265/70R17 BFG Muddies (KM2)

[djambalawa]

Anyone running these? I'm looking for some 17" rugged tyres for a 17" set for offroading... these KM2s seem to get good reviews - there was a big test of muddies in a recent mag and these were rated the best overall... apparently even quite good on the bitumen...

I just don't like running 18" offroad.. feels like i need more rubber under me... so I'm thinking I'll run two sets. Get some good road tires for the 18s and use them for the day to day communiting and put the 17" set on for when I'm going touring.... i spend a bit of time up in the kimberlies etc..

From what I've read this size is ok - and with a MY07 or earlier they shouldn't rub much or at all?

Also can anyone recommend a set of steel rims to get with these?

[TDV6]

Best of luck on finding a set of legal steel rims, I went round and round in ever diminishing circles trying to get legal steel 17x8" ended up ordering a set of alloy Performance BB6 17x8", 45mm offset and 1400kg load rated. Rims still haven’t arrived yet, the factory want six to eight weeks to deliver the rims.

The reason I wanted 8" wide was it gives you a larger legal range of tyres to fit.

Ryall

[djambalawa]

Thanks Ryall - mate you wouldn't be able to send me a pic of them and info on where you are getting them and the price would you? I read your post elsewhere about the problem of finding steel rims... I'm a bit worried about cost of alloys...

[stevo68]

Any use....was looking at these one time. Dynamic 4x4, Simex 4x4, Sime 4x4, General tire, Dynamic Wheels, Sime, Grabber, Extreme Trekker, Wheels (http://www.dynamictyres.com.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=147&nav_cat_id=160&nav_top_id=55&dsb=79)

Regards

Stevo

[djambalawa]

Thanks Stevo - I see those BFGs I like do go on a 17x7 rim... do you know what a "PCD" of "5x120" means? Would that be something to do with offset or is that stud pattern or something...

[stevo68]

Hey mate.... pitch circle diamater, 5 studs on a 120diamater. I wish they had the KM2's around when I had my D3.....they would stay on permanently :D, had to get my D2 before I could finally have muddies :cool:

Regards

Stevo

[Tassierob]

I am running Mickey Thompson 265 x 70 x 17's on Dynamic 17 x 7 steel rims.

There is a little bit of rubbing from the front on full lock...where the chassis rail protrudes into the rear of the wheel arch will become nicely polished.

There is also some rubbing on the front face of the rear guards but only offroad when really testing wheel travel to the limit. You will see a crease in the guard where it looks like they have joined 2 panels. They rub on that crease.

The Mickey Thompsons run happily on 7" rims and the tires themselves are excellent allrounders as mentioned in the mud tire test and I am extremenly happy with them on the D3:)

Cheers

Rob

[gghaggis]

The Mickey Thompsons run happily on 7" rims and the tires themselves are excellent allrounders as mentioned in the mud tire test and I am extremenly happy with them on the D3:)

Cheers

Rob

Seconded - they're great tyres, MTZ or ATZ (I have had both)

Cheers,

Gordon

[TDV6]

G'day Djambalawa,

Some info on D3 rims for you.

The 5x120 (5 stud 120mm circle hole) PCD is the same hole pattern and size as a Holden rim.

The stud’s threads are 14mm by 1.5 twists (14x1.5) which is the same as some Landcruiser (also Holden I think).

The offset is 53mm positive. Holden is 30mm I think and not weight rated for our car.

Spigot bore diameter is 72.63 to 72.56mm (for a vehicle spigot diameter of 72.5 to 72.47mm). LR alloy rims use this as the primary location for the rim on the hub as alloy rims do not have tapered seats for the wheel nuts like steel rims.

Mounting face diameter is 163mm

Then there is the wonderful and mysterious "X Factor" which is how much extra space is used by the brake calipers protruding past the mounting face of the rim. On the D3 rim this is regarded as a large "X Factor". No measurements are used in determining this measurement that I can find other than "Large" and "Small"

A link to the 17x8 alloy BB6 is Performance Wheels (http://www.performancewheels.com.au/alloywheels_4wd.asp#)

Regards,

Ryall

[Slunnie]

The 5x120 (5 stud 120mm circle hole) PCD is the same hole pattern and size as a Holden rim.

The stud’s threads are 14mm by 1.5 twists (14x1.5) which is the same as some Landcruiser (also Holden I think).
The stud is the same as the Holden VE Commodore. The earlier commodores and other holdens had a smaller stud that wont suit.

[stevo68]

FYI.....possible new club member on the weekend had the KM2's on black steel dynamic rims....very noice,

Regards

Stevo

[solarstabi]

Note that ADRs & VicRoads in Victoria state that wheel nuts must engage "at least the same number of threads as original"; National ADRs: "same number of threads as stud diameter".
For a D3, this means that 14x1.5mm studs, original wheel nuts engage ~9 turns, or 13.5mm. Replacement rims & nuts must engage about 9 turns or more.
So 17" Dynamic steel rims are o.k., but Performance BB6 alloys are not - the nuts only engage 6 turns, or 9mm.
I've confirmed the amount of nut engagement with Performance BB6 17x8" & BMW X5 17x7.5" Wheels.
I think many people don't realise that wheel studs on a D3 are so short that you only get 9mm of nut engagement.

So OEM 7" rims, or Dynamic steel rims, are only legal ones out there, that I have found so far.
BTW, Kings did a 17x8" steel rim. Marginal on scraping brake caliper (so not legal in Vic), so they decided to stop offering them to D3s.

[TDV6]

It depends on the offset of the BB6 rims.

While I still haven’t checked mine by what happens while on the car, most Performance 17x8 alloy rims were 38mm positive offset while my rims are 45mm positive offset an extra 7mm further inset closer to the engine.

So 7mm plus the standard 9mm should give me heaps over the 13.5mm of engaged thread making my rims legal in VIC as well as QLD which dosent have this requirement as far as I know.

I will check the thread turn count over the weekend to confirm.

Ryall

[d3viate]

Sorry, need my eyes checked. I run Mickey Thompson muddies on the steel rims.

[solarstabi]

TDV6 (Ryall), nut engagement on stud is independant of offset. It depends only on how much the D3's stud pokes out of the wheel rim's hole. With OE nuts & rims, the nut goes down into the hole (big hole, big flat washer to hold rim on). So there is enough gap to engage 9 turns of nut.
In Performance alloy rims, there is about 10mm of alloy between the tapered nut & the hub-face. So there is less room to screw the tapered nut onto the stud. I've also checked with a wheel repair/modification business about modifying (machining) Performance or BMW X5 rims to allow OE nuts to fit. No way, as there isn't enough spare alloy material to be machined out & still leave strong base for nut to engage.
So only wheel that a tapered nut can be screwed onto with enough turns is a steel one, which has only a few mm gap between the nut & the hub face.