GX470 build & adventure with over-landing and off-roading in mind
I came across these while walking around Milan, Italy. Gotta love those old Italian boxy cars! I love wandering around places I visit, especially the less troaden paths; I’ve discovered some very cools things this way, below is just one example.
I didn’t really want to drive my GX470 during the winter; I’m not a fan of salty roads, but I did…and I power-washed it regularly, especially the undercarriage. But this rig with those BF Goodrich KO2 tires was a snowy road animal!
Sometimes I have to diverge from things GX470 because there is just so much cool, beautiful, and compelling things around!
From the SCCA June Sprints at Road America in Elkhart Lake this past weekend…my friends Prototype 1 class race car uncovered…raw speed and power! He went on to win his race from pole!
The 2018 LA Autoshow
Right after I put on the new wheels / tires I started to get a little rubbing. I knew from my research that others had similiar issues, so it wasn’t a total surprise.
You can see that there was about 2 1/2″ of space from the new tire to the front of the running board.
Under normal driving it wasn’t really an issue, but with hard turns it became apparent that I needed a fix. Hard turns included getting into and out of parking spaces. It was a bit embarassing! At one point the rubbing actually pulled the front of the running board away from the wheel well; it just pulled out the plastic retaining clip, and it would make this horrible creaking sound! This became a real issue because it was rubbing against the loose running board and could have broken it off.
My fix? I came across this idea from somewhere, so I borrowed it. I used a heat gun to soften the running board in the wheel well. I concentrated on heating the bottom edge at the inside of the wheel well. These are ABS plastic, and with some care you can heat it up and reset it.
Once I applied some heat I used a short 2×4 cut off to wedge between the tire and the bottom edge of the running board and let it cool. That did the trick! Sorry, no pics of that. I was a bit preoccupied with just getting it squared away.
I did one more part to secure the running board well away from the tire. I put on new plastic retaining clips, and on the inside of the wheel well, I wrapped a piece of wire around the retaining clip and pulled it back as tight to the wheel well as I could, then I secured the wire around a bolt underneath the running board. I didn’t have any issues after that.
I had no issues with rubbing at the rear.
I documented with pics, my ‘out of the box’ experience with the TRD Sema Pro wheels. I think it shows a level of thought to Toyotas quality and care. A good reason to stick with them!
I researched tires just as exhaustively as the wheels. After all of that I ended up going with the BF Goodrich All Terrain KO2, 265/70/R17 tires.
The difference in size between the stock tire and these are the sidewall dimension. That is the ’70’ part of the tire size designation. This means it is a bit larger than the standard ’65’ tire, filling up more of the wheel well, and using more space underneath for the spare tire.
Since I had the wheels, I ordered the tires from a local tire shop. They beat the Tire Rack cost easily, plus they would be mounted locally. The whole thing was far easier logistically, plus I gave business to a local shop.
When I ordered them the tire shop asked “6 ply or 10 ply?” Don’t go with 10 ply! They are way overkill for daily driving and off-roading. The 6 ply are a C rated tire, way more than a standard passenger tire.
They have a 50 psi cold inflation. After these were mounted on the TRD Sema Pro wheels, I brought them home in the back of my F250, and did the swap in my driveway.
50 psi was way too hard of a ride! So I aired them down to 45, and that was still too hard. I then went down to 43, cold inflate, which I found to be a nice ride and great handling. Now I typically cold inflate to 42 psi.
One decision I made was to have the tires white lettering to the outside, a move away from the blacked-out trend everywhere. I think it makes the whole truck look more bad-ass!
I’ve owned a decent number of cars over the years, but this Lexus GX470 was my first vehicle with true off-road capability. Knowing I wanted to make this over-landing and off-road worthy, wheels and tires were my first order.
With the GX470, alternate wheels & tires can get confusing! I’ve read countless forum threads, google search-result articles, and websites. I’m hoping my experience can offer some insights for others.
New wheels and tires:
Here is my truck with OEM wheels and standard passenger tires: Stock 17” wheels with P rated 265/65/R17 tires
My GX already had a ‘lift’ due to the Icon Stage 2 off-road suspension. The previous owner put it in, and deleted the stock airbag suspension completely. I really liked this due to it not being something I had to do, but also because it really beefed up the truck and gave it even stronger off-road chops.
There is a lot to consider when looking at new wheels and tires! Wheel dimension, including diameter, width, off-set etc. This is where I spent a good deal of time reading up on it. There are a lot of people with way more knowledge on this than me, but that’s kind of the point. It helped me get focused on what made sense for my gx build.
The punchline: TRD Sema Pro wheels (17″) and BF Goodrich KO2 All Terrain 265/70/R17 tires.
I did consider the FN Wheels version of the TRD Sema Pro wheel, but I decided that if I want that look I would stick with Toyota. They’ve designed, engineered and tested these things to their Toyota expectations, and they have quality control with their manufacturing that is best in the world. Why go with anything less?
betweensomewheres 