Off road tyres [Archive] - Australian Land Rover Owners

saljosax

9th June 2016, 08:15 AM

sheerluck

9th June 2016, 08:18 AM

Welcome to the forum!

Feel free to post some pictures of your new beast when you can.

You haven't said what size wheels you have. That will probably give you some more definite replies.

laughto

9th June 2016, 12:36 PM

Welcome to the land of Land Rovers. If you are like me and this is your first LR, I hope and trust you will be as impressed as I am with its capabilities, not that I am by any stretch of the imagination an expert. This is our first 4WD and was specifically purchased to tow a hybrid camper-trailer - anywhere we want to go.

If this is your first LR, apart from the invaluable info you will receive from this forum, can I also suggest joining one of the LR Car Clubs. 2 that come to mind are the Land Rover Owners Club of Sydney (http://www.lroc.com.au) and The Range Rover Club of Australia (NSW) (http://rangeroverclubnsw.asn.au). Don't let the name of the later put you off as there appear to be many more Discos among the group than Rangies. Both will be another source of like minded people only too willing to help!

Back to your can of worms question, and much will depend on exactly what you are looking to do/how off road you intend getting. From my perspective you have a couple of options here depending on your current setup (this assumes you have standard 19" rims):-

1. Purchase a cheap set of 19" rims and purchase some more aggressive tyres - more on this later. Rims can generally be had, depending on condition and age for anywhere between $50/rim to $200/rim as I have seen advertised. You will also come across more expensive ones, which probably are not really necessary. I previously had some rims from an 2012 SE (I believe) which did not match my OEM rims - but who cares.

2. Purchase some more aggressive off road type tyres for the above mentioned rims. This raises the debate about suitable off road / LT tyres of which until recently there have been none available for the 19" rims, although I believe there have been for 20". Until recently, Goodyear Duratrac, Hankook Dynapro RF10, Cooper LTZ, General Grabbers (and a few others) seemed to be in favour for this requirement. More recently Maxxis have released a 19" LT rated tyre - Bravo 980 which has piqued the interest of forum members including myself. More discussion here (http://http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/235378-19-maxxis-tyres.html). In my case I purchased 6 and rightly or wrongly leave them on the car permanently - you will get some debate about this strategy. But certainty, you could mount your off road tyres onto the aforementioned spare rims and swap them out when going off road.

3. Buy a set of 18" rims. There maybe some from other LR vehicles that will fit, I am not sure however many forum members have purchased specifically designed rims from Green Oval Experience (http://www.greenovalexperience.com/) out of WA. While not cheap, they are made to rally specifications and look fabulous on the car. 18" rims give you a much larger array of tyres to choose from e.g. Bridgestone Dueler D697s.

Good luck with your choices. I am sure as you get into this forum more and more, you will find more and more things to spend your hard earned on :D

saljosax

9th June 2016, 12:38 PM

Sorry...they're 255 55 19

shanegtr

9th June 2016, 01:54 PM

I dont think for general touring you need anything more agressive than a good quality AT tyre (some destinations might be different however). As such I just run the one set of tyres for everything - however my D3 has 17" rims and not 19". I'd personally try to get the smallest diameter rim you can for an offroad tyre. If I went to the expense of going the GOE rims I'd run them all the time:D

LRD414

9th June 2016, 02:34 PM

Hi...we've just bought a new (2015) Discovery 4 and plan to do an off-road trip each year. Wondering if I should buy a set of off-road tyres to use on these trips and change back to our normal ones for city driving or get an all terrain tyre and leave them on all the time. Also wondering which tyres to get. Any advice will be much appreciated! Thanks.
Welcome and as others have said it depends on what type of off-road tracks etc you'll be taking.
There is a better selection of AT and LT tyres in 18" but it's expensive to get the required wheels.
There is currently only one legal 18" wheel for Australia for the newer 3.0L Discos like yours (see laughto's link).

If your off-roading is not too remote or predominately on harsher surfaces, staying with the 19s and getting better tyres would most likely be suitable. The tyre choice has improved over the last say 2 years for AT but LT is still thin on the ground, with the Maxxis mentioned by laughto being the only one (I think). Reading experiences on this forum indicates that slowing down, driving to the conditions and not lowering pressure too much tends to deliver acceptable results with 19" ATs.

Here's some good bedtime reading for the more popular 19" tyres:
Goodyear Duratrac (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/234405-19-goodyear-duratracs-255-55-19-a.html)
Goodyear Duratrac (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/214427-anybody-duratrac-19s-got-report-looking-toughest-19-a.html)
Hankook Dynapro ATM RF10 (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/235239-19-hankook-dynapro-atm-rf10.html)
Maxxis Bravo 980 (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/235378-19-maxxis-tyres.html)
Cooper Zeon LTZ (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/147230-d4-19inch-cooper-zeon-ltz-255-55-19-a.html)
Standard OE Wranglers (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/233287-d4-driving-over-big-red-19-rims.html)
There is a General Grabber too but couldn't find a specific thread.

I got a set of the 18" wheels but my father went through this decision process recently and decided to stay with 19" and get ATs. He's in the middle of a big trip and happy with the Hankooks so far.

As to swapping tyres on one set of rims, well that depends on your appetite for the hassle and cost. I reckon most don't bother after fitting ATs.

Cheers,
Scott

saljosax

11th June 2016, 03:17 PM

sheerluck

11th June 2016, 03:25 PM

......Next decision is a bulbar. Do we need one? Are brands other than LandRover OK?

Thanks again!

The Land Rover "bullbar" is not given very gracious reviews on here. I think most people view the aftermarket offerings as being much better.

Lots of reading in here (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/125759-d4-landrover-bull-bar-latest-news-12.html)

saljosax

14th June 2016, 11:49 AM

I'm starting to feel like we bought the wrong car! I can't get through to GOE but even if they do call back its probably not possible to get the 18" rims sent over before we leave.

I've spoken to another tyre place in Sydney who say they can put 18" American Racer rims on with a Goodyear Wrangler tyre, has anyone heard of this combo working?

So if I can't get the 18" rims in time, can I drive the Simpson Desert and Hay River Track on 19" rims?

sheerluck

14th June 2016, 12:50 PM

Without knowing which model of American Racing rims you're referring to, I'd be very sceptical personally. The D4 wheels have a very high load rating, 930kg or so from memory. I've not seen or heard of anyone having 18" rims on a D4 from AR before.

However, I'm sure there have been many who have done that trek on stocko wheels and tyres.

LRD414

14th June 2016, 02:01 PM

So if I can't get the 18" rims in time, can I drive the Simpson Desert and Hay River Track on 19" rims?
As has been said already, be very careful about claims regarding any other 18" wheels, both for capacity but also legality, eg offset.

No you won't get GOE wheels at short notice but if you have a read right through some of those threads I posted earlier here for you (post#6), you'll see that people have successfully done that type of trip and bigger on various 19" tyres, including at least one person who posted that he did a long trip on the stock tyres! (I forget exactly which thread).

As has been mentioned, it's all about driving to the conditions and getting the tyre pressure right, which is higher for 19s than 18s or 17s.
It seems people go wrong with 19s when they lower the pressure too much.

Also consider getting an extra spare tyre or even wheel & tyre.
Carrying at least a second spare tyre will see you mobile again sooner compared to waiting for one to be shipped to wherever.

In short, it's been done. It sounds like you're worrying too much.

Cheers,
Scott

Ben_Vapid

14th June 2016, 02:16 PM

No you won't get GOE wheels at short notice but if you have a read right through some of those threads I posted earlier here for you, you'll see that people have successfully done that type of trip and bigger on various 19" tyres, including at least one person who posted that he did a long trip on the stock tyres! (I forget exactly which thread).

I did Melbourne to NT on the stock 19" Goodyears including about 100kms of sand driving, Mereenie loop, palm valley and the Finke national park and all through the west macdonald ranges. Not one issue.

Like Tombie says, drive to the conditions :)

saljosax

19th June 2016, 10:39 PM

Yes I do tend to worry! But some good news, I've been told it's possible to get the GOE 18" rims air freighted to me in time. I'm planning to order them in the morning, am I doing the right thing or just worrying too much? Should I just stick with the 19's and save the cash?

BMKal

20th June 2016, 12:26 PM

Just my opinion - but I'd be getting the GOE rims and fitting a set of the Bridgestone D697 tyres if you're planning more than one trip. ;)

At least with these, as well as the numerous advantages that come with dropping down to 18" rims and tyres, you have a far greater chance of obtaining a replacement tyre outside of the major metropolitan centres should you ever need one - and a far better chance of finding someone with the gear to actually fit a new tyre to the rim. I know of one group travelling from Esperance to SA along the coast who ended up having to get four new 19" rims with tyres shipped from Adelaide to them at Nullarbor after damaging a number of tyres on the tracks (between two D4's). They could have got new tyres shipped to them, but nobody out that way had the gear to fit them to the rims. A member on here picked up four very cheap near new Land Rover 19" rims (with stuffed tyres on them) as a result of all this.

I've had 18" rims on mine since new (it's the older 2.7 diesel) and, while I have been offered some very nice looking non-genuine 19" rims with tyres for a very attractive price, I wouldn't even consider fitting 19's to mine. I'm getting a good run out of a set of Mickey Thompson STZ's at the moment, and these suit me well for what I use the vehicle for. But for more serious off-roading, especially if intending to travel rocky tracks up north, I'd be looking seriously at the D697's based on the reports from others who I know have used them in pretty harsh conditions.

kelvo

20th June 2016, 06:07 PM

I know of one group travelling from Esperance to SA along the coast who ended up having to get four new 19" rims with tyres shipped from Adelaide to them at Nullarbor after damaging a number of tyres on the tracks (between two D4's). They could have got new tyres shipped to them, but nobody out that way had the gear to fit them to the rims. A member on here picked up four very cheap near new Land Rover 19" rims (with stuffed tyres on them) as a result of all this.

That wasn't the "4x4 Australia's Big Bight Expedition" by any chance? I remember watching it on YouTube thinking they're going to run out of tyres soon...

BMKal

20th June 2016, 07:33 PM

That wasn't the "4x4 Australia's Big Bight Expedition" by any chance? I remember watching it on YouTube thinking they're going to run out of tyres soon...

I'm not sure who it was. I was asked if I was interested in purchasing the rims with damaged tyres when on my way across to Melrose last year. The bloke at the Nullarbor Roadhouse told me how he had come to have them in his possession, but he just said a "group of Land Rover Discovery 4's travelling from West to East along the coast" - no other information on who they were or where they were from.

I passed the information about the rims on to a member of this forum while in Melrose, and stopped in at Nullarbor on the way home to confirm price etc. A couple of forum members then did a "Cannonball Run" out to Nullarbor from Adelaide and collected the rims.

LandyAndy

20th June 2016, 07:37 PM

I'm not sure who it was. I was asked if I was interested in purchasing the rims with damaged tyres when on my way across to Melrose last year. The bloke at the Nullarbor Roadhouse told me how he had come to have them in his possession, but he just said a "group of Land Rover Discovery 4's travelling from West to East along the coast" - no other information on who they were or where they were from.

I passed the information about the rims on to a member of this forum while in Melrose, and stopped in at Nullarbor on the way home to confirm price etc. A couple of forum members then did a "Cannonball Run" out to Nullagine from Adelaide and collected the rims.

Why did they go to Nullagine Brian:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p
Andrew

BMKal

20th June 2016, 07:57 PM

Why did they go to Nullagine Brian:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p
Andrew

Typical bloody South Australians ................. they got lost. :p:p:p

Basil135

20th June 2016, 08:05 PM

Typical bloody South Australians ................. they got lost. :p:p:p

Oi...

Nullarbor is a lovely place to visit.

We thoroughly enjoyed our 20 min visit, before heading home. :D

rhinosm

20th June 2016, 10:13 PM

Thanks everyone for all your great advice.

I am hearing the 19" wheels are not ideal. This trip we're driving Sydney to Uluru through the Simpson and Hay River Track, so sand is our main off road feature. We will be doing a trip each year though so whatever we get now should suit a variety of terrains.

I'll look into the 18" wheels and tyres for those.

Next decision is a bulbar. Do we need one? Are brands other than LandRover OK?

Thanks again!

Hi Dave
I have just returned last night from a very similar trip.
We drove from Melb, to Adelaide, Warren Gorge, Maree, Birdsville Track, Simpson Desert to Poppels, Hay River Track, Plenty Hwy to Alice, then spent 5 days in APY lands and wandered home, 6300kms in about 17 days.
I have a new D4, not so new now, towing a 1 tonne trailer.
I have 19" Goodyear Duratracs, on a second set of wheels including 2 spares.
We had no problems, no flats at all and we flogged them.
My only comment would be they seemed to hold the wet sand of the Hay River in the tread at times.
We did the Simpson fairly easily, only needing to have a few goes at dune 2, straight after Big Red, the rest were all straight up and over, until our last dune on Hay River, where I got stuck due to the trailer and the tight left, right at top of dune. A little digging and we were away.
Hay River was lovely and we would like to have spent more time.
The D4 performed brilliantly.
The Llams was fantastic piece of kit.
I used 3 jerry cans from Birdsville to Plenty Hwy onto of standard tank.
We were getting 21L/100ks on Simpson/Hay River.
Next trip I would like to have a bull bar, hit one roo, and a bit more fuel capacity.
Like many others I was waiting for ARB bull bar to be released.
I travelled with a Prado which had a 140L tank but struggled to keep up with D4, especially on open roads. Even with trailer I was doing 130Ks plus.
Happy travels.

saljosax

21st June 2016, 08:00 PM

OK...the 18" GEO rims are in the air as we speak, should be here by end of the week. Apparently Bridgestone are out of stock of the D697, was going to go with the BFGoodrich AT KO2's, are these OK? We are definitely planning at least 1 trip per year, Cape York next year so I feel good knowing we have the 18" rims.
Do you think we need a bullbar? ARB don't make one but Opposite Lock do. My concern is that we live in an inner city suburb in Sydney where bulbars are frowned upon. Trying to work out how essential it is. I'll be driving 2nd or 3rd in a convoy of 4 and not at night (apparently!)

LandyAndy

21st June 2016, 08:59 PM

letherm

21st June 2016, 09:21 PM

Do you think we need a bullbar? ARB don't make one but Opposite Lock do. My concern is that we live in an inner city suburb in Sydney where bulbars are frowned upon. Trying to work out how essential it is. I'll be driving 2nd or 3rd in a convoy of 4 and not at night (apparently!)

I got my bullbar so I could mount the driving lights and UHF antenna.:whistling::whistling::whistling:.

Seriously though, it depends whether you need it. Personally I have always had a bullbar fitted but never needed it. The only time I met a moving animal it hit the rear of the car not the front. It really is a judgement call but I feel safer with it on there. I wouldn't worry about what other people think - let them get wrinkles from frowning, it's your car.

Martin

LRD414

21st June 2016, 09:27 PM

The Maxxis 980 is another option that has been discussed in here in the 19" size but they also do the 18" 265/60. Have read mixed reviews though.

There's quite a few people running the KO2 now but no long term reports in here yet.

Scott

shanegtr

22nd June 2016, 07:44 AM

Do you think we need a bullbar? ARB don't make one but Opposite Lock do. My concern is that we live in an inner city suburb in Sydney where bulbars are frowned upon. Trying to work out how essential it is. I'll be driving 2nd or 3rd in a convoy of 4 and not at night (apparently!)
Give em the middle finger, bullbars are perfectly legal and your well within your rights to run one. If your not planning to do any running at night then I dont think you'd really need one. Also how much offroading do you plan on doing? Most bullbars improve the approach angles and you dont have plastic at the front to get ripped off - if your not planning a huge amount of offroading then you could easily get away without one

The KO2 gets a fair bagging on websites,as do Coopers.

I havent read any bagging out of the KO2's, most seem to like them from what I've seen. Not arguing about the coopers but, seen those with my own eyes

saljosax

22nd June 2016, 10:40 AM

BobD

22nd June 2016, 11:42 AM

Thanks everyone for all your advice. it appears there are no Bridgestone D697's available in Sydney at the moment and won't be before we leave. So the options seem to be the BFG KO2's or the Cooper AT3's.

K02's seem very good from my experience using them on a recent 13,000 km trip through the outback. The rears still suffer some stone chipping, as did the K0's on every car I have seen and also my previous D697's. I don't think the chipping was as bad as it seemed to be on the previous K0 tyres, however.

Whereas the D697's suffered cuts in the area between the tread blocks there was non of that in the K02's. The sidewalls are thick and suffered no damage at all on our trip. This was the first big outback trip I have done where I haven't had a puncture or a wrecked sidewall.

scarry

22nd June 2016, 07:02 PM

K02's seem very good from my experience using them on a recent 13,000 km trip through the outback. The rears still suffer some stone chipping, as did the K0's on every car I have seen and also my previous D697's. I don't think the chipping was as bad as it seemed to be on the previous K0 tyres, however.

Whereas the D697's suffered cuts in the area between the tread blocks there was non of that in the K02's. The sidewalls are thick and suffered no damage at all on our trip. This was the first big outback trip I have done where I haven't had a puncture or a wrecked sidewall.

And they would certainly out do Coopers anytime…....

rhinosm

25th June 2016, 07:19 PM

Goodyear Duratrac 255/55/19

I measured the tread depth today.
New it is 12.3mm deep.
After 7000kms mixed road and gravel, 9.5mm deep.
Driven hard over that time.
I'm disappointed that it wore so much, I'm hardly going to get high kms from these.

Rextheute

26th June 2016, 07:04 PM

Well I joined the "Grabber Club "
It was interesting to feel the sidewalks of the standard tyres - Goodyear wrangler things , but it was quite thick .
The Grabber is thicker by feel ( I have no basis for it , just feels thicker )
There were some ko2 in the stack next to my gg's - they feel THICK and very solid . Tyres were markedly heavier also to pick up .

So my out come was that I have far greater confidence in just the standard tyres , however my comfort level has gone up markedly with the figment of the gg .

i cannot justify the expense of goe 18's but could talk myself into 20's with a ko2

But I also run a set of 22 x 35 mud n snow - they look fantastic but terrify me on gravel !

Rextheute

26th June 2016, 07:06 PM

Ask me in a couple of weeks as I'm doing a trip into SA up to lake eyre ( hopefully weather and roads permitting ) towing my camper

Babs

26th June 2016, 07:42 PM

Well I joined the "Grabber Club " It was interesting to feel the sidewalks of the standard tyres - Goodyear wrangler things , but it was quite thick . The Grabber is thicker by feel ( I have no basis for it , just feels thicker ) There were some ko2 in the stack next to my gg's - they feel THICK and very solid . Tyres were markedly heavier also to pick up . So my out come was that I have far greater confidence in just the standard tyres , however my comfort level has gone up markedly with the figment of the gg . i cannot justify the expense of goe 18's but could talk myself into 20's with a ko2 But I also run a set of 22 x 35 mud n snow - they look fantastic but terrify me on gravel !

Oooh those Grabbers look nice, in a perfect world they would be LT and 265/60-19.

Why oh why can't we get a 265/60-19 LT???
The Factory rim looks so much nicer than the Compomotive 18"rims.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

Grentarc

26th June 2016, 08:53 PM

The Factory rim looks so much nicer than the Compomotive 18"rims.

My wife thinks thinks this too!

scarry

28th June 2016, 06:22 PM

My wife thinks thinks this too!

I take the 18's off mine and put on the 17's,she doesn't even notice;)

Aaron40

28th June 2016, 06:34 PM

I take the 18's off mine and put on the 17's,she doesn't even notice;)

17's.... now that would be nice....:o

scarry

28th June 2016, 06:38 PM

17's.... now that would be nice....:o

The 18's look better though..:)

chuck

28th June 2016, 06:55 PM

I just bought 5 x Nitto Terra Grappler's in 265 50 20 prior to the end of the financial year.
$270 ea fitted & balanced.

Wasn't brave enough to fit the 285's n standard offset rims.

+ I do go to the snow occasionally & might have to fit chains.

Probably wont fit them for a few weeks.