L200 2007 Alloys and Tyres question..

[claireodette]

Hi,
I have a 2007 MK4 L200 pick up and it looks far too girly. I need to man it up a bit. I've found these alloys, but my query is tyres, I want meaty thick tread tyres. The guy here is saying 2555518 tyres are fine, but they dont look big enough? can you help please :-) Thanks Claire

http://www.alloywheels.com/8.5x18_Inch_Alutec_(by_...

[300bhp/ton]

claireodette said:

Hi,
I have a 2007 MK4 L200 pick up and it looks far too girly. I need to man it up a bit. I've found these alloys, but my query is tyres, I want meaty thick tread tyres. The guy here is saying 2555518 tyres are fine, but they dont look big enough? can you help please :-) Thanks Claire

http://www.alloywheels.com/8.5x18_Inch_Alutec_(by_...

Is this for off road use? Personally I'm not a fan of street bling on a 4x4, so would normally opt for 15 or 16" rims for an off roader (assuming they clear the brake callipers).

On the L200 they are likely recommending a tyre that will be a similar diameter to the standard tyres. This is done so they won't affect your speedo, will fit in the arches and won't affect your gearing.

That said, most 4x4's can fit taller tyres as standard and a lot bigger if you opt for a lift kit, or are prepared to trim the wheel arches.


Just for your info, 255 means the tyre is 255mm wide. 55 means the profile (the amount of rubber between the rim and the outter edge of the tyre). 55 is 55% of the width (255mm), so that means a side wall profile height of 140mm. And 18 means an 18" rim.

Overall a 255/55R18 is about 29" tall. Which is fairly standard for most normal 4x4's. Typically if you want a chunky taller tyre you'll be wanting something that is 31-33" tall. Usually this would be by having a larger sidewall profile. For example on my Land Rover Discovery I ran 290/90R15's and they where nearly 34" tall overall.

I can't give specific advice as I don't know L200's all that well, but the basic principles still apply. If you are wanting it 100% for road use and road biased tyres, then a lower profile is generaly better, but to get the total tyre height up you may need to look at 19 or 20" rims, e.g. a 255/55R20 would be 2 inches taller than the same spec tyre on an 18" rim (although more metal, not rubber).
For detailed info on this I would head over to an L200 specific forum and find out what size tyres you can fit to standard L200.

[Monty Python]

If you want to keep the rolling radius of the tyre the same (so your speedometer reads correctly), then 255/45 tyres would be best (assuming the standard tyres are 215/60 R17s).