in a 235/60r16

It would be ideal if I could put 235/70/r16 BFGs on. I am looking at a suspension lift in the near future (possibly the OME) so this would be fine for clearence.

What my major concern is the speedo being out by 8%. That would mean if my speedo said 100km/h then I would be actually doing 108% Is there anything I could do or have done to correct the speedo?

Don't get the Bridgestones. Mine didn't last long. Poor wear and crap in the wet.

After I got my BFG's (235/70R16), I ran the GPS and the speed was a perfect 10% out. Not too difficult to judge the correct speed. I believe there is a correction box you can get that wires into the speedo wire, but from the last check it was $150 US or something. Cheaper to run my GPS.

Cheers.. Thanks for that..

the 235/70/r16 BF Goodrich All Terain are the ones I am interested in. Should work well with a 2" OME suspension lift

I will look into that speedo box.. Any ideas where you found it or what it was called.

www.rotational-dynamics.com used to do a unit, but they are no longer in business. Can still try them on info@rotational-dynamics.com though.

That was for the GV.

Locally, you might try Marks 4WD Adaptors.

http://www.marks4wd.com/speedo-correction.html

If you have the 4.625 diff centres you can change to 5.125 diff centres as well... this will get you within about 1% or so of speedo accuracy and change your gearing back to stock.

I used the ST Cooper's (235/75/16) with a 50mm OEM lift kit, and that seems to work ok, the tyres catch a little on full lock but not bad

I'm pretty sure my Dad had a set of the 225/70/r16 BF Goodrich All Terain's on his stock 99 GV. Here is a GV with them on http://www.burniemorgan.com/grand_vitara/tyres.html

OME don't make a 2inch lift for the GV, more like 35 to 40mm. You'll need to add coil spacers to get it up to the 50mm.

215/75r16 will go on with no problems, any bigger and you'll need to start lifting and/or trimming. (the plastic bits just get in the way so take them off )

I just use my GPS as my speedo.

I know of a place down here in tassie that does the speedo correction boxes for $140 if thats any help.