Monty the 3rd Gen Montero

ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
Welp, looks like Mitsubishipartsnow messed up my overnight order that was supposed to arrive last Friday. They ended up shipping the part to NYC to the person with the same name as me. It finally arrived on my doorstep today and I am lucky! I was told this is the last HBB unit in the States at the moment.

Going to swap out tomorrow as well as changing my sway-bar bushings, broken fiberglass battery tray and other little items that need attention.
 

mahlerous

New member
Welp, looks like Mitsubishipartsnow messed up my overnight order that was supposed to arrive last Friday. They ended up shipping the part to NYC to the person with the same name as me. It finally arrived on my doorstep today and I am lucky! I was told this is the last HBB unit in the States at the moment.

Going to swap out tomorrow as well as changing my sway-bar bushings, broken fiberglass battery tray and other little items that need attention.


The last one?! SMH
 

ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
The truck is back! Brakes feel (what I assume would be brand new)

I wired up some lights to the GFC using “MattGeckoLEDs” I also received my new ROTA wheels! Excited to mount them F8818DCF-646B-4691-9B42-67E8CE291878.jpeg4199DC78-F503-42AD-B314-2F8E59B18F8D.jpeg914E3363-C291-4C72-BC60-EA64A48C9C8C.jpeg21AAC187-95A9-4D0B-A92C-EC7C0DC34568.jpeg
 

tdferrero

Active member
Glad to see the truck is back, absolutely love the build. It's rather making me consider adding a Montero to the list of potential next rigs. All that just to get rep wheels though :cry: why the change in wheels?
 

Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
Glad to see the truck is back, absolutely love the build. It's rather making me consider adding a Montero to the list of potential next rigs. All that just to get rep wheels though :cry: why the change in wheels?

I'm guessing he spent his money on things to make the truck perform better instead of wheels. Instagram cred doesn't matter much when you're on the trail, reps look just as good covered in rockrash as anything else ?.
The authentic Volks i wanted were $750 per wheel, Level 8's were $120 each on sale. That's a lot of money one could throw at things like gears, lockers, suspension or tires for that matter. I would however put legit wheels on something that wasn't doing more than forest roads otherwise they'd end up looking like this...
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ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
Glad to see the truck is back, absolutely love the build. It's rather making me consider adding a Montero to the list of potential next rigs. All that just to get rep wheels though :cry: why the change in wheels?


@Toasty hit the nail on the head! I was looking into getting BRAID or EVOCOURSE wheels, heck Method sent me an offer But I thought, why pay $300 per wheel only to have them scratched up? I started looking into other companies like SCS and VTX but all their wheels stick out too far and I didn't really want the fake beadlocks.

After some research on the ROTA brand I found that they used to make wheels for Chrysler and Mitsubishi for the Asian market. To this day they still make OEM wheels for Toyota on the Asian market. I know their are rumors and stories out there stating "ROTAs break upon use and are poor quality" but they are JWL and VIA approved/tested as long as they are the legit ROTA wheels.

I also bought them because I wanted a 16x8 wheel (for when I run a larger tire) also wanted to wheel to stick out a bit more since I have the tent on top now ( 0 offset). All 5 wheels cost me around $800 and I won't have to worry about scratches of "instagram cred" I can also use the extra funds to put it towards a locker! :)

Fun fact - Before people say, these wheels copied Stealth Custom Series, these wheels are actually reps of the Bradley V wheels, which have been out for ever! So it looks like SCS might of taken some design notes from Bradley V
 

tdferrero

Active member
I do always chuckle at the term, "real ROTA's." @Toasty, I get what you're saying, but it isn't about insta cred, rather safety and durability. Have you ever seen an exploded ROTA/rep and the aftermath on the vehicle on which it was, or one that was in an accident? I get it's a lot of money for something that is going to get beat up, but I'd rather spend the extra money on something as important as wheels with a company that has put their wheels through quality strength testing and quality control. But alas, not my build.
 

ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
I do always chuckle at the term, "real ROTA's." @Toasty, I get what you're saying, but it isn't about insta cred, rather safety and durability. Have you ever seen an exploded ROTA/rep and the aftermath on the vehicle on which it was, or one that was in an accident? I get it's a lot of money for something that is going to get beat up, but I'd rather spend the extra money on something as important as wheels with a company that has put their wheels through quality strength testing and quality control. But alas, not my build.

Hi @tdferrero , while looking for wheels I stumbled upon ROTA and did some research. From what I have found it appears to me that ROTA is a reliable and reputable company that makes OEM wheels for cars in the Asian market. Here are some things I found

- ROTA wheels are made to JWL and VIA standards - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JWL_standard
- ROTA wheels are used on some popular drift cars - https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/413240-question-on-durability-of-rota-wheels/
- ROTA wheel has made OEM wheels for vehicles - http://www.rotawheels.com/about-us
- ROTA wheel history -
- ROTA wheels have seen others make "fake" ROTAs (which means wheels branded as ROTA from China that do not get tested) - https://jalopnik.com/knockoff-wheelmaker-rota-warns-of-knockoff-rota-wheel-1137837262


I do not think ROTA wheels are the strongest wheels out there by any means. I know Volks and Rays have their own testing and manufacture a MUCH stronger wheel. But wheels like VTX and SCS are not stronger than Volks either.

Yes I have seen pictures on the internet of supposed ROTA wheels failing and I have seen VTX wheels fail too.

I firmly believe that legitimate ROTA wheels are just as strong as any OEM wheel.

I will gladly go back on my word and let everyone know if I have any failures. Regardless these wheels will not be my forever wheel as I will be getting BRAID or Evocourse wheels in the future.


One more link - https://www.autoindustriya.com/auto...ified-safe-by-japanese-testing-standards.html

EDIT:

One more - https://www.performancealloys.com/blog/wheel-brand-wednesday-rota-wheels/

And to clarify I am not arguing that they copy others designs. They do copy, but I am stating that the wheels are in fact reliable.
 
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Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
I do always chuckle at the term, "real ROTA's." @Toasty, I get what you're saying, but it isn't about insta cred, rather safety and durability. Have you ever seen an exploded ROTA/rep and the aftermath on the vehicle on which it was, or one that was in an accident?

I think a lot of that has to do with wheel design and particularly passenger car wheels being used to party as this is where the majority of the internet breaks it's wheels.

Of course if you buy cheapie guy thin spoke wheels they'll likely break. You can tell just by looking at some designs that strength was never even considered, the other factor is that some people put wheels on their car that are not rated for the load. Yes you can put passenger car wheels on a Jeep, a wheel designed to carry a Honda. You can put wheels designed to look flashy on an Accord on your Evo and go motorcross with poor results.

My point here is that Monteros can run two flavors of wheels, quarter ton and half ton truck wheels with the latter being the majority. So even a cheap wheel designed to carry a half ton truck or even a quarter ton (Montero, Tacoma, Xterra etc) are going to be up to the task.

We also need to consider maintenance and care, wheels torqued to spec and doing your own inspections after 4 wheeling. This goes with ANY wheels, even the baddest ass racing wheels should be inspected after you've demanded they do work. My last set of wheels were forged aluminum and i was worried my new cheapie guy wheels would crack so I've watched them meticulously and even torque striped the WMS. I've run the Rubicon fully loaded, done 75mph off-road and so far so good (3 years on these now).

Most people on this forum or most people for that matter are going to carry a RTT and take an Instagram pic on a forest road and that's not much work for even a quarter ton truck wheel. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm dancing on death's door. Who knows, this IS the internet and i HAVE spread misinformation before ?.

One thing that i find curious is that NONE of the guys running these $700 a piece racing wheels actually go 4 wheeling (or racing) so how will we know if they're actually worth it? *Jab*

...Kidding, that money on forged wheels means your wheel doesn't break when you drive on them without a tire. I know for a fact that cheap wheels don't take that kind of abuse and i would NEVER race on these things but for overlanding and mild rock crawling they've held up fine.
 

ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
%100 agree! I plan on doing forest roads AND coffee meetups so my wheels should hold up right?

Kidding aside I think the ROTAS will work fine for fancy car camping and somewhat technical trails
 

ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
Finally got my new wheels mounted....

ROTA Trail-R 16x8 with 0 offset. The lugs a bought ended up not fitting (even after all my research) luckily Americas tire had some spline lugs on hand. My Custom hub rings I purchased are lost in the mail so I decided to mount them without hub rings for now. I think they look great and fill the wheel well nicely!

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ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
Well the past few days have been filled with the following... Baby Yoda, Goose Gear, and Baja Designs!

Hoping to get out this week. Too many pictures of this truck on pavement. IMG_9213.JPGIMG_9218.JPGIMG_9227.JPG
 

ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
Over 1,000 miles covered in just about 3 days. Finally finishing up "testing" the Total Chaos Upper Controls and got a chance to try out my new RTT in the snow. I took the Montero out on a few technical trails and man I am surprised by the articulation. Photos to come of this truck flexing! I promise!

I finally feel that I have my suspension dialed in and the truck rides smooth over snow packed trails and Death Valley roads... Even with the truck loaded down with gear.

Some interesting highlights/notes

  • First time getting stuck in snow, man it is tricky
  • I found out California DOES salt their roads - mainly in the High Sierras
  • Death Valley has some of THE WORST roads I have ever driven on
  • RTT make camp setup and teardown quick and easy!
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ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
I am doing my best to keep these separate - for those interested in hearing about King Shocks go here https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...ut-king-shocks-on-a-third-gen-montero.203941/ !

This past week I finally made the drive down to Arizona install some 4.90s and a rear ARB locker. Ernest did a fantastic job and LITERALLY worked through the night to help get me back on the road. Ernest is very meticulous in his work and is the kind of guy that will go above and beyond. I highly suggest installing new diff bushings if you every decide to install 4.90 pumpkins. Since everything will already be out, might as well do it!

On the way back to CA I averaged 18mpg... Not bad for an old SUV with a big RTT.

On my way to AZ I met up with some cool folks - @SONICMASD and @Toasty to name a few! I ended up filing a rad suspension video @SONICMASD suggested we make and did some WHEELING!

Check out the suspension video! It visually compares Bilstein 4600s to the King Shocks!

On to PHOTOS!

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