tyres

[One Ten]

I have a set of Disco rims that I want to put on my Defender. The main reason is these are tubeless, i have had numerous flat tyres with the tubless when i let them down to drive on the beach and sand gets into the tyre and wears the tube out.

my preference is a Brdigestone Desert Deuler.

Does anyone have any thoughts on brands and types of tyres.

[bigbugga]

Personally like the goodyear wranglers.

AT have a nice deep tread and are not road noisy, but nice grip in the loose sand and dirt, even good for mud work.

[aloa9061]

I put bfg muddies on 16x8 rims. They were the best investment i made for offraod work. haven't tried sand yet but i'm guessing the 285x75x16 should be pretty good. I always let my tires down but not too low in mud. they were down to 20psi the other day in the watagans with lots of mud and no problems with the bead. with the disco rims you should be able to put 265's on.

very happy

[VladTepes]

Speaking of which...

I assume the steel wheels on my Defender Ute are the ones it came with, but 1. Can I be sure, 2. How do I know what size they are ?

They currently have 235/85 R16 Kumho Venture AT's on them, but don't look like they would take anything wider.

What are the Defender 130 wheels - how are they different ?

What tyre sizes would be best / correct to run for these wheels ?

[4bd1]

Maybe someone can set me straight on this issue but don't 130 rims have a 1/2 inch offset on the wheels in order to prevent tyres rubbing on the suspension at full articulation.
If that is true there may be an issue with Disco rims.

VledTepes.
have a good look around the rim, the size should be stamped somewhere.

Cheers

[One Ten]

4bd1 - I have a friend who has fitted standard steel disco rims to his 110 with no problems, and I was not aware that there could be problem fitting the same to a 130. Does anyone know whether 4bd1 is right or not, or has anyone else fitted the disco rims to either a 110 or 130? I was on the understanding that the 90, 110 and 130 where the same except for the length of the chasis, with the front end being identical on all 3 of them. Any help / experiences would be appreciated .... do not want to buy new tyres for the disco rims only find they do not fit.

[Defender200Tdi]

As far as I know, all Defender (except 130), Range Rover & Disco rims have 33mm offset. This means that the mounting face of the wheel is offset 33mm outwards (away from the vehicle) from the centre line on the rim. If you look at your rims (alloys too) you will probably find markings such as 16x5.5 33 or 16x7 33. The middle number is of course the rim width. The 130 rims and Wolf rims for the UK military have a 20.6mm offset (16x6.5 20.6), meaning they sit slightly further outwards from the vehicle.

The significance of all this is that fitting Disco rims to your Defender is no problem at all and will give you a wider range of tyre sizes to choose from, since they are 7 inches wide instead of the standard 5.5 inches wide. Instead of being restricted to 7.50 x 16 or 235/85, you can happily go to 265/75.

However, if you choose (like me) to go to larger diameter and well as wider tyres (mine are 255/85 or 33"), then there is a possibility that the inside edge of the tyres will rub on the springs at full articulation. Also, they will rub on the radius arms at the front. The best cure for this is to change the offset of the rims so that they sit further out from the vehicle. People with Disco rims generally get around this by having the centres cut out and welded back in reversed, this gives the effect of a zero offset, sitting the wheels about 30mm further out. My own unmodified Disco wheels dont rub on the springs, courtesy of the 50mm suspension lift, and I've cured the rubbing on the radius arms by adjusting the lock stops, but that results in an even lager turning circle.


Paul style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif