I am needing to improve the off-road ability of my 03 M. Sport and wonder if anyone has an idea on what is the largest tire size that fits these beasts? Found one overseas reference to 33"- seem reasonable?

 

Call my guys at this tire shop....

Butler Tire
1-770-941-7422
Ask for John Gilham
www.butlertire.com

He will be able to answer any and all ?'s you may have indeed!!!

 

I will in part answer my own question here- so anyone else wondering can look and learn

I put 265/75R16 (basically a 32" tire) BFG All-Terrian T/As on my Monty Sport and they clear just fine. Have not tried them yet on extreme flex situations off-road, but the only place they come close at all to rubbing is about half-turned along the back of the front tire. Can not see that it will ever be a problem.

I would think- but not promise- that with a mild fender trim at the most a 33" MIGHT work.

FYI, so far the M Sport has held its own well off road. Have gone on a couple of trail rides with a group with jeeps, land rovers, scouts etc and its gaining fans (at least surprising alot of folks) Got a kick out of last weekend on a step, loose mine tailings pile when the Rover Defender 90 in front of me took about 6 tries to make it, and then I cruised up with hardly a struggle. Less then half the group (about 15 trucks) made it up first try, two never did and a couple chickened out.

 

Monteros are a very capable vehicle. You should check out 4x4wire.com if you're really into off-roading. They're pretty helpful on that site.

 

I've wheeled with a few sports and they do hold their own pretty well.

They even make an IFS drop down kit in Australia (only sold in Thailand though) for the mitsu pickups that you can adapt to the sport. With that lift and either a lift in back you can easily fit 35's. Whether or not you'll have enough power to run them in tough off road situations is another question though.

A good buddy of mine in S. Cal has installed this kit successfully.

 

I've been wheeling with my 045 sport for a little over a year now. It was the only make that didn't get stuck on it's first outing. It took a level 5 trail for me to get stuck (White Rock Canyon/Steam Shovel OHV trail in NV). I was also the only stock rig. I'm looking at the 267/75R16's as my next step, with maybe a few extras. If ever in the Reno/Northern CA area's on the 2nd weekend of a month, let me know. Those are usually the weekends I go wheeling.

 

WolfgardIbex,

We do an annual Mitsubishi 4x4 Sierra Challenge run. We typically run +3 and up 4x4 trails like the 'con, Fordyce, Dusy, as well as easier runs like Strawberry Creek Trail etc.

I'm in San Jose myself and wheel regularly with half a dozen local mitsu's.

 

I'm TB on a trip to the Lava Beds Camp in NV next weekend. Do alot of wheelin in the desert beyond Reno really. If you are interested in tagging along, visit www.4wheelnoffroad.com. We usually go out on the second weekend every month. Next weekends trip is full, but let me know if you want to tag along, and we can try to fit you in on any of the upcoming runs. Upcoming runs include: April to Sulphur (Springs I presume) outside Lovelock, May the annual Virginia City trip (Never made that one before, so don't know what to expect), June PineGrove & Rockland near Yerington, July is still open, August to Jackson Meadows near Truckee. I might plan a trip to Sierra Butte Mountain in mid July or so. I love the views from up there.

 

Looks like fun. For our runs we do mostly rock crawling trips through various sierra trails. For more distrant trips we've gone to Utah (Moab, Utah Swell, etc.), Arizona, Death Valley Area, etc.

You can see some of the pics on www.geocities.com/mitsubishifourwheeldriveclub or www.geocities.com/offroader_ii although I haven't updated it in some time.