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Wheel spacers and tyres sizes

Paul

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Now that the 80 is coming along nicely i am thinking of a tyre change and maybe spacers.

I currently have 285 BFG MT's on aftermeerkat alloys as i picked them up on a good deal and the original ones were shot so worked for me at the time. They are still very good but are a little agressive for what i want as soon will be doing more road miles.

In danger of starting a new tyre argument here is the thinking.
Replace the wheels and tyres with something more suitable. I have always fitted BFG AT's in the past but the Cooper options are looking attractive, which is the AT equivalent? I would like to go up in size after seeing Andy's 315's (plumbo) will they fit with a 2" lift, and what is the other dimension that is usual, i am guessing 75. It will be 16" wheels.
Spacers are also an option but would prefer to get the same effect with the right type of wheels instead, anybody know of a supplier for these?
As said before i quite like the Toyota steels, but are they limited with the width of tyre that can be fitted?
 
Roughtracks or Rakeway seem to be the suppliers of choice for good quality wheel spacers at good prices...
 
Paul said:
They are still very good but are a little agressive for what i want as soon will be doing more road miles.

Paul said:
I would like to go up in size after seeing Andy's 315's (plumbo) will they fit with a 2" lift, and what is the other dimension that is usual, i am guessing 75. It will be 16" wheels.
Not sure these 2 statements make sense unless you're regearing :?: 315/75s are eseentially 35" tyres so you'll be more than 11% over stock gearing. That is going to make your 80 sluggish on road :? As you mentioned "something more suitable" for on-road usage I am not sure that 315s fall into this category :twisted:

The Cooper all-terrains are the ST - but check the speed rating on them, especially if you're going to be doing lots of road miles (high speed) as they're only rated for around 87mph/"N" IIRC. On the positive side, they're more aggressive than the BFG AT and lots of people rave about them as a genuine all-terrain tyre.
My 2c on other options - the GG AT2 are popular, also look at the Toyo Open Country AT.

Don't know about the rims - steel rims are generally much heavier than alloys, so the heavier unsprung weight isn't going to improve the quality of the ride in your 80. If this was a big deal in your life, I suspect you wouldn't drive an 80 in the first place :roll: I think Lorin found some cheapish steel rims, so maybe get hold of him and see what he got?

Cheers,
 
Ah, some good sense.

The 315's were just for looks really :twisted: i had kind of settled on the 285's but i have heard that there have been quality problems on the BFG AT's and my mate in Oz has always stood by Coopers, especially when dropping pressures for sand etc and they look quite cool too :cool: Will have a look at the ST's

Now then, who wants to buy 5 alloys with MT's on them ;)
 
Saw that one, might have to rethink the spacer idea :cool:
 
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Paul,

Im running 315/75/16 on mine having gone up from 285's. I have Mickey Thompson Baja Claws fitted.

They are on steel 10x8 and I have a 6"lift.

What was interesting having used the truck fully laden recently, the on-tarmac performance is different to 285's. Cruises easily at 110kph- 120kph but needs to be pushed to get to 140kph. 285's got there quite easily. (I'm not worried about the speed as 110kph is more than enough on tar)
I have an intercooler being fitted next week so will see what difference that will make.

Top has really now become a good O/D gear and the resulting fuel economy was 7km/litre. Off road the tyres were outstanding( and I've had Cooper/BFG/Hankook. On tarmac they are surprisingly quiet and certainly quieter than the BFG + Hankook tyres Ive had.

The biggest difference is in off road performance. It is significantly different with the higher gearing and coming off boost can be a problem.. where it is simply superb however is low range as the low range gearing is now also higher and therefore the truck is much, much more tractable in all gears.

So overall, for me at least it has been a very good change.
 
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