FN Overlander Wheels spec A and B , show em if you got em

We have them in stock if you're looking for a set. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

Nice Ric Flair avatar too. Woooo!

Hi @GTGallop,

For 20 years we've emphasized strength and lightness of weight in the majority of our wheels for Toyota trucks. This started with me owning a 4cyl Tacoma PreRunner that was really underpowered. In this regard I think we pre-date just about any other wheel company with regard to emphasizing light weight wheels for the Tacoma. Our 16x8" Countersteer Offroad (first released around 2004/5) weighed just under 19lbs per wheel and fit over the 2000-2006 Toyota Tundra brakes (which was a big deal for 16" wheels at that time). Some throwback pictures:





With that said, the 17x8.5" Overlander is not a light weight wheel. The design is really dense and prohibitive in terms of lightening up the wheel. The Overlander Spec A weighs approximately 27lbs and the Overlander Spec B weighs approximately 29lbs. This put it right in line with most 17" OEM Toyota alloy wheels, but please also bear in mind that our wheel is 1.0" to 1.5" wider than most OEM Toyota wheels (more material on the barrel). We found some areas were we could machine out unnecessary weight without sacrificing strength, but again, this design was not intended to be a particularly light weight wheel.

My goal, as it relates to wheel weight for the 17x8.5" Overlander, was to keep the weight right around the weight of a comparable 17x7" or 17x7.5" OEM Toyota wheel without reducing the load rating / strength of the wheel and while simultaneously increasing the wheel width to accommodate larger tires. This to me is a net positive, since you aren't adding un-sprung weight, but you are gaining rim width.

However, the primary intention behind this wheel was to offer a 17" option for customers who like the 16" Tacoma Baja / FJ Cruiser SE wheels, but who wanted or needed a 17" wheel.

17" wheels have more tire choices compared to 16" wheels, and the 16" tire choices available are becoming more limited every year. In 285/75R16, for example, virtually all of the tire choices available now are heavy, stiff LT load range E (10-ply). The comparable 17" tire size of 285/70R17 has dozens of tires to choose from in variety of configurations : P285/70R17, LT285/70R17 load range C (6-ply), LT285/70R17 load range D (8-ply) and LT285/70R17 load range E (10-ply).

Our 17x8.5" Overlander wheels clear big brake kits and the larger OEM brakes found on the 4th Gen 4Runner Sport/Limited, 5th Gen 4Runner (all models) and the Lexus GX460/470.

Regarding strength - I cannot tell you for certain that our wheels are stronger than the Toyota OEM wheels, because I don't have the testing data for all of the Toyota wheels. Generally speaking I would say that the OEM wheels are overengineered and very strong, but there have been some exceptionally weak OEM wheels that don't hold up as well to off-roading/rock crawling.

What I can tell you is that our wheels were engineered to withstand abuse. One of our customers in particular (he's not as active on Tacoma World or social media these days) told me that over the course of a couple years he broke multiple axles on his Tacoma wheeling and rock crawling, but never bent one of his Overlander wheels. You can watch some great videos of his truck (equipped with the FN Overlander Spec B) in action here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA9z0PN13bOkIsD9Wd8quaw

https://www.instagram.com/alex.busta/reels/?hl=en

I think I made a good case for the merits of the Overlander wheels above, but if you have any questions at all please let me know.

I appreciate your well wishes and your reference to capitalism. At it's root, capitalism really emphasizes meeting the demands of the marketplace, i.e. filling a void in the market and providing the customer with what they want. This is why capitalism is the best economic system in the world. If it weren't for capitalism there wouldn't be much incentive for innovation or market competition.

To be clear while I appreciate your comment about making a "mint", I'm not looking to make a mint by selling wheels.

When you consider what goes into designing, testing and manufacturing the wheels, the quality of our product, the amount of time and effort that we put into helping potential and existing customers (we still have a phone number and actually answer our phone), the effort that we put into packaging and shipping our product (a small detail that is often overlooked) and then consider the price we charge (which is extremely reasonable/competitive), you will come to the conclusion that we aren't making a mint.

Many times, as I've mentioned in other threads on Tacoma World and elsewhere, I might even talk a customer out of buying our wheels if I don't think that they'll be a good fit for them. By that I don't mean that the wheels won't fit their vehicle. Rather, if I don't think the customer will be happy with the fitment I try to talk them out of the wheels (even if I don't have any other wheels to offer them). I'm sure there are at least a hundred people on this forum alone that can attest to that.

In the end, if our customer is happy, we're happy. Most of my business comes from referrals and word of mouth. This business model has worked very well for me for the better part of decades. I'm an enthusiast too. I want to offer something that will be of value in my products, and I also get a kick out of hearing from happy customers.

Absolutely, yes.

If your truck came with alloys the sensors will OEM TPMS sensors will transfer right over.

If your truck came with steel wheels you can reuse your OEM sensors, but they have to be mounted slightly different because of the angle of the valve stem. Otherwise you can change your sensors to OEM alloy-type sensors or aftermarket sensors.

 

Any 5th Gen 4Runners?

 

Hi @kakwvu ,

Here are few for you. I'll try to dig up some more.

 

More of Alex Busta's Tacoma from a few years ago:

 

I just want you to be successful. That's all. I enjoy seeing an underdog / start up business succeed. Thank you for the very thoughtful response. Definitely looking into your wheels more now.

 

I'm guessing my lug nuts for these wheels will work for spec b wheels?

 

Is there a Tacoma world discount? Just curious.

 

Thank you. That's very kind of you!

Hi @easleycrawler ,

The Overlander wheels require conical seat, extended thread (ET) lug nuts :


(also available in chrome).

The wheels shown in the photo your photo (OEM 4Runner wheels) are designed for flat seat wheels that use mag-shank extended thread lug nuts with a washer.



You'll need different lug nuts for the Overlander wheels, but we have the lug nuts in stock and can help you out with that.

Most of the Overlanders are already on sale for a reduced price on our website (we lowered some of the prices about a month ago).

The prices on our website include FedEx Home Delivery shipping (all wheels double boxed with outer edges double reinforced, fully insured with signature confirmation). If you want to contact me directly I can go over some other shipping options to bring the cost down. More often than not we can find a FedEx authorized pick up location near you, and if we ship the wheels there it will save you somewhere between $30 to $50.

If you're looking for an even better deal, we also have some wheels in specific finishes that we have deemed to be cosmetic seconds (wheels with minor blemishes in the finish). We can discount them further if you're looking for an even better deal. For what it's worth, I've handled a lot of the OEM TRD wheels and found similar or more substantial flaws in the finish of wheels that Toyota/TRD sends out as first quality for full price.

 

Appreciate all the info. One last question, what center caps do they come with? I'm not sure which I'd run, the black or the machined looking ones. I'll pick up the set as well of the ones that don't come with the wheels. Thanks.

 

any plan for making these beadlock style wheels in +10mm offset? I'd ditch my 16inch OEM wheels right away for your 17inch if the offset isn't -12mm (too much for my needs).

 

The default cap is a plain center cap that is painted the same color as the wheel. We also have blank, alloy style caps (no logo / no writing), alloy background w/ FNW lettering caps (black or red letters) and black background caps with FNW lettering (red or silver letters).

If you'd like different caps or additional caps just let me know when you place your order.

The Overlander offset is -6mm, which yields a 4.5" backspacing (the wheel is 8.5" wide). 4.5" backspacing and a rim width of 7.5" to 9.0" is necessary for most Tacoma owners who have installed or wish to install 285mm tires with 16" or 17" wheels. Higher offset/backspacing will usually result in interference with the upper control arm.

I'm sorry, but we don't have any plans for an OE style +10mm or +15mm offset at this time.

 

Looks great! Thank you for posting.

 

When are the spec b wheels going to be back in stock?

 

What color(s) would you like to order?

We have matte graphite gunmetal with matte black trim in stock right now.

Graphite gunmetal w/ machined trim will likely be back in stock in early Spring. ETA pending for most of the other Spec B options. If you're looking for a specific color/finish, please me know what you're looking for and I'll try to get you a better estimate.

Matte graphite gunmetal w/ matte black simulated beadlock trim:





Gloss graphite with machined aluminum simulated beadlock trim:





Different center cap options are available as well, and the OEM Toyota TRD caps are compatible too.

 

Black with machined.

 

We had very good inventory in matte black w/ machined trim for about the last two years before selling out. We've noticed that interest has waned for matte black wheels as of late. We'll be producing more graphite gunmetal w/ machined trim in the near future, but I would like to see demand pick up for matte black wheels before we produce more in matte black.

Maybe we can get a group buy / pre-order going for matte black?

 

I think the grey looks best.

 

Got any pics of the graphite gunmetal with machined trim on a white 2nd gen?

 

I knew I should've bought the last set of the blemish black wheels.