I have been saving for a long time now to do a few upgrades on my Hilux, and finally was in a position to do so.
The rear springs have taken a beating over the years with a lot of loading, and sometimes overloading, causing the back to sag quite a lot.
So the first modification was to fit a full suspension kit with Bilstein shocks from Mikem. Darryl once again did a sterling job with great advice and excellent service at a reasonable price.
I collected the kit from him and did the installation myself. All parts were correct and everything fitted perfectly!
With the new suspension I gained a lift of about 40 mm.
It was a bit of a fiddle to get the ride heights equally adjusted but I managed to get them all within 2 mm.
The next step was to fit new rims and tires
After looking at many aftermarket rims I found the ones that I like. I decided on a 16” rim from A-line.
As for the tires I chose Cooper Discoverer ST maxx in 265/75/16. This is almost equivalent to 33”. I believe the Coopers to be of good quality at a reasonable price and they have a 50 000 km guarantee. I suppose time will tell if I made the correct choice. :|
I sourced the rims and tires from Autowiel in Centurion. The guys also gave fantastic and friendly service.
The fitting and balancing was done very professionally with state of the art machines. There was very little weight needed for balancing. Only one tire had to be shifted on the rim to reduce the amount of weight.
I also had the wheel alignment checked and adjusted.
Even though I have not done any serious off-roading up to now, the bigger wheels are not touching anywhere on the body. I have done a bit of test flexing over pavements etc.
The only drawback is that there is a noticeable reduction in power.
But that’s ok! The next mod is to fit a Lexus 3UZ! :evil:
