Thread: 265 or 285 ?

According to the specification manual the standard offset on a Defender is +30mm, so your man's info is close enough to the mark.

265/75/16 is the widest actual Land Rover approved size (OEM wider option) and they might have just gone by that.

As said in many other threads, fitting any tyre wider or taller than that specified by the manufacturer is considered sufficient grounds for voiding warranty. While your friendly local dealer might turn a blind eye to the wheel issue, LRA policy is unfortunately very clear. “Should you fit any tyre size that alter the rolling diameter or exceed the specified widths and sidewall heights, drive line warranty would be voided”.

I don’t in any way agree with it, but this was the information sent to me by the technical enquiry desk.

i have driven on top brand 285s several times on numerous beam axle 4wds and they are all crap on the road. it is called tram-tracking. it doesn't matter how good the wheel alignment is or how good the car is - they just pick up so much more roughness and uneveness that can easily be dodged with 255s.

285s are a waste of money

Originally Posted by grounded

i have driven on top brand 285s several times on numerous beam axle 4wds and they are all crap on the road. it is called tram-tracking. it doesn't matter how good the wheel alignment is or how good the car is - they just pick up so much more roughness and uneveness that can easily be dodged with 255s.

285s are a waste of money

I disagree. IME 285s are as good or better on the road as 255s.

Tram tracking is something i havnt noticed at all with the 285s, this is usually felt with low profile tyres on big rims due to the lack of sidewall flex, i cant see how 285s would suffer from this. As for the 255s they seem a bit wallowy on road in my opinion and dont corner at speed as well, other then that theres not a great deal of difference. As for use on the beach i actually think the 255s are slightly better and i have done a heap of beach driving.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

The tyre retailers you spoke to are idiots.

Defenders have beam axles front and rear, so you are permitted to fit 1.5* wider tyres than standard.

A 7.50x16 is 190.5 mm wide. A 235/85-16 is 235 mm wide.

1.5* those widths are 285 mm and 352 mm.

http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/~/media/c7..._vehicles2.pdf
2nd last paragraph on page 19.

Possibly the retailer also considered that the person who asked them wanted to retain the stock rims, which may be narrower than minimum for any wider tyres.

Personally I would prefer 8" rims with 285's.

Originally Posted by cal415

Tram tracking is something i havnt noticed at all with the 285s, this is usually felt with low profile tyres on big rims due to the lack of sidewall flex, i cant see how 285s would suffer from this. As for the 255s they seem a bit wallowy on road in my opinion and dont corner at speed as well, other then that theres not a great deal of difference. As for use on the beach i actually think the 255s are slightly better and i have done a heap of beach driving.

In sand some power is consumed just by the amount/mass of sand in the tyre tread that has to be moved each revolution.

So logically a 285 would waste more power than a 255, especially with mud terrain tyres - do you think this could be part of what you have found?

Most tyre makers specify 8in rims minimum for fitment of 285s, probobly why the tyre fitters said they couldnt fit 285s on a defender because of the standard rim widths.

John, Yes i think so, i think the reason the 285s struggle a little more is the power loss due to cutting forwards through a wider mass of sand, i think its a common misconception people make that wider tyres are better for use on sand thinking that airing down gives a wider foot print and there for better floatation on the sand, this maybe be true to some degree but its the track length increase when aired down that makes the real difference, wider tyres just need more power to turn and unless you have that power(such as my v8 turning 37x12.5s which is nearly unstopable on the beach) you should stick to narrower tyres. but that also goes both ways i've found, 7.50x16s are ok in sand but just a little to narrow and you get way to much wheel spin burying the tyres to quickly, after having driven many different cars with many different tyrse sizes on sand, i think when it comes to width, the 265x75s or 255x85s are probobly spot on for sand, but if you have big HP then increase in width is definetly worth while to stop you burying the narrow tyres to quickly.

Originally Posted by Bush65

Possibly the retailer also considered that the person who asked them wanted to retain the stock rims, which may be narrower than minimum for any wider tyres.
Personally I would prefer 8" rims with 285's.

No, we did discuss putting them on 8" Steel Rims.