Land Cruiser Build Wheels & Tyres
Wheels & Tyres
This post of the Land Cruiser build looks at our choice of wheels and tyres.
I went down to the local tyre guys just down the road from us who did the tyres for us on the Wrangler to get a quote to upgrade the wheels and tyres on Big Betty. Good bunch of guys at Tyre Busters, and bloody good pricing. Had a chat with Leonard and discussed going with steel rims and mud tyres. Wanted to get a 1 inch lift with wheels so going to just over 32 inches all up from stock wheels. I have been keen to go with BF Goodrich KM3’s after the reviews I’ve read and watched but know these guys do General Tire Grabber X3’s which are also pretty good. Thought the GT’s would be cheaper but exactly the same price so BFG’s it is.
Had a chat about rims and Leonard recommended going with a negative 55mm offset in the rear to make up for the offset wheel track and no offset upfront. My mate had told me not to do this as it can cause issues with your bearings. Supposedly as the tyres are now sitting out an extra 55mm there is a lot more pressure exerted on your rear bearings and you therefore need to make sure you service them more frequently. Google it and get the technical details as this way out of my knowledge. So I decided to go negative 25mm offset on all wheels. Also means I don’t have issues with the spare and if I ever do fix the rear axle offset issues I won’t need to change my rims. With the steel rims I also need to get new wheel nuts, I asked for black ones to match the black rims. I also decided to go with Dynamic Steel 8 inch rims as they are Aussie made so good quality. Tyre size was 285/75 R16’s to give me 32 inches from 30 with the standard setup. With the 32’s I will end up with an additional 1 inch lift to the ride which is legal in Queensland.
Dropped the car off today to get the tyres fitted, super excited to see the end result. Picked the car up a couple of hours later and holy moly, what a change. Big Betty just looks freakin amazing! So bloody happy with the end result. The offset looks tough, and the black on white just looks awesome. The BFG muddys also look super tough. Looks like a completely different car. Really glad I did this and did it straight away, at least I should be able to get a good price on the standard wheels and tyres being they only had 1,800 kms on them. Check the pics below and you can see the end result.
I’ll update this post with how they ride once I have done a few k’s on them in different conditions. They will be a bit noisier but supposedly not that bad based on the reviews. I’ll keep you posted.
Upgrading the wheels and tyres in this part of the Land Cruiser build has had the biggest impact on the look of the Cruiser.
How the BFG KM3’s ride on the road
So I have done a few hundred KM’s now on the new tyres, nothing off road yet (will add to this when I have). All this driving has mainly been on the highway back and forth between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane. Overall the road noise is not bad at all when cruising on the highway at 110 km/h and the windows are up. We have had sound deadening done throughout the car so this definitely assists here. With the windows down you can hear a constant hum, but the noise is nowhere near as loud as the General Tire Grabber X3’s that I had on the Wrangler.
So far I am really happy with them on the highway and off road they are amazing. On off road tracks such as in Imbil State Forest they absolutely dominate. On the beach and the thick sand they are great as well with the extra tyre width the handling in the thick stuff is far better than the stock wheels. Would highly recommend these for any off roader.
If you have any questions send us a message on Instagram or comment below.
More to come….
The thoughts of Peter.
01/01/2023 @ 8:14 PM
Hey there, I am planning on putting 285/75r16 with stock suspension. What is your experience with rubbing while car is flexed. Do I need to go with negative offset or 0 is fine?
Cheers!
05/01/2023 @ 6:26 PM
Hey Mate,
My experience with stock suspension and that same tyre size was only for a few months, so no long term testing. When we did have that tyre size on stock suspension, we had neg 25 offset all around. Only had rubbing in the front wheel arches on full steering lock. No other issues but that was with neg offset all around. I reckon it’ll be tight with 0 rims but again I’m not sure as didn’t run that setup.
Not much help unfortunately mate.
Cheers
Peter
23/06/2022 @ 5:45 PM
Hi Peter, so with -25mm offset rims all round you didn’t actually fix the rear track problem?
With time now do you wish you went the -50mm on the rears and 0mm offset on the front?
Thanks Simon
25/06/2022 @ 6:00 PM
G’day Simon
That’s correct mate. We didn’t go neg 50 and 0 up front so we can rotate all tyres and easier with the spare. Originally we planned on replacing the diff but that did not eventuate for a few reasons.
It’s hard to know if we should have gone neg 50 without ever driving the 76 with the track correction fixed. I know a few people that rave about the track correction being sorted but I can’t comment on it. Main positive I hear is the improved drive on the black top with no more feeling of floating.
Negative for us with the neg 50 was the legality as well. So we just live with it. I don’t mind driving it as it is but, until I do drive it with the track fixed it’s hard to know.
Cheers
Peter
01/03/2022 @ 11:37 AM
Hi mate, great looking setup. Have been tossing up moving to 33s on my 76 but have held back waiting for the stock set to wear out and also wondering how many other changes might be needed. High range gearing looks to be an improvement but would hesitate to give away low range crawling for steep country and slow work as well as engine braking. Also wondering about loss of braking power.
Did you leave these unchanged?
I have seen a few examples where the increased tyre size led to a low range gear ratio change, upgraded brake booster, bigger clutch and a power boost. All desirable – but pricey.
Would be interested in hearing which of these you thought weren’t really necessary for your type of driving.
01/03/2022 @ 3:32 PM
G’day Mike,
Thanks mate, appreciate it.
A few of the mods you have listed we have done over the last couple of years. But when we first changed to the 33’s we were pretty stock standard everywhere else. Low range crawling was definitely a little different but I think it is worse since we had the dyno tune and clutch fitted by Just Autos. It is a struggle sometimes when going really slow without stalling. Constantly on the brakes. Also the aftermarket clutch is horrible when it is warm and reversing under load, terrible shudders, but that is another issue. Braking was definitely an issue for me mate, but I am pushing GVM and have just had to get a GVM upgrade. So we are not a light setup which does not help with the braking. As a result we have just fitted an aftermarket JMACX brake booster. I absolutely hate the new spongy feel since I’ve had that fitted. It definitely brakes better but it is difficult getting used to the different feel. I am going to upgrade rotors and pads eventually when I have the budget to do so.
To be perfectly honest mate, I love the 70 Series stock alloy rims and would have like to have stayed with them. The weight difference between our steel rims and 33 mud tyres to the stock tyres and alloy rims is huge. We have written a post comparing the weights of the two setups. Comfort with the mud 33’s is horrible in comparison to the stock tyre setup. I am sure all terrains would be far better, but vibrations are pretty bad around 80km/h. At the end of the day it is just a matter of what you want to get by going to 33’s. For the stuff we do which is mainly touring, we don’t really need 33’s but it is just nice to have them for that little extra clearance when we do need it. If I was to do it all again, I would still upgrade to 33’s. If you do go 33’s you are going to want to do a dyno tune and clutch, as it will be sluggish without it. Since having the tune for almost two years now, I would highly recommend getting it done if you can. Completely different car to drive, and better on fuel than before (only slightly but not worse which was a surprise). We are also towing, so we needed that extra power.
So basically if you are going to go 33’s you are probably going to need to look at performance upgrades. Brakes are going to come down to weight and what load you are carrying. I really wish we had done the rotors and pads before the booster to see what if any improvements that would have given us, as I still don’t like the feel of the booster. Although it has only been a few weeks since we had it installed, so I might get used to it.
Hope I have helped in some way mate. Let me know if you have any other questions or I haven’t answered one.
Cheers,
Peter
16/10/2021 @ 10:49 AM
Hi, hoping you can tell me what the difference in revs is from stock to the 33’s at 100kph and 110kph
19/10/2021 @ 8:55 PM
G’day Sacha
Can’t remember from stock was a long time ago and changed them fairly quickly. With the 33s at 100kph we sit just under 2,000 and at 110kph we are around 2,200.
Hope that helps.
Cheers
Peter
28/02/2021 @ 3:10 PM
Hi mate. Any idea where i can get a set of steel rims for my 76 Cruiser with -55mm offset for the rear and 0mm for the front?
04/03/2021 @ 3:58 PM
G’day Ian,
You should be able to pick up steel rims at any decent tyre shop. We went with Dynamic Steel as they are a good brand. I believe they only go to neg 50mm though. I believe King Wheels have neg 55 steel rims. We got ours from our local tyre guys. The other option is buying them online and then having a tyre shop fit them for you. A lot of people use The Wheel Deal online as they have pretty decent pricing on rims and tyres. However our local tyre guys were actually cheaper though but that will depend on who you ask. There are lots of people running neg 50 or 55 rims on the rear of the 70 Series Cruisers.
In case you weren’t aware check out what the legalities are in your State with negative offset rims as there are different laws. Also running neg 55 rims is going to put a lot more pressure on your bearings and axles depending on your rear load. So if you do run with them just make sure you have your bearings checked before any long trip.
https://www.bobjane.com.au/a/16×8-5-150-wheels/king-wheels/terra-black-16×8-5-150-n55/1515?variant_id=1515
https://www.thewheeldeal.com.au/wheels/dynamic/dynamic-steel-d-style-black.html
Hope that helps you mate.
Cheers,
Peter
20/11/2020 @ 6:09 AM
So does the -25mm offset on your rims push the tyres out past the guards?
I have the same vehicle and want to put those exact rims on.
20/11/2020 @ 9:29 AM
Gday Dom,
The tyres sit out a few mm in the front but well within the guards on the rear. If the rear axle offset issue was fixed then they’d sit out well past the guards in the rear.
You’ll notice the front when in the sand as you’ll get sprayed now and again depending on the wind. We like the look though how they sit out up front.
The other option is to go 0 offset upfront and have the spare as 0 offset as well but that becomes a pain when rotating tyres every 10,000 kms or so.
Thought I could post pics but we can’t so we will email you them.
Cheers mate.
Peter