Planning a trip with my GX470 - 16 and 17in tire size availability in Central and South America

[BusyConnection3194]

Hey all, I'm slowly building up my GX. Plan is to drive from Los Angeles to Patagonia.

I'm trying to figure out what tire sizes would be available locally for spares in 32-33 in. Or if I'm overthinking this and getting something in a large city should not be a problem

The GX as it sits wont take most 16 in wheels, but I can swap to 4runner calipers to fit 16in wheels if the tires in 16 are that much more widely available. I also would like to keep a full size spare underneath, which limits me to 255/75/17 and 265/70/17 in 17.

I am not sure what common 16in sizes are in general

Any advice on 16s/17s would be appreciated

 

[montypower]

Yes! Way overthinking this... modern tires are very good. It's unlikely you'd need your spare tire let alone two tires.

Funny how expedition guys focus on the strangest stuff yet forget about the many other failure parts that could leave you stranded: ball joints, wheel bearings, u joints, hoses... at some point you just need to make sure things are mechanically good and leave. Deal with issues if/when they happen.

 

[beef tits]

I'd be more concerned with how to deal with bribe cash, and where you are going to hide your real ID. Take photocopies of your driver's license and never give them your real one. Never carry more than like $500 cash. If any crooked law enforcement see a shiny Lexus with US plates, you're likely to get hassled.

 

[alanymarce]

We've driven much of South America with 17 in rims and would stay away from anything bigger. We've driven Central America, Mexico, and the USA as well but not (yet) in our own vehicle. The closer you are to standard the more likely it is that you'll find tyres. Another issue is that you really want ATs and these are less readily available in many places - for example in Brazil (yes, I know you don't plan on Brazil) it's easy to find HTs and MTs but ATs are a challenge, and also really expensive since Brazil is protectionist for its own tyre industry, which doesn't make ATs. If you plan for tyre replacement to do this in major cities and in the countries where prices are lower you'll be able to find tyres in standard sizes easily enough. You can find bigger tyres in some places at specialist 4x4 shops, although they're not cheap.

re punctures - on the main highways and cities/towns you'll find that the probability of punctures is higher than in most other parts of the world - there's so much debris on the roads that you'll get punctures easily. In our last decade of travel we've had 5 punctures in South America, 1 in Australia, and none in Africa (in our own vehicle), Europe, Asia, and North/Central America. Carry a repair kit and compressor.

re "other failure parts that could leave you stranded: ball joints, wheel bearings, u joints, hoses..." - it depends on your vehicle's experience. In the last decade we've had essentially zero need for spares (other than in regular maintenance) on two of our vehicles, both of which were bought new; the few spares we needed were for our 20 year old LC80.

re bribes - you may be hassled, but don't need to pay any bribes - patience and diplomacy work well to avoid this.