the 16's look good. but you can't find any meat for them. I've had many various rigs. Lifted two of them. been stuck many times. pulled people out even more

15's will open new worlds of multi-sidewalled AT's and MT's. On many projects I've run 31 pro-comps and thornbirds on taller rigs (non zuki's), 33" bfg MT's.

I'm looking for the 'fit 15's on my gen 2 gv' thread.

More rubber and less rim leaves more room for airing down. tougher side-walls means reduced pinch-flats and tires coming off the bead w/ low psi on rocks. less air will grant you vastly improved terrain comfomity, increase your contact dispersing your weight and expand your grab. you also gain an overall softer, more room-for-abuse offroad experience.

No other traction rivals triple-walled MT's muddiin on 20lbs or less.

I'd take a tough set of self-cleaning MT's, and a tire guage over winching in the rain any day. (if your looking at your winch, your already standing in 2 feet of muck.)


off course you need compressed air to put the pounds back in before hitting the pave.



What's the real deal fitting legit 15's on an 03 GV?


Replacing rotors and calipers with tracker discs?

or

Finding the rare 15's that will actually clear the calipers?



this is not a thread about lift's, lockers, tire diameter or 'i-never-get-stuck' or 'my friend says...' claims.
 

it's a thread about 15" rims squeezed over gen-2 GV  calipers or diff discs all together.



direct me to the nearest rim, preferably alloy.

pictures of a rig equipped thusly would make you godlike.
 

i'll be happy to answer any questions about meats I've used on other rigs. thornbirds blew. I did not experience shorter tread-life running many MT's on pavement at propper psi on the propper offset.

I personally don't believe in offset wheels or wheel spacers. think of your axels and A-arms like levers and... you actually need your sharpest turning on the trail. you'll wear your rubber out with offsets on the road.

it's good for the sake of steering and rubber to keep your turning radius as close to stock as possible.


hope none of you have overlooked extending your brake lines BEFORE performing your lifts, keeping custom 'what's-this-do?' switches out of the reach of passengers, bolting and not welding (welding tears), monitoring your gains from your various builds in rti (and not in the rubber you're clearing), and hope you're all greasing the bushings on every twisting and swingin suspension component, repacking your bearings after muddin and torqin bolts and not clamping.


 

I spoke with one of the guys at Hawk Strictly Suzuki and he told me if you run a 1" wheel spacer on the front, you can run a wide range of 15" rims.

I spoke with one of the guys at Hawk Strictly Suzuki and he told me if you run a 1" wheel spacer on the front, you can run a wide range of 15" rims.

front wheel spacers would look great! but would have to be matched in the rear. will offset the wheel placement.

that offset would kill the turning radius needed at trails end. murder on driveline and bearings. ware-down your rubber. probably void the driveline warranty (for those of you holding back on a lift for warranty reasons.)

the tight turning radius is one of the Grand Vitara's utmost advantages over every other true offroad vehicle. the short wheelbase equals greater clearance for steeper angle to high center. both great: approach and departure angles. mirrors folded, it's the narrowest 4x4. trails continue for the narrow GV between trees where they otherwise end for wider or taller 4x4s. the close proximity of it's four tires equals focused traction.

there in lies the problem... no traction.


for it's stock front disc and rim size, there are no meats on the market.



only 15's will unlock multi-plywall AT's and self cleaning MT's.



anybody have any shots of an 03 tracker sittin on a set of MT's on 15's?
 

There are good tires available in 245/70/16, 235/75/16's, and even 265/70/16's. You can get BF AT or MT's in all these sizes.

Quote from: olija on February 04, 2009, 10:47:39 PM

I spoke with one of the guys at Hawk Strictly Suzuki and he told me if you run a 1" wheel spacer on the front, you can run a wide range of 15" rims.

front wheel spacers would look great! but would have to be matched in the rear. will offset the wheel placement.

that offset would kill the turning radius needed at trails end. murder on driveline and bearings. ware-down your rubber. probably void the driveline warranty (for those of you holding back on a lift for warranty reasons.)

the tight turning radius is one of the Grand Vitara's utmost advantages over every other true offroad vehicle. the short wheelbase equals greater clearance for steeper angle to high center. both great: approach and departure angles. mirrors folded, it's the narrowest 4x4. trails continue for the narrow GV between trees where they otherwise end for wider or taller 4x4s. the close proximity of it's four tires equals focused traction.

there in lies the problem... no traction.


for it's stock front disc and rim size, there are no meats on the market.



only 15's will unlock multi-plywall AT's and self cleaning MT's.



anybody have any shots of an 03 tracker sittin on a set of MT's on 15's?
 

what about cooper tyres, 225,75,16

I see you can correctly list off the disadvantages of having a behemoth of a vehicle. However, adding 1 or 2 inches of width to an already very narrow vehicle is not going to WILDLY alter the type of trails you will be running. Seriously, you'd think you were switching from an LJ to an H1.

Think about it this way, once you have you lift on your already narrow vehicle, wouldn't it make alot more sense to counter the added height by putting on some extra width. The wider stance has a  few advantages:

1) more stability (obviously)
2) will likely track better in the highway ruts
3) the front suspension will flex better because there is more leverage on the A-arms

Yes, there is going to be more wear and tear on items like wheel bearings and ball joints, but as long as you keep an eye on them every once in a while you should be fine. And you don't HAVE to match it with spacers in the rear...only if you're a perfectionist!