Need help choosing suspension setup (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Nov 25, 2017
Threads
4
Messages
34
Location
Vietnam
Hi everyone! This is my first ever post so let me introduce myself. My name is Duc (like quack quack duck) and I have a 2015 LC200. Im not as fortunate as you guys, the VX models we have here has really limited options (No Sat Nav,no KDSS, 4.6L instead of 5.7) but I’m still very happy with my truck. I use it to commute to work (3hours 1 way) on pretty horrible roads. Half the trip is on the highway but the other half it’s full of pot holes and dips. I basically have to memorize where every road imperfections are to avoid any damage to the wheels or suspension. Anyways, I’ve had the truck for 3 years now with more than 100,000km I want to do some upgrades for the suspension and I would like to ask you lovely folks on this forum to help me out.

I’m thinking of switching the wheel setup to Fuel Vectors (they look almost the same as the Method Nv 305s but these have the correct 110mm bore size) in 20x9 +20. I was thinking of running these with Bf Goodrich KO2s or Falken Wildpeak ATW3 in size 285/65/18. This size with around 2inch lift seems to require the least fender trimming from my research on this forum (any input on this is much appreciated).

So my main goals for upgraded suspension are:

1/Retain Toyota reliability: I don’t want to get the suspension be rebuild often.

2/Comfortable ride: stock setup is a little too soft when it comes to hard braking and fast turning. Ideally I would want more control under these conditions without sacrificing too much OEM comfort. I do take my old folks on road trips from time to time and don’t want them complaining lol.

3/Medium height: I’m not looking for 2.5-3inch lift since I won’t be able to fit in the underground parking garage at my complex. Having the Rigid E2 50inch mounted on top of the roof I can barely squeeze in there.

4/ I do plan on adding a bullbar in the future. There have been times that I hit water buffaloes crossing roads. Luckily I stopped in time and the buffalo lived, but I did have to replace my front headlights. I know a bullbar won’t protect me from hitting a Buffalo at 40-50mph but at lower speed for sure it would save the trucks vital parts. I do not plan on adding a winch since I won’t do any off-roading in foreseeable future.

Im pretty new to modding a 4x4 so I’m all ears you guys. Thanks in advance!

Duc
 
congrats on the rig, wow that's a commute! I've been beating on the Ironman Foamcell pro kit for over 3 years now, works great!!!
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Thanks @kreiten! The distance isn’t even that far. Just traffic and road condition is bad.

I love your setup btw. I believe you are running Fuel wheels with same specs as what I’m about to get. Have you had any issues with the wheels? Seeing you off road it so hard it’s a good testament about their quality. You are running 275/70/18 MTs is that correct? Any major trimming needs to be done?
 
You should look at this thread for more insight comparing OME BP-51 vs Icon

OME BP51 or ICON Stage 2

But also search the forum as there are more posts that talks in details to other systems like IronMan.

My favorite part of your post is your reason for the bullbar. I love the wildness part of this story.
 
Thanks @kreiten! The distance isn’t even that far. Just traffic and road condition is bad.

I love your setup btw. I believe you are running Fuel wheels with same specs as what I’m about to get. Have you had any issues with the wheels? Seeing you off road it so hard it’s a good testament about their quality. You are running 275/70/18 MTs is that correct? Any major trimming needs to be done?
I'm running 285/70 R18 BFG KM2's, no issues with the wheels at all(Fuel Anza 18x9 20mm). I had to cut some of the inner plastic out of the front fenders, no rubbing after that was done.
 
Thank you for your input @Ali M. Yeah road conditions here is pretty unpredictable lol.

Ironman seems to be great option and more affordable than bp51s, Icons or Kings. @kreiten would you be so kind to give me the specific model you have on your truck?
 
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I’m thinking of switching the wheel setup to Fuel Vectors. I was thinking of running these with Bf Goodrich KO2s or Falken Wildpeak ATW3 in size 285/65/18. This size with around 2inch lift seems to require the least fender trimming from my research on this forum (any input on this is much appreciated).

Here is my rig with Fuel Vector D601 (9x18 +20) and 275/70/18 KO2s (33.2" x 11") w 2" lift. My tires are 1/2" narrower but .7" taller than the ones you are considering. I put mine on before the lift because I wanted to work out any rubbing. They fit fine after I removed the front mudflaps and pushed the front edge of the fender liner forward about 1.5". With those 2 mods, I get absolutely no rubbing with or without the lift. I am now running an aftermarket UCA, which also repositions the tire in the well. Honestly, if I were to do it again, I would run the 2" lift w 34s (305/65/18). However, this would likely require some additional tweaking.
 
View attachment 1764777

Here is my rig with Fuel Vector D601 (9x18 +20) and 275/70/18 KO2s (33.2" x 11") w 2" lift. My tires are 1/2" narrower but .7" taller than the ones you are considering. I put mine on before the lift because I wanted to work out any rubbing. They fit fine after I removed the front mudflaps and pushed the front edge of the fender liner forward about 1.5". With those 2 mods, I get absolutely no rubbing with or without the lift. I am now running an aftermarket UCA, which also repositions the tire in the well. Honestly, if I were to do it again, I would run the 2" lift w 34s (305/65/18). However, this would likely require some additional tweaking.

Thank you so much! This is what I imagined how my ride would look like with those wheels :). With 2inch lift and SPC UCA what else do you think would I need to fit 305/65 tires on there? I love the 305 look and have seen members on here run it with method NV wheels which is 5mm offset less than the Fuel wheels.
 
I like to use Wheel Offset Calculator, so I don't screw up the math.

There is some pretty good evidence to suggest that 305s will work fine with +20, but I have not found anyone who has definitively done it (seen +25, 1" spacers, etc). I wouldn't think that .2" (+20 vs +25) would make a significant difference, but the tolerances are so close at that point, that I don't know for sure. That said, I am confident enough that you can get it to work, that I may just try it.

Skinny vs fat becomes a religious war, but aesthetically I hate how skinny my 275s are. 35x12 look awesome, but I don't want to get into regearing and all the extra headaches, others have warned about. 305s might be the perfect choice. If you do it before I do, please report back.
 
305/65/18 KO2 bust

After some research I found this guy tried to run 305/65/18 KO2s 18x9 +20 offset fuel wheels without luck. He has OME lift + spacers and UCA which is the same as Wildyoats setup. The only difference is the +5 offset difference and he tried to run them with KO2s instead of Wildpeak ATW3. The issue he had was the tire touching the lower control arms.

I’m actually waiting for someone on here to do it first haha. All the car parts I have to order from the States to be shipped back to Vietnam so I don’t want to risk running 305s and end up with an unusable setup.
 
305/65/18 will fit. I believe the critical dimension is to keep the offset between 25 and 35.

I likewise have 305s, albiet in 305/55/20 flavor which is actually a tad wider but a tad shorter: 305/65/18 (33.6" x 12.0") vs 305/55/20 (33.2" x 12.3")

No clearance issues with the lower arms in my setup that is ~35mm offset. I run stock upper arms.

@WildYoats setup:
Wildyoats' 200 build - OME, Method Racing wheels, 305/65 18 Falken Wildpeak AT3W

I love the stance @WildYoats has. That’s one of the reasons why I want the Fuel Vectors because it looks identical to the Method Nvs. I’m just not confident with running lugcentric wheels (method Nv bore size is 116) seeing members on Raptor and Tacoma forums have some vibration issues after mounting them. In Vietnam we don’t have any road balancing machines, so I don’t want to risk ordering Methods and then running into vibration problems.
 

Thanks for the link. I do remember reading this and it was part of the reason I went with my 275s. That said, something doesn't fully add up. Maybe I am misunderstanding, but I can't visualize how the lower control arm would be the limiting factor. I crawled under my vehicle yesterday to measure clearances. I am not sure how much clearance is acceptable (1/2?, 3/4"?), because i don't know how much for/aft movement the wheels/tires are expected to have. I feel like the .6 addition in width (both in and out) should work. The only scary part is that the KDSS sway bar link is currently just over an inch away from my tire when turned hard to the right. The attached pic shows the link I am talking about (in green).

200Series.front-upper.jpg


The other thing I noticed is that in the first 3 pictures of the KO2 Bust post, the wheel appears very far forward in the well. I know from my experience fitting big tires on 5th gen 4Runners, that the wheel needs to be moved forward or backward as part of the alignment (of course the UCA geometry comes into play here too). If the front wheel was moved back an inch, it may have worked. Mine is dead center in the wheel well. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but since WildYoats was successful, I still have hope. It just doesn't make sense to me that -.2" offset (+25 to +20) is enough to kill the deal... but maybe that is how close the tolerances are that we are working with (and maybe .2 is enough to rip out the fender).

305KO2vsWildpeak.png
 
After 3 days of non stop search I can’t find anyone running the Fuel wheels with that size tires. Maybe you should try running 305s @alta. I’m pretty sure you will be the first on here to run 305/65/18 on +20 offset wheels :D
 
Maybe you should try running 305s @alta. I’m pretty sure you will be the first on here to run 305/65/18 on +20 offset wheels :D

Well, I had to put my money where my mouth is... I have been running 305/65r18 on my +20 Vector wheels for a week now. I went with the WildPeak AT3, mostly because of good reviews vs price (and to try something different). I love the look. I have not stuffed the tires on anything extreme yet, so tbc... but have hit some pretty big dips on pavement while turning and no rubbing yet.

The ride is different. I started out with WAY too much air in them (tire guy put 45lb) and was bouncing all over the road. Now with 36lb, they are much more compliant, although they do seem stiffer than both sets of KO2s and have run on my LC and 4Runners (275/70r18, 285/70r17). I really like the KO2, so hopefully I didn't make a mistake.

Those of you who lead with pragmatism, will probably want to stay away, but I really like the look and I think it is worth any fitment challenges I will need to overcome.

IMG_6364.jpg


IMG_6359-1.jpg
 
Well, I had to put my money where my mouth is... I have been running 305/65r18 on my +20 Vector wheels for a week now. I went with the WildPeak AT3, mostly because of good reviews vs price (and to try something different). I love the look. I have not stuffed the tires on anything extreme yet, so tbc... but have hit some pretty big dips on pavement while turning and no rubbing yet.

The ride is different. I started out with WAY too much air in them (tire guy put 45lb) and was bouncing all over the road. Now with 36lb, they are much more compliant, although they do seem stiffer than both sets of KO2s and have run on my LC and 4Runners (275/70r18, 285/70r17). I really like the KO2, so hopefully I didn't make a mistake.

Those of you who lead with pragmatism, will probably want to stay away, but I really like the look and I think it is worth any fitment challenges I will need to overcome.

I know you didn't ask, but FYI the Recommended Cold Tire Inflation Pressure for those LT305/65R18 Load Range E tires on your 2010 LC200 is 35psi F/R.

HTH
 

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