17" Wheels - How I got them on my LR3

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Mack73

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There has been talk for years about being able to fit 17" wheels on the LR3. 17" wheels were never available in the US, but they were sold on LR3's in the UK/Europe and Australia.

I really wanted to get a set of 17's for 2 reasons: 1) Due to the welded on frame bit in the back of the front wheel well, a 32" wheel won't fit without some cutting and welding. and 2) I really don't like running a 32" wheel if the suspension fails. So I ended up with 265/65/18 BFG TA/KO. But what I really wanted was a true MT.

As luck would have it, a set of LR3 17" wheels came up for sale in the US.

The thought was all that needs to be done is convert the front brakes to v6 spec to clear the wheels. And this is true. The only difference from the v8 brakes are 1) The caliper carrier, and 2) the rotor. So a quick to Land Rover for a set of front carriers (Part # SEH500012) for about $120. Then a stop by Atlantic British for a v6 brake kit. Installation is super easy. You need to take the carriers off to change the rotor anyways, so the process is the same as changing the rotors, just put the new carriers on instead of the v8 ones.

New shinny v6 caliper carriers and rotors

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Now for the problem.......... I tried to put the rear wheel on and found this:

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I had never heard that the rear brakes were larger than in the UK/ROW vehicles that came with 17's........ Bugger. So what to do. I started grinding on the calipers to see if it would get better.. and it did, but it would not be safe to remove the amount of material necessary to get them to fit. Wheel spacers are the only answer.

I then got a set of 30mm Terrafirma wheel spacers.

image_2_zps09d51606.jpeg


Slapped those suckers on and........... still no good. It is very close but still touches the rim. So out comes the grinder and a flap wheel. A good amount of material needs to come off in several spots, but overall not 'that' much and 1) its the rear brakes and 2) they are way over built out of solid steel


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Since my rear brakes are brand new, the caliper is pushed out as far as possible. As the pads wear the caliper will move further in reducing the contact. Therefore the only way to get them to fit with v8 brakes is some grinding and 30mm spacers. I'm not happy about running the spacers offroad and the fact that it has pushed the wheels out too far (in my opinion) but it will be a good enough temp fix until I can research the correct rear brakes to fit.

And here they are. 245/75-17 BFGoodrich KM2 on Land Rover 17" wheels. Finally a true mud terrain in <32" and a GOOD sized side wall. And yes I like my pizza cutters

If anyone knows the part numbers for the smaller rear brakes please let me know.
 

Mack73

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Normal Height

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Off Road Height

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Houm_WA

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Looks nice, Mack! White Letters OUT, too! Very bold. I'm looking forward to helping you get them dirty this weekend!
 

Mack73

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Well I figured out the source of my problem. There is a smaller rear brake rotor for the rear to fit 17's.

Rear Carrier part number: SXP500013

Carriers and Rotors on the way!

Who wants some very gently used Terrafirma spacers :p


Too bad I just bought new v8 rear discs..... oh well. Atleast I can reuse the pads as they only have 200 miles on them.
 
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thorgal

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Looking good Mack! I have always wanted to do that, but since I already have two sets of rims 18's and 19's, it never looked to me as a cost effective solution to add another set. It might be now..though.
 

Mack73

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Finished the rear brakes today. Same story as the front. Different caliper carriers and rotors.

Here is the final parts list:

Front Caliper Carriers: SEH500012
Front Rotors: SDB000604
Front Pads: Same as v8
Front Wear Sensor: Same as v8

Rear Caliper Carriers: SXP500013
Rear Rotors: SDB000636
Rear Pads: Same as v8
Rear Wear Sensor: Same as v8

17" wheels: RRC002852MNH

This looks much better
photo1_zpsef9cbfc5.jpg


Here they are without the 30mm spacers
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CMGRover

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Do you notice a difference in stopping power? Also- just wondering, would you be willing to sell the rear V8 rotors?
 

Mack73

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Do you notice a difference in stopping power? Also- just wondering, would you be willing to sell the rear V8 rotors?

Nope, no difference I can feel. Theoretically there is the possibility of increased brake fade since the rotor is smaller, so if I'm towing 7k pounds and going down hill I would be concerned..... but remember these brakes were fitted to the LR3 so there is no problem with them functioning correctly.


Regarding the rear rotors, yeah I was looking at them sitting in the garage and wondering if someone would want them. They've got maybe 300 miles on them and they are factory Land Rover rotors. Simply cover the shipping/packaging costs and they're yours. PM me if you want them.
 

RAJOD

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Nice Job!

I did not understand why you got these. Is there something you can't do with 18 inch rims that the 17 inch rims do? Aside from a softer ride. I guess if you do a ton of real offroading they might be better. My HSE with 19s does fine offroading but maybe less able to absorb high speed *** holes.
 

Mack73

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Nice Job!

I did not understand why you got these. Is there something you can't do with 18 inch rims that the 17 inch rims do? Aside from a softer ride. I guess if you do a ton of real offroading they might be better. My HSE with 19s does fine offroading but maybe less able to absorb high speed *** holes.

Well because I do stuff like this

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I do offroad every month during the spring/summer. But the real answer is: there is no true mud tire in an 18" that is less than 32". I have seen the fun that can happen with a 32" and I'm not a fan. Plus on my 08, I would rub on the frame extension at the back of the front wheel well and I have rear air so working with the bumps at the front of the rear wheel wells would be a pain.

In the past I wrote off doing the 17" conversion because like you the 18's should be good. While the BFG TA/KO's did "ok" they are nothing like these KM2's. Also it just so happened that a set of 17's came up for sale in the US at a good price, I needed to do both front and rear brakes and I had just been offroad where the BFG TA/KO's let me down 3 times - so the stars aligned.
 
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