LC 200 Recommendations & Cooper

[firefox]

Hi Everyone,
Soooooo "maybe just maybe" i will be switching to a LC200 in the coming weeks! Yes our piece of crap LR is broken again and its the 18th time in 18 months! (Good suggestion to anyone if you have one sell it! if you're thinking about buying don't think about it!)

Anyhow...

I have a couple of questions. (for those avid toyota guys...)

Firstly Tyres!

ARB are suggesting i put Cooper ST-Maxx tyres on (fitted on the standard 18" rims) is anyone running these? what are they like?
I've been using Cooper Zeon LTZ's and been pretty happy with them.

It's a VX we are looking at..

We're doing the GVM upgrade, and additional spring/suspension upgrade.

Does anyone have the Toyota Bullbar (steel). ARB have big problems currently getting their bullbars, and the toyota looks pretty good, and keeping with the theme of staying with "genuine" products i might use a toyota one instead of ARB??

Will be doing basic underbody protection, dual battery, snorkel and roof rack and rear cargo.

Trying to see if i can fit the larger tyre on the spare underneath as really don't have a need for a rear tailgate.

Anything i am missing as a "critical"..?

JD

[achjimmy]

Hi FF

There is a cooper ST max that's well suited to the Cruza 18" rim buts it's close to $550!  I went d697 and am very happy but they are wearing pretty quickly. Next time I am looking a the nitto grapplers that look like the st max. Hearing good things, will probably ditch the 18"s for 17"s too. 

The OEM bar had issues early on cracking chassis and they amended them, but there was talk that they were told by arb engineers the bar was wrongly designed?  Maybe also look at the TJM steel bar?

With the snorkel you can get a factory fitted one for about the same dosh. You just have to live or lose the shoebox top.  They do sit higher than safaris.

Good luck, great rig. Sorry to here of your grief with the RR.

[Supersi]

Have you thought about changing to 17" rims?  Cheaper and more readily available than 18" rubber away from a major city/town and perhaps the rubber might match your trailer size too?

[firefox]

Yeah looking at 17" as an option as well. Problem is getting dealer to swap them.
We're looking at lots at the moment, to see if this will all work.

And yes i am crossing over sometime.. (for those asking ..)

I'd prefer the 17 as well, my bigger concern is fuel usage on the car (as i don't want to be doing 25l/100 when towing)

Currently i sit around the 19 (should be more like 17)..

Aparently Toyota do not provide the snorkel anymore for the vehicle as an accessory.

Was looking into the TPMS system as well maybe, but would love one that is bluetooth and ipad compat..

[RallyDog]

Gday firefox with your gvm upgrade are you going arb or a different brand.  With the arb one it only goes to 3550kg I think unless it's changed I've looked at others that go to 3800kg may be worth looking into.
Dicko

[firefox]

Yeah i am currently looking at the ARB one (not the lovells)..
I've spoken with the insurance company and being very careful about weights etc (as my van is big!)..

No matter what i can't change the GCM and towing capacity, so i think 3580 is enough with 3500 behind.. (total 7100 GCM)
According to the Suncorp Customer Officer (insurance we have) they stated that if we went lovells (i.e 3800 then the overall GCM they have listed for the vehicle 7100 means if we had 3800 in the car, the towing is reduced to 3300. (can't exceed overall)

I've been working with the ARB/toyota guys to work out the best suspension setup with air bags in rear etc..

It's the only reason why i haven't seriously made the switch sooner, is that i was very happy with the air suspension on the RRS. But unfortunately for multiple reasons most know about, that can is going somewhere (either heaven or a grave!)

Spoke to Toyota insurance today and they have the same GCM rule above..

The overall GCM rule is a little weird as aparently they don't publish an overall GCM?? But at least i know thats what i would have on our paperwork and rego papers etc.. (and the insurance guys are happy with it..)

[gronk]

GVM and GCM rules are over my head, but for the other things....BFG A/T 285/70/17 are still a tyre not to be sneezed at !!

I have a OL bull bar and can't work out why you would want to spend an extra $1000 for another brand ??

I have an Airtec snorkel, but that's a personal choice between that and a Safari ??

[Black Diamond]

33" tyre will fit in the spare no probs. 17" is definately a better option, the bigger sidewall is a big plus and you will have more luck finding a 17" tyre in a remote spot then you would an 18". The ST Maxx are a good tyre but there have been a few sidewall issues that have surfaced. It's a bit of luck of the draw as with everything. Personally Id go the 285/70R17 (33") KM2 which work great and im sure there are differing opinions but that's what I would go with. If Toyota don't come to the party with a downsize (which would be pretty piss poor) try and speak to an independent tyre shop locally and work out a changeover while they are new

[achjimmy]

FF the dealers will not change the rims, especially so with the 200 as the tyre placard is unique per model ie the VX does not list the 17" option !!  If this doesn't concern you, buy 17" AM rims and tyres and flog the 18"s to those of us who want second spares, most pay more than the AM 17"s.

Check out the grapplers had a couple of mates run them, look the goods.

[Mongoose]

Yeah looking at 17" as an option as well. Problem is getting dealer to swap them.
We're looking at lots at the moment, to see if this will all work.

And yes i am crossing over sometime.. (for those asking ..)

I'd prefer the 17 as well, my bigger concern is fuel usage on the car (as i don't want to be doing 25l/100 when towing)

Currently i sit around the 19 (should be more like 17)..

Aparently Toyota do not provide the snorkel anymore for the vehicle as an accessory.

Was looking into the TPMS system as well maybe, but would love one that is bluetooth and ipad compat..

G'day Firefox. I get 14s around town on BFG AT 285/70/17s carrying 3t. KM2s in the same size get good reviews too. If Toyota won't play ball you could run slicks on 18s and muddies on 17s.

Cheers,

Rohan.

[firefox]

As we are travelling all the time, I can't run two sets. So gotta find an option that suits us all the time. I also don't want to blow out fuel consumption to crazy.

I'm still trying to decide if a winch is needed. I've had one on the front for 18 months and not needed it once, and done nearly most things we want to do.

[gronk]

An A/T tyre is definately what you need then, ....swap the new H/T ones when they are brand new for a good changeover price !

A winch is also an option, not a necessity ..

With the slightly bigger tyres, the fuel consumption must go up....but only by a very small margin....maybe 1 l/hk ??

[cheif carlos]

Look at General Grabber tyres they seem fairly good from what I have seen but cannot say I recommend them as haven't used them myself, otherwise Yokohama AT's are good tried a 100 series shod in them and liked the handling

[StevenB]

we are looking at the 200 also, but a GXL with KDSS

got quoted $1405 for an extra factory 17" alloy (ROH RTX are about $300 each). I'm trying to see if I can get the GXL with the GX 17x8 steel wheels as these are about $260 each.

A winch is insurance, I had one on the 100 series before the GU, used it once and it probably saved us a few hours.

[Cookie64]

G,day Firefox,

you won't be disappointed with the 200, mine is 4 years old and very happy with it and the Toyota service experience - coming from a previous Nissan owner

I have the GX which comes standard with 17", I run the Mickey Thompson ATZ 4rib which have been replaced with the P3 and have not had any issues with them, a mate of mine had a Coopers sidewall blow out on the way into El Questro last year and was lucky he didn't hit a tree on the corner, Tyrepower Derby gave him a Pro Rata Warranty on his tyre but it did make us more cautious between El Questro to Derby via Mitchell Falls etc.

I have the ARB Bullbar and have had no issues with that either but a friend of mine has had several issues with the ARB Hilux bar.

I have a winch but never used it for my own extraction so went with the more cost effective Magnum instead.

Very happy with the OME suspension, have had it in the last 5 4x4, never an issue and would buy them again

The GX came with a Snorkel albeit with an ugly head, the Safari looks the goods though

cheers

 

[achjimmy]

FF. From reports on lcool any changes to tyre sizes plays on the fuel consumption reasonably hard. I think it is also that it screws with the thing droping into 6th. If that's the case look at the D697 bridgestones on the 18"s they stay the same diametre. I think I paid $250 a tyre to trade up from new

[Stozz]

Hiya,

I have the LC200 Altitude on 18" rims. I looked at swapping to 17" but the changeover was prohibitive. In all reality if you blow a tyre in remote you will be waiting for delivery of a replacement for 17 just as long as an 18.

Anyway, I upgraded to 3800 GVM with Dobinson springs and Bilstein shocks plus polyairs.

I run Cooper ST Maxx at 275/70/18 and have been very happy with them. Last January we did 6,000km towing including lots of 4wding and beach driving and averaged 20l/100km or thereabouts. Our KK fully loaded with tinny, outboard, folding trailer and water etc is close to 2000kg so we have a heavy rig. Economy around town at home is about 14l/100km and I have roof racks plus drawers and fridge in the back full time.

I'm hoping that by the time I changeover the tyres, there will be more to choose from for the increasingly common 18" rim. I have the tyres rotated and balanced every 10K km as per manufacturer instructions and warranty requirements, which hubby thinks is a waste of time and money coz if you add that up over 80,000km it probably covers the cost of a tyre or two.

I changed the tyres the day after I bought the car and traded the Dunflops it came with. Got about $250 per tyre from memory.

I also have the Opposite Lock premium loop colour coded bullbar as I'm not a fan of our local ARB store and in fact I like the loop bar better (and my car doesn't look like every other 200 on the road). Check them out, I reckon they look the goods.  Opp Lock also do a post bar similar to ARB.

I also have a 9500lb VRS winch which we have used several times to get ourselves out of trouble. If you're serious about getting off the track, then put a winch on.

More info on my rig here: http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=32574.0



Hope this helps.

 

[Darren253]

FF the dealers will not change the rims, especially so with the 200 as the tyre placard is unique per model ie the VX does not list the 17" option !!  If this doesn't concern you, buy 17" AM rims and tyres and flog the 18"s to those of us who want second spares, most pay more than the AM 17"s.

Check out the grapplers had a couple of mates run them, look the goods.

Dealer swapped my 2013 Altitude 18" rims for GXL 17" at no charge. I then swapped the stock tyres for BFG AT 285/70/17 for $1600. I bought a GX steel spare as a 6th wheel for $140 from the spares counter a few months later. Same offset as the alloy.

[achjimmy]

Dealer swapped my 2013 Altitude 18" rims for GXL 17" at no charge. I then swapped the stock tyres for BFG AT 285/70/17 for $1600. I bought a GX steel spare as a 6th wheel for $140 from the spares counter a few months later. Same offset as the alloy.

Lucky I have heard. Of a few knocking the changeover back. You rea with the steelies it's different nuts too?  It good for a second spare though.

[gronk]

Hiya,

I also have the Opposite Lock premium loop colour coded bullbar as I'm not a fan of our local ARB store and in fact I like the loop bar better (and my car doesn't look like every other 200 on the road). Check them out, I reckon they look the goods.  Opp Lock also do a post bar similar to ARB.

More info on my rig here: http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=32574.0



Hope this helps.

 

I too have the OL bar....liked Stozz's so went with it....quality seems just as good as ARB, appears to be strongly built underneath where it counts ?

[cardinal28]

I went for the ARB Sahara bar and Cooper ST Maxx 285/70/17's. Quite happy with the tyres so far.

[Stozz]

I too have the OL bar....liked Stozz's so went with it....quality seems just as good as ARB, appears to be strongly built underneath where it counts ?

 

[theins]

As we are travelling all the time, I can't run two sets. So gotta find an option that suits us all the time. I also don't want to blow out fuel consumption to crazy.

I'm still trying to decide if a winch is needed. I've had one on the front for 18 months and not needed it once, and done nearly most things we want to do.

Safe yourself the weight and get a manual winch, esp if you don't frequently need one...

[theins]

Re the tyres - I have been running General Grabbers AT (as distinct from the AT2) for the last 30k (albeit on a Disco 3) and am very happy with them. Covered a variety of grounds - highway, dirt roads, tracks, beach...

[hutchie62]

As we are travelling all the time, I can't run two sets. So gotta find an option that suits us all the time. I also don't want to blow out fuel consumption to crazy.

I'm still trying to decide if a winch is needed. I've had one on the front for 18 months and not needed it once, and done nearly most things we want to do.

Hi Justin,

The time you don't have is the time you will need it.

Hutchie