4WD 4×4 Suzuki Grand Vitara – Off Roading Mod #1

As followers may already know, a new interest of mine is Off Roading / 4×4 Action, and a couple of months ago I bought an older model Suzuki Grand Vitara for the purpose of a family car primarily then as a capable off roader – we are an outdoors oriented family and so it makes sense to have a car capable of taking us all across the UK countryside and perhaps farther.
It was looking for videos of various smaller 4×4’s such as Suzuki Jimny’s and the smaller Jeeps and even Rav-4’s (more of a Mom’s Taxi to be honest) that I came across some pretty Gnarly footage as well as images online of the Second gen Grand Vitaras going quite hard on some serious tracks, sometimes out performing larger cars.

My First Post shows more-or-less what kind of forby I want my GV to end up looking like and then on the Second Post I show you the newly delivered Insa Turbo – Ranger, All Terrain tyres which works out to be the first real step needed taking to move forward in this venture …

Anyhow, over the recent weekend I finally got the time to be able to make an appointment to have the Tyres fitted – and here’s the results.

Insa Turbo Ranger All Terrain Large 29” (205/80/r16) – Successful Fitting to Suzuki Grand Vitara

ABOVE – L & R: (Click on photo’s to get detailed / expanded views) 
(L): Rear tyre showing the gaps between the wheel arch – the tyre guys had to remove the guards as this was something I hinted they might need to do, this ensured that they didn’t need to call me to confirm or explain anything to me.
(R): I placed the old stock tyre 235/60/r16 next to the new Ranger A/T 205/80/r16 to show the gain in height, I could definitely feel the lift when driving home – I also admittedly caught myslef smirking in the mirror!

Space Gap – Insa turbo ranger all terrains half to 1 inch gap between mud guards

Space Gap – Insa turbo ranger all terrains half to 1 inch gap between mud guards

ABOVE – L & R:
The 29” or 205/80/r16 tyres are pretty much the biggest / tallest tyres you can fit to the Suz G.V. without much Rub (where the tread of your tyres rub on part of the mud guards etc.) – What I mean is, you don’t have to do a whole lot to sort out the rub (it is likely some removal of wheel arch inner guards or mud flaps is all that is needed – the tyres will not rub on the chassis / metal).
(L): The rear of the wheel shows about half an Inch gap – this will only cause a problem when off roading proper! So an easy and non-expensive solution is adding in extended bump stops, JimnyBits sells these bump stops for Grand Vitaras at 25mm, 50mm and 75mm.
(R): The front of the wheel has a larger gap of around one inch so is less of a concern.

Next Modification: I have an order on the way from Radzikone over in Poland, they are a Suzuki Grand Vitara specialist and I have been following their online material for some time, unfortunately initially I thought it was just a youtube channel of some 4×4 enthusiasts.
I will keep it on the shush what is coming up, but the next modification/s from Radzikone will be fitted by myself DIY – all these mod’s wherever possible will have both image documentation as well as video which will end up on my youtube channel – please take a look if you enjoy the Great Outdoors!

Please also follow the blog to keep on top of this build – who knows how far this GV will go with me?

Cheers
Bushman-AOD