I am putting a two inch lift on my 91 Sidekick JX, Other that the lift all is stock.  Are the 31/10.5 ok or should I go with a 31/ 8.5 tire....is the 10.5 too wide.

Thanks

Depends on your wheel backspacing.

You might have to do a bit of trimming with 2" of lift to get 31's on, though.

I've got 31/10.50 on my tracker with a 3 in suspension lift. They work but I had to remove the fron bumper all to gether, until I put an aftermarket on. The back end ended up hanging up and tearing the plastic cover up.

 So in other words, you can probably run the 31's but get the right back spacing and plan on moving sheat metal and bumper covers.

that is the 2 bds lift and a 3in body  with a 1.25 spring spacer in the front and the front strut mount was flip.  The tj spacer are for the winch bumper and winch. it sits on 31x10.50r15 Bfgoodrich A/T

i have a 89 JX Vitara.

i have fitted a 3 inch body lift, and a 3 inch suspension lift. i also had to cut the rear of the front outer guards, and also 'bash' back the firwall to allow the 31x10.5R15's to clear with out rubbing. the 3 inch body lift also helps when the suspension cycles, to prevent the tyres rubbing on the body.

this pic shows where i roughly had to cut the guards on the front. this was when i had no body lift, and only a 1" coil spacer lift.


this is a pic of a new (old spare) 235-75-15 behind the new 31-10.5-15. you can't really tell the difference in width, but it is taller.


these are my brand new 31"s, all nice, new, and clean. (please dont comment about the colour of the wheels, i know it doesn't look good or suit)



i used to run 235/75R15's on standard suzi wheels, in one of the pics, you can see the difference, also, i'm using ford F100 wheels, and i think they are 15"x8".

i don't get any rubbing from the tyres anywhere on the vitara, except the little mudflap on the rear bumper, but thats nothing to worry about.

hope this helps.
Steve

p.s. you can see a few more pics of my vitara here: http://www.zukiworld.com/cgi/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=suzuki_talk;action=display;num=1093436249;start=14#14

i also have more pics.

hey SAFARIKICK.....

mine's better.....  

..... apart from all the scratches and dents, and the different colored panels, and a crusty top, and bad colored wheels, and you get the point.

(different color front guard from cutting them to fit 31"s and resprayed.)







the best thing about the vitara...... is probably the air in the tyres.


(and yes, its duct tape on the top, someone sliced it up one night, don't know who, so i need a new top soon)

I USED TO RUN 235/75/15 WITH JUST A 2" BODY LIFT I STILL RUBBED A LITTLE BIT WITH 3" i DON'T THINK I'D GO ANY BIGGER THAN 30X9.5 BUT AS I'M SURE YOU ALREADY KNOW EVERYONE DOES THERE OWN THING

I ran 29x10.50 Interco Thornbirds on my Kick when I had the Calmini 2" suspension lift and still had some rubbing.

Zig

I have 30x9.5x15 on my 95 tracker with no lift of any kind.  They are mounted on 15x7 wheels with 3.75" backspacing (std for samurai)

I trimmed the bottom part of the front bumper cover and pounded the inside of the front wheel wells after removing the inner liner.

They don't rub at all on the street unless I hit a speedbump at about 50 mph and don't even rub much in light to moderate wheeling.  I have a Calmini 2" lift kit for the truck but haven't put it on yet since i don't really need it.



~daxe

I have 30x9.5x15 on my 95 tracker with no lift of any kind.  They are mounted on 15x7 wheels with 3.75" backspacing (std for samurai)

I trimmed the bottom part of the front bumper cover and pounded the inside of the front wheel wells after removing the inner liner.

They don't rub at all on the street unless I hit a speedbump at about 50 mph and don't even rub much in light to moderate wheeling.  I have a Calmini 2" lift kit for the truck but haven't put it on yet since i don't really need it.



~daxe

if you dotn need the susp. lift, i do so send it down

I have 30x9.5x15 on my 95 tracker with no lift of any kind.  They are mounted on 15x7 wheels with 3.75" backspacing (std for samurai)

I trimmed the bottom part of the front bumper cover and pounded the inside of the front wheel wells after removing the inner liner.

They don't rub at all on the street unless I hit a speedbump at about 50 mph and don't even rub much in light to moderate wheeling.  I have a Calmini 2" lift kit for the truck but haven't put it on yet since i don't really need it.



~daxe

Are you serious!? you get to fit 30" tires in a stock sidekick? I will problably try it since I drive in the city "a lot" (more than I like to) how did you do it again? I'm taking notes  

He said he used 15x7" rims with 3.75" of backspacing(which is actually the Samurai size) and had to trim the front bumper cover a little and had to pound the inside of the front wheelwells after removing the plastic inner liner. Seems like everything you need to know right there.

im putting 31" 11.5 " wide super swamper ltb's on my gf's tracker, on stock samuria rims, we'l see how it goes, its got about 3 inches of lift right now.. and currently its running 30" 10.5" wide old school bias ply swampers lol on stock tracker rims.

Are you serious!? you get to fit 30" tires in a stock sidekick? I will problably try it since I drive in the city "a lot" (more than I like to) how did you do it again? I'm taking notes  

yep.  they are true 30s, too.  The same wheels and tires used to be on my sami.  Like I said in the first post, I slapped 'em on there and jsut looked to see what needed trimming.  I was ready to get some coil spacers or whatever if I needed them,, but I didn't.

The first thing I noticed was that inside the rear bottom part of the front wheelwell, there was a little part that served as a mounting point for the front end cap of the plastic rocker trim.  I took the trim off so I could flatten that out.  I put the trim back on after I mashed it down and I honestly dont remember if its still there.  Again..it wasnt the trim itself that rubbed, it was a metal piece inside the lower rear of the wheelwell to which the trim mounted.

Next I noticed that the very bottom part of the front rubber bumper cover, the part that's kinda like a mini air dam, would touch the lugs when the wheel was turned.  It took me about a minute per side to neatly trim off around 6-8 inches of that lower dam.  Its not even noticable unless you are looking for it.

Then I jacked up the control arm and went lock to lock to see where else it might contact.  It was firmly up against the plastic inner liner of the wheelwell in the rear part towards the top,  at about 10 o'clock as your are looking at it from the side of the vehicle.  I pulled out the inner fenders and saw the metal had a bulge there.  I took the tire off and got a 3 lb sledge and just hammered it out in there to get the clearance necessary to fully stuff the tire and allow it to turn without rubbing.

Now I can drive on the street all day with no rubbing unless I take a corner really fast or hit a huge bump at speed.  The rear tire rubs the top of the wheelwell opening really lightly when its stuffed in the back.  If I try real hard offroad I can get the front tire to touch something up front, but I dont even know what it is.  Doesnt damage the tire or the wheelwell, so I dont really care.

I plan to try and get the inner liners back in before winter sets in (I'm in New England), maybe just screwed through them directly to the metal of the inner fender.  That's less important on the passenger side than the drivers side since there is a molded plastic thing on the drivers side which is the air intake for the motor.  I went through last winter with it that way, worrying that slush and ice and whatever would get up into the intake, but it never did.  I have even driven through some soupy mud up over the hubs and didn't get anything in there. It doesnt matter a whole lot anymore since I made a more direct intake for the tracker that doesnt use the under-fender plastic thing.  Works great but at idle it sounds like someone firing ping pong balls rapid-fire through a long plastic vaccuum cleaner hose.  Makes a nice throaty honk when sticking your foot in it though.  

That's basically all there is to it.  I have a used Calmini 2" lift for the tracker that I might put on sometime, but it honestly doesnt need it and I dont believe in having any more lift than necessary.  Not to mention Massachusetts limits you to 2" of lift anyways.  I like just throwing the stock wheels and tires back on for annual inspection and not having to sweat it failing for being too high.

~daxe

He said he used 15x7" rims with 3.75" of backspacing(which is actually the Samurai size) and had to trim the front bumper cover a little and had to pound the inside of the front wheelwells after removing the plastic inner liner. Seems like everything you need to know right there.

......that's funny when I ask HIM, he had a lot more to say........