New member with Gen III monty

[bborces]

hello everyone, new member here that just bought an 02 Mitsubishi Montero limited. only 119k miles and ready for fun and daily driving. although i have found a a tiny oil leak underneath the passenger side and will have to look at it tomorrow. some said that cam seals may be the culprit. but so far this monty is at good condition and run smooth. body has some tiny rust spot at the rear door.



im going to buy a wheel/tire package next week and if anyone can give me an input of what is the biggest/aggresive tire size of BFG AT i can fit for this genIII monty without a Lift? somebody said 285/75/16? :Wow1: planning to buy the wheels size is 16x7 (factory size) vs 16x8? and what is the ideal offset? you may give me a full spec of wheel/tire size combo. my purpose is for daily driving/winter and minor trail runs. want the tires as big and aggressive as possible but without rubbing or hitting the walls on deep bumps. will look forward to hear from you guys and thank you :sombrero:

 

[Imnosaint]

Welcome to both the board and the Gen III group. You might find some answers and insight here.

 

[Michael Brown]

Hello and welcome.

The 285/75/16 is correct. Most treads will fit in this size. I have heard of a few extremely aggressive treads having slight rubbing.

The oil leak is most likely the passenger valve cover gasket. This is common on the 3.5L engine. My 01 had this leak the entire time I owned it. It was always a small seep from the back corner of the valve cover. New gaskets and seals never stopped it completely. It never lost enough oil to notice between changes. You can try changing the gasket, but it may not go away.

 

[kbahus]

I am running 265/75R16 on the factory wheels and had zero issues when I was on the stock suspension. For around Chicago/Midwest I don't see any reason to go with a 285 unless you are taking trips out west to play in the real rocks. MPG's, driveability, etc are less impacted with the 265/75 as well.

I like the Ralli Art license plate frame!

 

[jhill15]

Good lookin rig! Also welcome to the forum! I run 265/75 as well. Your leak could also be coming from the passenger side rear cam seal. The valve covers and cam seals are pron to leaking so that would be where i looked first.

 

[earljuic3]

If the leak is on the passenger side and dripping on or near your alternator it is probably the cam seal. I have had this problem on both my limited's. Driver side was leaking at the valve cover gasket when we replaced them. As mentioned above a 285/75 AT might fit depends on the brand. I am running 285/75 cooper st maxx with the OME HD lift and we had to cut the front bumper , still have occasional minor rubbing at full u-turn.

 

[ifixpc]

Nice looking Monty.
keep us posted on your mods. I've just started with my gen 3 As well. Let me know if you want to go to the Cliffs south west of Chicago in couple of weeks or so.