Build "Pearl" - GX470 for the princess...

[woody]

Broke down last month and upgraded Heather's ride to a 2008 GX470. White, Mark Levinson, usual stuff, etc....and no KDSS.

Short-term plans are:

Radflo 2.5" coilovers
Light Racing UCA's
BFG Rugged Terrain T/A's or Cooper Discoverer A/T3's (I think...275 or 285...still deciding...)
Matte Black alum wheels (open to options...)
WeatherTech mats (already ordered, her request)

H8MUD2 Packers plate or I2H8MUD standard plate


Longer-term thoughts:

ASFIR skids/sliders/bumper - skids WILL work, need to check with them on fitment of the Prado bumper and sliders and see what differences there are.

Rear coil/Radflo shock conversion - see how long the cheated rear air suspension holds

Front Runner roof rack


With my 80 and other projects in the works, this is going to be HER daily driver and casual family wheeler...we "might" take it to FJ Summit this summer, but I doubt I'll get time/motivation to have skids on by then.




Winter tires are FJC alum wheels and 275 Bridgestone Blizzaks...time to pull those tho, and I do NOT want to put on the stock wheels and Bridgestones...yuck

Anyways, back to wheel shopping...

 

[IanB]

What, no pics?

Congrats on the new rig!

 

[GXO]

Woody, I am running ASFIR with the Iron Man 4x4 front Prado bumper no problem.

Ping me with any other questions and check out my build. I will have it at CM13 so you can poke about.

 

[woody]

wheel shopping is proving challenging...

Stock Lexus GX470 wheels are 17x7.5, 25mm offset, 4.75" backspacing

SCS Performance have 17x8.5's with a -10 offset, 4.3" backspacing

FN Wheels have 17x8's with a -10 offset, 4.1" backspacing (Type X)

FN Wheels also have 17x9's with a 0 offset, 5" backspacing (Six Shooter)



Radflo's are ordered, Light Racing UCA's are ordered...but need the wheels

 

[SouthernSS]

Awesome! Cant wait to see pics

 

[woody]

She's now set on the gunmetal grey...fortunately, it's too late to change her mind on the shocks

 

[TCinVA]

I put a set of rugged terrains on my wife's 3rd gen 4runner and they sucked for me. They got cupped and noisy in less than a year of normal driving. It's a stock mall crawler, I took them off and went with some A/T Kellys.

 

[woody]

Rugged Terrain's made a major change/improvement in the past year or so...I've heard good reports on the current model (and little good on the previous one)

FN Wheels has some 17x8 Six Shooters with 4.5" backspacing in a gunmetal grey that will be available in June...bit of a wait, but that seems to offer the best backspacing/width combo in a wheel that won't push the outside of the tire too far out.

 

[woody]

Patience paid off http://www.fnwheels.com/ just contacted me and the 17x8 (4.5" backspacing) gunmetal 6-shooters are in stock Tossed around a bunch of tire options, and finally decided on Cooper Discoverer A/T3's (285's). Trying to find a balance between occasional offroad and Heather's need for bling

Pics pending, hopefully next week...should look great with the Radflo coilovers that were installed last month!

 

[davegonz]

Pics? My wife is bugging me for a new car and I like the GX.

 

[woody]

Tires delivered Friday, wheels shipped Friday...awaiting delivery and install before pics

 

[BonnerBB]

Looking forward to this build.

 

[woody]

Wheels and tires went on last night...

 

[woody]

And a few more photos from this morning...it was a bit early for lighting and Heather was rushing off to work...I'd have done pics before she left, but a bit more plastic needed trimming to clear the scrub radius of the front tire trailing edge

These 17x8 Six Shooters from FN Wheel fit perfectly...exactly the right offset and sizing...Heather would have appreciated running 275 tires instead of 285's tho, it would have required much less plastic trimming...but these DO look sweet The Cooper Discoverer A/T3's should offer a good compromise between my desire for aggressive offroad tires and Heathers daily driver use.

Looking forward to our first road trip, we leave TODAY for Colorado and the FJ Summit! May as well break 'em in right!

 

[woody]

...and just off the phone with Heather...she was very pleased with the road manners of the Cooper Discoverer A/T3's and didn't notice any additional noise over the OEM tires that were on there...

<whew>

 

[SouthernSS]

Looks great!! Are you gonna wheel with the oem running boards?

 

[woody]

So far, we haven't upgraded to real sliders...frankly, none of the options available (custom) are to my liking...or more importantly, to Heathers

Given the anticipated use (exploration and remote camping) my guess is we'll delay until something comes into production. I'd like to see something in a box-tube, capped ends, bolt on (u-bolt or ?) that also integrates LED's for lighting...effectively, a 'real steel' version of the OEM plastic pieces with a frame attachment.

And with Heather's new gunmetal FN Wheels, I've already told her that accessories WILL be matched to that color...at this point, that means the pending Front Runner roof rack and pending sliders (and more if I can ever talk her into it...ha!)

 

[woody]

Imogene Pass today...13,114 feet

 

[IanB]

Those wheels look great!

 

[woody]

New ASFIR aluminum skids installed from AOTech...plus she won a free compressor at the Discount Tire dinner/raffle on Wednesday evening! Perfect timing for both, since SHE drove Black Bear Pass on Thursday...yes, SHE drove the entire trail!

It's not technical, but the pucker factor is REALLY high! (oddly enough, more so as a passenger...lol)