Thread: New wheels and another tyre question

Originally Posted by Loubrey

Pete,

I bought 6 alloys (ZU's) from the UK and had them posted by airfreight to Karratha in the Northwest Pilbara for a lot less than I could buy them over the counter in Perth.

You won't go wrong on at least getting a quote...

Zu Alloy Rims

If you want to support local, Les Richmond's not a bad option.

Steel Rims

Yep I agree, I looked for a while for wheels was going to go steel, then decided on the Zu wheels, I got them from Paddocks and they came in a lot cheaper than I could get them anywhere in oz.

For steel I will probably get them locally if I could.

Originally Posted by olbod

........................................Anyway, tyres are easily mulga staked when in poor country, I hate that ........................................... Not all staked tyres can be patched and re used. Bugger. This and the rack would only be used on really long, with bush bashing, extended time, trips.

cheers.
Robert.
.

It's probably been debated ad nauseum in previous threads. But here goes.

If youre planning to go this seriously off road I'd suggest sticking with 7.50R16's. Mightn't be flash, mightn't be fancy but you can get em at every corner store and one horse town in the outback. As to tubeless tyres, the most I've seen is 30 plugs in a staked tyre and it held air OK. Wouldn't want to go barelling down the NT highway at 130 Km/hr with it but OK in the bush.
Carrying five spares on the roof, plus fuel, crikey!, even Burke and Wills didn't carry that much. (though look what happened to them).
Be a heck of a lot easier with split rims and just a couple of tubed and banded spares, a couple more spare tubes and a box truck type patches. The good thick ones. These come in large sizes, the biggest I've got is about 6"X4" and about 1/8" thick. These should fix just about any size stake hole you'd get at the pressures and speed you'd be running at 'Mulga bashing'. Doesn't have to hold air as tubed.
Nice simple touring, drive untill you run out of spares, set up camp, have a cuppa, mend your spares whilst watching the world go by and start again the next day. Sort of a bush 'Ground Hogs Day'.
Only problem is I don't know if you can get split rims for a Landy anymore.

Deano

Theres a set of 5 wolf rims in the market section.
that is the go. I just cobbled together 8 for my 110 and van, otherwise I would have jumped on them.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/wheels-tyr...r-set-5-a.html

For all round use I reckon the 130 / Wolf type rims are terrific. 6.5x16x22.5 as opposed to the original 5.5x16x33 steel rims.

I run BFG 235/85R16 AT (equiv tyre size to 750R16) and on the 110 with 5.5 rims and the steering stops screwed right in the tyres would rub on the radius arms on full lock, Not so with the 130 rims. So if I took the stop bolts out all together I might get a still better turning circle (I don't mind the tyres rubbing the RA as I then know its as tight as I can go)



Re Deanos post. Agreed !!
There is some good info on Serious Desert / Spinnefex tyres on the Bedeall tours site
http://www.beadelltours.com.au/mrf.html

Hmm MRF tyres made in India, they should go good on a Defender

You can get split rims made at any decent wheel works (Eastern wheel Works) using Landcruiser rims with custom LR centres.

Originally Posted by Drover

Pete,

A factory wheel for a D'Fer (PUMA) has a neg 33mm off set, or 33mm extra to the middle of the vehicle. So on a 7 inch rim that’s equals about 4inches to centre and 3inches to out side.

A 265/75 tyre will just fit on a 7 inch rim, but no wider, it would a better fit on an 8 inch rim.

So if you are buying 8 inch rims, a neutral off set would best suit (4inches in and 4 inches out). This will cause the rim/tyre to stick out a little, but will negate any rubbing on the suspension.

Cheers

Drover,
I might be wrong but the standard Puma Boost alloy offset is Et 33 or plus 33mm. As the offset number reduces towards 0 (zero offset) relative to the Boost offset, the wheel is moved outwards. I am running Et10 (plus 10mm rims which means the rims are moved 23 mm further out from standrd Boost alloys. With 265 tyres the sidewall is just covered by the wheel arch top. Once you go to zero or negative offset, the tyre in most cases would extend past the wheelarch. A negative 33 offset would mean the rim /tyre combo which I have would stick out 66 mm further out from a standard Boost alloy.

Well the new BFG KM2 finally arrived today, but only 4 came in, the other one is due on the 20th at the tyre place. So I am running around on 4 255/85/16 and a 235/85 spare for a week but could not wait, he wanted them out of the shop and I wanted them on the car.

Now that they are on I really need to get the HD springs for the front, and pronto, I reckon I will catch the front of the arch if I do anything lightly extreme.

This is also the first opportunity to really get the ZU rims out of their boxes, I have to say I think all 3 make a great set, the defender the wheels and the tyres, but hey I am biased!!

Anyone know if the blue stuff on the side wall washes off? it seems to be peeling so maybe I just wait and it will all be gone in a few days.

Anyway some pics, sorry about the quality, mobile phones have a lot to answer for, there must be a lot of crap photos out there.

Hi Patclan,
The Defender looks great.
The blue protectant on the white logo writing does wash off either with a hose, or let the rain wash it off or use a bucket of water.

I don't know the weight of the Zu wheels but when I upgraded my wheels which were only a few kilograms heavier than the standard Boost wheels and tyres, I found it put extra strain on the back door so I had to tighten the catch mechanism so you could not see daylight at the top of the door as you drive over rougher sections of road or speed humps as the body flexes.