My sidekick is my everyday driver.
I would like to keep as much mpg as I can, but I would also like to have a good weekend off road vehicle.

 Here are my ideas Let me know what you think.

#1--   A 2" budget  suspension lift kit, with rear upper control arm spacer and longer shocks.

#2--   I want bigger tires, not sure what size is best for the 2" lift kit?
         I know 225 75 16's will fit but maybe I can go bigger?  (215 65 16 is stock tire size)

#3--   Front bumper with a winch.
         I think I will build the bumper myself.

Any thoughts or Ideas about building a everyday driver, weekend off road machine?

That is probably what most of us consider our rides to be.   And your list seems vaguely familiar.

i have a stock 94 tracker. 2" budget suspension lift. 225/75/15 street tires and 235/75/15 "off road" tires. My off road tires consist of a pair of new Dean wintercat snow tires in the back and half warn mudcat tires in the front.  Although the tiresare all the same tire size, the front tires are a good 1/2 inch shorter. I dont have enough miles on each set of tires to get a scientific data set, but I don't really notice lack of power and mileage drops of maybe 1 mpg.  On full stuff the outside tread on the back tires touches the fender.

So I'd say you could run 235's, with a 2" lift. Nothing bigger though.

I have a 5 speed transmission, I shift by the sound of the engine, not by the tach, so if you had an auto you might notice the tire size differnce.

Thanks MX5Man,
I found this tire size calculator on another site It helped me get a idea of the tire size I want to use
.
http://www.offroaders.com/tech/AT-MT-Tires/pmetric-inches.htm

The 225/75/16 using their converter comes out to be a lil over 29 inches tall.
 With the sport model's plastic skirting and fender flares the 225/75/16 should fit without a lift kit , but would rub off road when flexed. The 2 inch budget suspension lift should eliminate this problem.

As far as fuel mileage goes, thanks again for the info, I average now 24-25 mpg per tank of gas. I am willing to give up a little bit of fuel mileage, as long as I can get better than 20 mpg I will be happy. 

I know you have 16" and I have 15" rims, but if you wanted to put my off road set on your rig. We could find an urban obsticle to stuff the tire up in the wheel well to give you an idea of what tire size would fit. Seems like the plastic skirting might be a problem if a tire "almost fits".

I was going to try the 15 inch tires and riims off my brothers Asuna Sunrunner ( Canadian Sidekick/Tracker ) but the 15 inch rims wont fit, I have bigger brakes especially in the front on my sport model. On the front between my caliper and 16 inch rim there is less than 1/4 inch of room, the 15 inch rims hit my calipers and wont fit over my brakes.

Thanks for the offer tho, if I had known that the sport model was so different I might not have bought it.
But now I love it and have to make it a lil bit better

This is a small list of the differences I have found so far between the sport and normal sidekicks

#1 The frame is about 2 inches wider
#2 The 16 inch stock wheels have about 1.5 - 2 inch more  back space than the stock/normal sidekick 15 inch rims.
      The sport model seems to be about 4 inches wider at the outside of the wheels than a stock/normal sidekick over all.
#3  The body of the sport model seems to be the same measurements as a stock/normal sidekick. Except the plastic
       skirting which adds +2 inches on each side over the tires.
#4  If the stock 16 inch rims didn't cost so much I would buy a set for my brothers rig to add more width to it and better
       back spacing instead of adding wheel spacers.

Yea, not as many people running the Sports on here, that is probably why you didn't get as much of an initial response.  But the extra power is probably nice. 

I run 1" wheel spacers in my 96 Tracker, the extra width works great for handling on the freeway.

What type of wheeling are you looking to do?  Light trail duty, or just back road bombing/exploration?

I should have thought when I was posting. The tires are not on stock rims and the backspacing is not the same as stock. They are the typical metal spoked wagon wheel rims that everyone seems to be running. I think I have inadvertantly cornered the market on rims. I think I have 3 sets of aftermarket rims and  3 sets of stock (2 steel, 1 alloy).

Come to think of it, I should sell something. My wife would love it if you came by and bought something.  If you want rims, I got rims.

I was thinking I might need or want to use 1 inch wheel spacers on the front, just because when you lift the front it pulls the wheels closer together. I don't know if it will be noticeable.

MX5Man I might buy something, do you have 5.12 gears from a 5 speed? I am not absolutely sure yet but I think the auto tranny sidekicks have higher gearing ( not sure about the sport models ). If not no big deal
 If you live close by it would be cool to hook up and just talk, I am a Jeep guy all I have owned and built are Jeeps ,, this is my first suzuki 4x4< I did buy a 2006 suzuki aero 4x4 brand new and drove it off the show room floor. Way cool lil ride, but I had to sell it last year.

Suzuki forums not a good place to sell Jeeps but I got a Jeep Cherokee 10 inch long arm suspension lift on brand new 40 inch boggers for sale

Got my new tires today, here are a few pictures.

This is stock 215/65/16 tires, next to my jeep.



This is my jeep, 8 inch long arm lift on new 40inch swampers. This thing crawled all over Reiter Pit trails, about 5 mins away from my house. Since they closed Reiter down, I lost interest in finishing this project .
Allot of work still needs to be done to this thing. Hopefully I will be selling it this weekend if the potential buyers show up.


 My 96 Sidekick sport (stock height) on new 225/75/16 BFG KM2's


Looks like a 2 inch  suspension lift will be perfect. The tires don't rub but it is close, when fully flexed it will probably rub.

Looks like you WILL have some rubbing issues.

Walker Valley is still open, not that much further than Reiter and the trees are just as aggressive.

Yep, I got the rear tires to rub when stuffed yesterday
 Going to order up a 2inch lift as soon as I save up some money.
 Build bumpers and skid plates,


My lil Zuki is not ready for off road fun yet, but hopefully in a few months I can try Walker Valley.
 Drone637's you-tube channel has a few videos of Walker Valley and it looks like allot of fun.

Glad to see you got the sport   

Ive got a 98 sport and the 2in lift might give you some more clearance then you'd expect.  Ive got just a 2in coil spacer and fit 245/75/16s on with very little rubbing.  This includes 1.5in wheel spacers that I'm sure help with lock to lock rub.  As far as during flex though I didn't need to trim anywhere besides the rear.  The front was pretty close to the back of the fender well so i did trim just for piece of mind.  Now the real prob with the longer shocks in the rear i found the little lip under the rear doors (the little strip that actually makes the wheel well) had to go.  i just trimmed the lip all the way off and welded a new seam holding the separate sheet metals together. 

With the 245's, cone intake, and 2 in after the cat exhaust I honestly think its peppier then it was with the stock tires.  To me the exhaust made a night and day difference in driveability.  Soon ill be doing a 2in body lift and alot more trimming for 32's, which Ive heard with the 5.12s is still a nice ride with no need to regear.  Hope to see more progress on your build.  If you want some pics of the general look on the 245's let me know and ill post some up soon.

Cool looking jeep too.  Ive been thinking alot what my sport would look like with the rear chopped that way or pickup style.  You'd be my hero if you went that same route on the sport.

I am still running stock height and it does rub when flexing, mostly in the back, by the rear doors.

I am still waiting for my 2 inch lift to come. When I get the lift installed I will see if the rear tires still rub. If they do I will just move the rear axle back about 3/4 or one inch, it should fix my problems.

With the 225/75/16's -- they measure 29 1/2 X 8 inches, I haven't noticed much power loss or any big fuel mileage difference. I can still light them up on wet roads no problem, never could spin them on dry pavement. And when are Seattle area roads dry LOL  

Anyone looking for a easy off road upgrade and keeping as much fuel economy as possible, I would suggest no more than a 30 inch tire and a 2 inch suspension lift. I would recommend buying the best tire you can find. A good tire is the most important part of a off road/ on road vehicle IMO. These BFG MT KM2's are awesome my kick rides, drives, and just feels so much better on and off road than it did before it is almost like driving a totally different zuki.

 As mine sits right now (stock height) I am able to run the same places as my jeep that had a 4 inch lift and 33's, tire placement is very important, and a good spotter is a must. The challenge is the fun part I cant wait till I get my lift, and see where else I can go.

 I ordered jeffs  kit from Low Range Off Road it came with the rear shocks, I also ordered camber alignment bolts and a rear upper control arm drop bracket. In total it cost me less than $300 bucks with shipping, not bad at all. It is just my luck that Low Range Off Road is in the middle of a move to a new location and my parts will be delayed. no biggy tho.

Mudchild also makes a great kit, but the price for me was a little much, his kit is made from machined aluminum, which is awesome but means,,, more man hours making it = more money charged for the product.  If I had a 99+ suzuki I would probably buy Mudchild's kit just for the track bar relocation bracket for the rear.

I love my Sidekick Sport, I think they are kinda rare specially in my area, I haven't seen another one yet. I won't cut it up to make a truck thingy out of it like I did to my jeep. My Kick is just to perdy, I don't know how I would feel if it got scratched

Tomorrow I am going to pull my plastic bumper cover off so I can do some measuring and start my bumper build.
I really like jeffs bumpers so I am going to try to build something like his.

Yep, I got the rear tires to rub when stuffed yesterday
 Going to order up a 2inch lift as soon as I save up some money.
 Build bumpers and skid plates,


My lil Zuki is not ready for off road fun yet, but hopefully in a few months I can try Walker Valley.
 Drone637's you-tube channel has a few videos of Walker Valley and it looks like allot of fun.

Yes, skid plates and rock sliders are a must for Walker Valley.  Drone637 has the ability to make it look easy.  I just made my first trip through Walker Valley WITHOUT a dent, so be warned - it can be tough.
Give us a note when you are going, maybe we could meet up.  My Tracker is going back into shop next month for more modifications.