Greetings all, I've become quite attached to my 2001 RAV4, which was purchased new back in the day, before being used by my parents, but is now back in my hands!
Being the base "Edge" model it lacks fancy bits like fender flares, wing and side-steps.
But I've been obsessively scouring wrecker sites to find these, so I can finally upgrade to "Cruiser" spec.
Based on the parts I've acquired so far, the flares seem to add around 20mm of width to the wheel wells; making it possible to fit wider rims and thicker tyres (but I'm not ready to raise the suspension yet).
The wheel choices have been narrowed down to:
Option 1) Fifteen52 17x8 ET +35 Traverse
These were fitted to a BEAMS-powered Gen 1 RAV4 featured on You Tube and looked cool and classy (my photoshopped image below doesn't do the wheel justice).
Thanks to Commando's prolific/knowledgeable posts, I believe a 225/70/R17 tyre should fit OK.
Option 2) Enkei PF06 16x8 ET +30.
These wheels have a nice "lip" and lower offset, giving a lovely hint of aggression. Another old Commando post says 225/75/R16 tyres should fit OK. Plus the poster Wolfcoast has fitted these tyres and I don't think she's noticed any issues.
Below are some (very rough) Photoshop mockups of how the car might look with the above wheels.
![Image]()
Now TBH I've become a bit obsessed with this, and hope to wrap things up so I can work, eat and sleep again soon. But before I hit BUY on one of the above wheels, does anybody know of any other cool options? I'm after a rally/JDM look (without going overboard), ideally with low offset, but it's proven hard to find 5x114.3 wheels that meet this requirement (e.g., I like the look of nicleungs' black RAV4 with 17x7.5 ET 0 Watanabes, but those rims don't seem to exist in any of the many sites I;ve scoured).
PS - This forum is such a fantastic resource for RAV4 lovers🙏
Being the base "Edge" model it lacks fancy bits like fender flares, wing and side-steps.
But I've been obsessively scouring wrecker sites to find these, so I can finally upgrade to "Cruiser" spec.
Based on the parts I've acquired so far, the flares seem to add around 20mm of width to the wheel wells; making it possible to fit wider rims and thicker tyres (but I'm not ready to raise the suspension yet).
The wheel choices have been narrowed down to:
Option 1) Fifteen52 17x8 ET +35 Traverse
These were fitted to a BEAMS-powered Gen 1 RAV4 featured on You Tube and looked cool and classy (my photoshopped image below doesn't do the wheel justice).
Thanks to Commando's prolific/knowledgeable posts, I believe a 225/70/R17 tyre should fit OK.
Option 2) Enkei PF06 16x8 ET +30.
These wheels have a nice "lip" and lower offset, giving a lovely hint of aggression. Another old Commando post says 225/75/R16 tyres should fit OK. Plus the poster Wolfcoast has fitted these tyres and I don't think she's noticed any issues.
Below are some (very rough) Photoshop mockups of how the car might look with the above wheels.
Now TBH I've become a bit obsessed with this, and hope to wrap things up so I can work, eat and sleep again soon. But before I hit BUY on one of the above wheels, does anybody know of any other cool options? I'm after a rally/JDM look (without going overboard), ideally with low offset, but it's proven hard to find 5x114.3 wheels that meet this requirement (e.g., I like the look of nicleungs' black RAV4 with 17x7.5 ET 0 Watanabes, but those rims don't seem to exist in any of the many sites I;ve scoured).
PS - This forum is such a fantastic resource for RAV4 lovers🙏
