Defender wheels - what are the biggest tyres I can use?

Defender wheels - what are the biggest tyres I can use?

Author
Discussion

mikeh501

709 posts

180 months

Thursday 30th May 2013
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MaverickV12 said:
Hello again,

I have been looking at tyres etc and it seems that 285/75/16 will fit nicely on the car and look pretty nice, the rolling circumference is only marginally diffrent (about 3%), off roading is not my priority, towing is important and snow will be important (I can see that there are 285/75/16 snow tyres for the winter as well).

I don't want to lift the vehicle as on road driving will be the priority, my question is, do I need wheel spacers, or will the car take the tyres anyway?

eBay seem to have a million sets of 30mm spacers, they seem massive, but then I'm used to road cars and to put 30mm spacers on a road car would turn the car into a Carlos Fandango car.

Articulation is not a priority, indeed I'm also consider some polybushes that stiffen the suspension for road use, if anyone can point me the way to those, that would also be helpful.

I'm sorry to ask so many questions people, its just its a very steep learning curve with this car ............

Thanks ......... smile
if your keeping the boosts then i dont think you will need spacers. maybe a slight adjustment on the lock stops (adjusts your steering lock)

if you get some other wheels then just check what offset they are vs your boosts and work it out.

i certainly wouldnt buy spacers unless its a last resort.

MaverickV12

Original Poster:

1,084 posts

137 months

Saturday 1st June 2013
quotequote all
I just put on these 285/75/16 Kuhmo tyres. No spacers, no raisers, clearance seemed ok, they look massive in real life, but the rolling cercumference is only marginally different from that of the original. The tyre calculator tells me that at 30mph my actual speed is only about 31mph, and that is within the tollerance of the inaccurancy of the clock anyway, so if anything it makes the speed on the clock correct.



The above photo shows the difference between the front 285's and the rear 235's



The above is the 285/75/16 Kuhmo and the 235/85/16 Wrangler



In order to put the spare on, we had to take off the wiper, I guess I'll put some spacers on and give me the room I need. Any suggestions are welcome ......



Personally I think they fill the wheel arches nicely, and give a nice aggressive look to the car, interesting to see what they are like on the motorway..... smile

Texpis

230 posts

256 months

Saturday 1st June 2013
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The extra weight of that tyre will eventually damage your rear door, you would be better off putting on a spare wheel carrier.
Mick
Ps looks good

fredd1e

781 posts

219 months

Saturday 1st June 2013
quotequote all
MaverickV12 said:
I just put on these 285/75/16 Kuhmo tyres. No spacers, no raisers, clearance seemed ok, they look massive in real life, but the rolling cercumference is only marginally different from that of the original. The tyre calculator tells me that at 30mph my actual speed is only about 31mph, and that is within the tollerance of the inaccurancy of the clock anyway, so if anything it makes the speed on the clock correct.
<SNIP>

In order to put the spare on, we had to take off the wiper, I guess I'll put some spacers on and give me the room I need. Any suggestions are welcome ......



Personally I think they fill the wheel arches nicely, and give a nice aggressive look to the car, interesting to see what they are like on the motorway..... smile
Thick washers may help sort out the spare clearance to the wiper and on the motorway (and anywhere else) I'd say they'll be noisy, though if you've not driven on on A/Ts before you'll probably not notice much difference between the kumos and the MTRs . I swapped out from BFG MTs to the current oem Conti CrossContact ATs and the difference in noise/rumble /ride/steering/handling was HUGE, it almost feels civilised now on the CCs, I still have the MTs on spare wheels but cant see why I'd want to swap back anytime soon.

mikeh501

709 posts

180 months

Saturday 1st June 2013
quotequote all
Texpis said:
The extra weight of that tyre will eventually damage your rear door, you would be better off putting on a spare wheel carrier.
Mick
Ps looks good
+1

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Friday 7th June 2013
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Nick1point9 said:
Why do you want 300+mm wide tyres? And if you get significantly larger tyres they will look ridiculous.
rolleyes

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Friday 7th June 2013
quotequote all
camel_landy said:
I know you've got your heart set on big tyres, blah, blah... They do look the muts but honestly, the car isn't heavy enough for anything bigger than 235s.
Sorry camel but that's bks.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Friday 7th June 2013
quotequote all
MaverickV12 said:
I just put on these 285/75/16 Kuhmo tyres. No spacers, no raisers, clearance seemed ok, they look massive in real life, but the rolling cercumference is only marginally different from that of the original. The tyre calculator tells me that at 30mph my actual speed is only about 31mph, and that is within the tollerance of the inaccurancy of the clock anyway, so if anything it makes the speed on the clock correct.



The above photo shows the difference between the front 285's and the rear 235's



The above is the 285/75/16 Kuhmo and the 235/85/16 Wrangler



In order to put the spare on, we had to take off the wiper, I guess I'll put some spacers on and give me the room I need. Any suggestions are welcome ......



Personally I think they fill the wheel arches nicely, and give a nice aggressive look to the car, interesting to see what they are like on the motorway..... smile
Looks good.

Although if you wanted to go bigger you could have. And a mild lift could have been an option too, despite what some have said above. Although lifting more than 2" would likely require lots of additional work.

Wheel spacers might be a good idea, as you really don't know how much more lock you'd get until you try. 1" spacers would be fine, many 4x4 places sell something like this and it's no different to running wheels with 1" greater off set, which many do.


As for the tyres, if it's on road only I'm afraid I'm not impressed with the KL-71's, despite their popularity (likely due to their good pricing more than anything). While they aren't too noisy and fairly smooth and ok'ish off road. They round the outer should very quickly on tarmac far worse than almost any other AT or MT I've seen.

Toyo do quite a nice MT for road use if you want the look, or there's the good old BFG AT.


This is on 33.11.50R15's (claimed to be a 295/90) and against the tape measure they are almost 34" tall. Running on some deep dish 15x8 eight spokes. The LR is standard bar some heavier duty springs (unknown origin) that seem to lift it approx 1"



camel_landy

4,863 posts

182 months

Friday 7th June 2013
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
camel_landy said:
I know you've got your heart set on big tyres, blah, blah... They do look the muts but honestly, the car isn't heavy enough for anything bigger than 235s.
Sorry camel but that's bks.
rolleyes
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=767...

M

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Friday 7th June 2013
quotequote all
camel_landy said:
Thanks for the link. Not really sure of your point though. And that seems to be about road cars, not off roading...

Different terrain and different tread patterns will have an affect on the same vehicle, regardless of weight. Narrow tyres have some uses and can be better, but they can also be worse too. But to claim anything wider than a 235 is too wide because a 2 tonne 110 doesn't weigh enough, is something I can't fathom the logic on.

camel_landy

4,863 posts

182 months

Friday 7th June 2013
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
Thanks for the link. Not really sure of your point though. And that seems to be about road cars, not off roading...

Different terrain and different tread patterns will have an affect on the same vehicle, regardless of weight. Narrow tyres have some uses and can be better, but they can also be worse too. But to claim anything wider than a 235 is too wide because a 2 tonne 110 doesn't weigh enough, is something I can't fathom the logic on.
You are quite correct and as we know, tyre choice is ALWAYS a compromise. However, earlier in the thread the OP states:

OP said:
...off roading is not my priority, towing is important and snow will be important...
Hence the comments with more of a bias towards on-road usage.

M

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Friday 7th June 2013
quotequote all
Fair do. Although I still don't see why a 235 on a 2 tonne vehicle is the widest you should go due to weight. Plenty of much lighter cars use as wide or wider tyres.

camel_landy

4,863 posts

182 months

Friday 7th June 2013
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
Plenty of much lighter cars use as wide or wider tyres.
...just coz you can, doesn't mean you should. wink

M

MaverickV12

Original Poster:

1,084 posts

137 months

Friday 7th June 2013
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
They round the outer should very quickly on tarmac far worse than almost any other AT or MT I've seen
That concerns me .... having said that, I have any number of cars where the edge shoulder wears far far far quicker than anything else.

I am beginning to live with the car a bit and if you look at my profile, you will see that this Defender is a radical departure from everything I use, I must admit I can't find the Cruise Control, the Fuel range Computer, the Climate Control etc etc etc, ........ laugh

The tyres are nice to look at, and I have only driven them on road and in the dry, they do touch at full lock, but not much, the car drives, "OK", and a, "friend", told me that when he drove my car, it did 91mph, apparently on a, "private road", so obvioulsy no laws were broken. He said the tyre noise was to be heard though.

I do like my road trips and that includes a lot of autobahn driving across the EU, that means that I do need to cruise at 130kmh (81mph) which may be, "do-able", but if this is the case, then for road trips then I think I am looking at some pretty much road tyres to do the mileage in.

The 71's look absolutely bril, but are quite a, "truck of a ride". smile

Binder2012

2 posts

125 months

Monday 7th October 2013
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Hello Guys!! I am the neighborhood yank I believe. I just bought my first Defender 110, 2012. It has the factory "skinnies" with 16X5 steel wheels. I have read every forum I can find and see a lot of contradiction and opinion mixed. All I want is a AT tire, Like the Cooper AT, and a steel wheel that will fit onto the truck WITHOUT any modifications. Some web sites state I an use the wolf 16X7 with 265X75XR16 without a mod. But then another site states I need spacers and different studs and nuts. Too many conflicting stories. So, will the 265 fit with a 16X7 rim without any mods or replacement hardware? If not what size down would I need to go to achieve this? I want a quieter ride and a tire to fill the wheel well a little better.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Monday 7th October 2013
quotequote all
Binder2012 said:
Hello Guys!! I am the neighborhood yank I believe. I just bought my first Defender 110, 2012. It has the factory "skinnies" with 16X5 steel wheels. I have read every forum I can find and see a lot of contradiction and opinion mixed. All I want is a AT tire, Like the Cooper AT, and a steel wheel that will fit onto the truck WITHOUT any modifications. Some web sites state I an use the wolf 16X7 with 265X75XR16 without a mod. But then another site states I need spacers and different studs and nuts. Too many conflicting stories. So, will the 265 fit with a 16X7 rim without any mods or replacement hardware? If not what size down would I need to go to achieve this? I want a quieter ride and a tire to fill the wheel well a little better.
A modern Defender on standard steel wheels should be 16x6.5 rims IIRC.

What size tyre is fitted at present?

A 235/85/R16 or a 265/75R16 will fit a Defender no problems as a direct fitment. The 235 is standard fitment in some markets.

A 235 is narrower than a 265, but about 1/2 taller.

Any Land Rover fitment steel rims will fit perfectly fine and the wheel nuts you are using now will be fine for other steel wheels.

If you want alloys, then you'll need different wheel nuts.

The actual studs on the hubs should be fine, some earlier vehicles had shorter studs and an alloy wheel nave plate is thicker, so it wouldn't leave enough thread. On a 2012 vehicle I don't believe this would be an issue, certainly not for a UK market vehicle.


Either a 265/75 or a 235/85 will be perfectly fine on a 7" rim.
http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/tire-selector/name/...

If you want a bigger tyre, then a 255/85R16 should just about fit with no real problems and some people also go for 285/75R16's. The 255 is taller, but the 285 will look very chunky.

The 255 is probably ok on 7" rim, just. But most tyre makers will recommend a wider rim for a 285.

An 8" rim will be fine for all of these.

Binder2012

2 posts

125 months

Tuesday 8th October 2013
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Thanks for the information. My factory installed tires are the 16X5.5 steel with the military type rubber. Tough as nails and rides about the same.
I am now looking for a good source to buy from that ships to Abu Dhabi , UAE. Believe it or not I have been here for 13 years and have no idea where I can buy the wheels in country. I would like the Wolf, 16X 7 with the 265's you mentioned.

vjj

592 posts

238 months

Tuesday 8th October 2013
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Maverick

why did you buy those tyres if you want good road manners?

The BFG all-season AT's would have been a much better idea

Digga

40,206 posts

282 months

Tuesday 8th October 2013
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exkay said:
BF Goodrich 285/75/16....Brilliant tyres
+1 We've had B F Goodrich on Defenders and Isuzu Troopers and you can get 70k road miles out of them and they almost never catch any punctures.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Tuesday 8th October 2013
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Personally not all that keen on the AT BFG's. I admit they work better off road than I'd give them credit and I'm sure on rock crawls or hard backed mud they are ok.

But they seem to be the worst of everything for me. Not really capable in the mud in the UK and not all that good on the road. They also go hard and will slide a lot in the wet.

Durable I'd agree. They last forever. But not a tyre I'd actually spend money on. Would rather a set of BFG MT's. Almost as good on road, but much better everywhere else.