Freelander Tyre advice

[Griff Boy]

Hi Guys,

I have just bought a 5 door 54 plate TD4 Sport freelander to use as a sole winter car, probably from about NOv to March, as I live in NE Scotland, and my BMW is rubbish in the winter / snow etc.

I bought the car from an old friend, and he's had it from new, so I know its a good one with no problems, which is a relief!

Thing is, its tyres are basic summer road tyres, and I want to change them to a more winter suitable tyre. WHat would you reccomend, a full winter tyre, or a AT 4x4 tyre? The car will get used for some jobs in the summer, but very occasionally.

It has TC and HDC and will be doing some light off roading, mainly farms and horse yards etc

I have heard about the Vredsteins being pretty good?

What is the difference between a full winter tyre and a AT 4x4 tyre?

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

GB

[kVA]

Full winter tyres are horrible on tarmac - noisy, drink fuel and have poor grip (especially in the wet, ironically). However, they are brilliant in soft snow - Personally, unless you are planning to do really serious mud-plugging, I would go for A/T's. They are 10 times better than summer tyres on mud and grass and OK on the road.

Note that winter tyres without studs are not much better than summer tyres on ice or firmly packed snow: In fact, on hard sheet ice, unless you do have metal spikes, you are actually better off with as much tyre contact as possible.

ETA, I use General Grabbers and find them pretty good - and they last forever!

Edited by kVA on Saturday 2nd January 10:23

[stripy7]

Winter tyres have a rubber compound which performs best at temps circa sub 7 degs c. Its a fallacy to say they are only for snowy conditions. Their tread allows for clearance of snow build up in the same way that water is displaced of a conventional tyre- subsequently good in wet conditions too.

[kVA]

stripy7 said:

Winter tyres have a rubber compound which performs best at temps circa sub 7 degs c. Its a fallacy to say they are only for snowy conditions. Their tread allows for clearance of snow build up in the same way that water is displaced of a conventional tyre- subsequently good in wet conditions too.

Agreed, they clear water well, but they have a very much reduced contact patch compared to a decent wet weather summer tyre. I have A/Ts on my 4x4 and it's a bit hairy on wet concrete!

[r1chardh]

Interesting point about the tyres in the wet. I was about to buy a set of vredestein wintrac 4 extremes for my Freelander 2 (on a second set of wheels) for winter use here in the Peak District - currently got 6-12 inches of snow on my (reasonably steep) tarmac drive. So far HDC and the snow setting have been fine, but the local roads are so snowy right now.

but... I'll also need them to work well on the M1 too. I wonder how suitable they will be for that part of the trip. Anyone got any recommendations for good snow and non-snow performance? Nokian WRG2s seem to have a few good reviews.

Richard

[kVA]

r1chardh said:

Interesting point about the tyres in the wet. I was about to buy a set of vredestein wintrac 4 extremes for my Freelander 2 (on a second set of wheels) for winter use here in the Peak District - currently got 6-12 inches of snow on my (reasonably steep) tarmac drive. So far HDC and the snow setting have been fine, but the local roads are so snowy right now.

but... I'll also need them to work well on the M1 too. I wonder how suitable they will be for that part of the trip. Anyone got any recommendations for good snow and non-snow performance? Nokian WRG2s seem to have a few good reviews.

Richard

They'll be OK on the M1, but you might need to allow a bit more stopping distance. It's the corners that get a bit scary on winter tyres in my experience. However, Freelander 2 has a much more sophisticated 4WD and traction control system than mine, so you'll probably be OK as long as you don't drive like an idiot! Will be noisier and use more fuel though...

[Andy Sargeant]

The Vredestein Wintrac 4 Xtreme is a very good winter tyre and workes very, very well all year round, not noisy, very good in the wet, a very under estimated tyre, we have been fitting these to all types of 4x4 for a couple of years now and not one piece of negative feedback, we have fitted many, many sets to D3's and RRSports and they work well in all conditions.

The General AT2 is my favourite all-terrain tyre on the market today and is our best seller, this is a true all round tyre, nice compound for the very wet roads, good off-road and great in the snow, and sooooooooooooooooo many sizes available to fit most 4x4's.

I have been in the tyre business for over 25 years and have tested most of the 4x4 tyres on the market, have raced off-road, on tarmac and endurance events over many years in different 4x4's and cars, I like to test every type of 4x4 tyre befor I advise my customers of the pluses and minuses, and what I genuinely think is best for them, mind you the quote still is "lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink", we all have our choice and will favor what works well for you, so do your homework and make you own choice, I am always happy to help if I can, advise is free.

Hope you all have a great 2010

Andy.

[Andy Sargeant]

Paddy,

Give me a call with wheel size etc and I can look at whats available.

Andy. 01737 241370 [e-mail]

Edited by Andy Sargeant on Monday 4th January 11:45

[Griff Boy]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated.

I have been looking at the General Grabber AT2, seems the best all round tyre without costing a fortune! Only problem seems to be that my Freelander runs 235/50/R18 tyres, and they dont appear to make them in this size.

The nearest is a 235/60R18 107V GENERAL GRABBER UHP XL is this suitable for my car? What sort of impact on things would the extra sidewall height have?

My freelander is the sport td4 version, so slightly lowered suspension as well.

Cheers

GB

[Andy Sargeant]

I don't like going to a 60 profile on the Freelander so try and stick with the same size, take a look at the Falken STZ01 101W (google images), I think these would work well for you.

The General UHP is a great tyre, shame it's not made in your size.

Andy.

[Griff Boy]

Thanks for the help Andy,

I have looked at some of the reviews for the Falken, and they seem pretty good, except the general consensus is that they do not perform well in the snow. Bearing in mind I live in NE scotland and that the car will only be used between Nov and March, I want something that will give me pretty good snow and ice, as well as wet weather grip / braking, just not a specific snow only tyre!

Does the falken tyre do this?

Cheers

GB

[r1chardh]

got the vredesteins fitted by Andy and his guys at AJS - they had a few options, and I'd recommend them. They provided a second set of wheels at a very good price. Just in time for the snow down south, too.

[Andy Sargeant]

The Vredestein Wintrac 4 Xtreme is buy far the best, but we are now out of stock, we are being told 2-3 weeks, have a look at the Pirelli AT !

Andy.

[Griff Boy]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

I put a set of GENERAL GRABBER UHP on the Wife's Freelander2 today so will report back after a round trip to London Village this weekend, but to be honest I am astonished how well the car copes with the snow on low tread tyres.

Witchcraft in that Auto/4x4 system I tell yah !

I was advised by several people not to put General Grabbers on a freelander as the sidewalls were too high for the wheels / arches etc? I dont know if the FL2 is different, as mines a 54 plate Sport with 18" wheels. They do look cool and aggresive though!

On a seperate note, just had the Vredesteins Winter extremes fitted 235/50/18's and first impressions are good, took the car over some very snowy, slushy back roads and had an excellent stable feel to them, braking is definetely improved. Road noise seems pretty similar as well, so looking good so far........

[bull996]

Griff Boy said:

I was advised by several people not to put General Grabbers on a freelander as the sidewalls were too high for the wheels / arches etc? I dont know if the FL2 is different, as mines a 54 plate Sport with 18" wheels. They do look cool and aggresive though!

On a seperate note, just had the Vredesteins Winter extremes fitted 235/50/18's and first impressions are good, took the car over some very snowy, slushy back roads and had an excellent stable feel to them, braking is definetely improved. Road noise seems pretty similar as well, so looking good so far........

But surely if you keep the rollong circumference the same (or very close) there shouldnt be an issue?

[SunDiver]

I don't presently have a land rover but I've been browsing this forum recently as I'm pondering a newish Freelander 2 or older Discovery. Like many I've been lusting after them in this cold spell.

I wanted to say that I have Wintrac Extremes on my old Audi S4. It's 4wd but obviously no off-roader. Yesterday in the North Devon moors I got up a fairly steep country lane in 3-4 inches of fresh snow on compacted older stuff and slowly overtook a 59 reg Freelander that was alternately spinning its front and then all of its wheels and going nowhere. I imagine it was on regular (summer) tyres. My Audi was finding it fairly slow going but it made it up if I kept the throttle light. I left traction control on but it only lit up if I gave it too much gas.

I'm not for a second knocking landies - I want one. I just wanted to make the point about how good winter tyres are *in such circumstances*. I wouldn't have had a chance if I was on my summer tyres.

I imagine that a Freelander etc AND winter tyres must be a pretty decent combination! Especially with that HDC stuff. Going *down* hills in snow is properly scary in regular cars.

Edited by SunDiver on Monday 11th January 18:42

[SunDiver]

Hah - yes, agreed on that ordering, for most occasions!

[benny.c]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

well honked down to London Village and back over the weekend and no complaints.
Due to idiot mate we left just when the HEAVY snow was hitting us in the North East late Friday afternoon and we did the length of the A19 to the A1 in pretty dire conditions.
I did consider calling it quits but knew it was localised to where we were not the full journey.

It was reassuring to now when driving along through the fairly fresh snow that I had some gnarly tread depth fitted I must admit.

Didn't put a foot wrong so so far so good. I can report back with any more findings !

Just fitted some UHP's to my Audi Allroad and found them to be great too. No problems with the fresh snow/slush/ice and good grip in the wet. Can't comment on dry grip yet obviously

Not too expensive at just over £400 for the four corners and so much better than the Goodyear NCT5's that they replaced......although that's not hard as they were absolute bobbins.

[Andy Sargeant]

All of the General Tire range are truly very good, a tyre maker that wants to get ahead.

AT2, UHP, and the new Altimax are fantastic, they will not last quite as long as BFGoodrich but give you more all round for your money.

Andy. www.ajstyres.co.uk