Freelander tyres recommendations

[rmp]

Got a friend with a Freelander. He has 195/80/15s and needs to replace them with the same. He's looking for an all-terrain tyre in light-truck construction. Any recommendations?

[Phoenix]

Doesn't seem to be a lot in that size about.

BFG Long trail is one option, but that's a HT. That's about all I can find, not a lot of options. One of the other guys (dionM) will have a better idea about size options.

[Jamo]

I run 205/70R15 Bridgestone Dueler 693 AT's on the Suby.

They're passenger construction but have proven to be very tough. A large rock bashed in one rim on the Meereenie Loop Road but the only damage to the tyre was a minor scrape up the sidewall.

[101RRS]

Tyres are an issue for Freelanders - mine has Bridgestone HTs which are fine for the road and when I have been offroad they just clogged up with clay but the traction control seemed to do a reasonable job covering up the problem. The spare is a Good year Wrangler - old so not much chop.

I have seen other Freelanders with no name tyres and car tyres but the 80 series tyres they need for their narrow rims is a bit of an issue. I can only suggest going to a 215 or 225 and reducing the profile and you might find something better - I thinks Scorpians might fit OK. I have got excellant wear out of the Bridgestones but they are starting to get thin so I am going to 16" wheels where there is a reasonable range of offroad tyres and the standard is 225s for a Freelander rather than 195s- will most likely go BFGs then but I am not sure if BFGs will fit the 15" tyres. Narrow rims, narrow tyres and a high aspect ratio are hard to get these days.

Garry

[rmp]

Looks like a 215/75/15 is the go. A few mm taller and at least it's a reasonably common size. I've not checked the rim size but I think the extra 20mm would fit on the same rim. Most tyres in that size aren't LT construction which surprises me, I thought there'd be more options around that market.

[DionM]

I still have the OE Michelins M+S (40,000kms and still going strong). Probably go for a near-enough Dueler 693s (205/70) when the time comes to replace them. Have found them quite a good tyre all things considered. Freelander is now mostly retired from off-roading (that's the Jeep's job) so priorities have changed.

One of the loaners I had once had the Pirelli Scorpions and they were ridiculously noisy.

[Phoenix]

On the bridgestones, get teh 694 rather than the 693 if you can, it's a much better tyre. I've had both on the x-trail, and the 694 is much better.

[camel_landy]

As Gary says, tryes are a bit of an issue with the Freebee... Thanks to the IRD, they eat them for breakfast on the early models. I run 16" rims on mine with 2x sets depending on use. Michelin XPCs for road use & Wrangler MTRs for the sticky stuff.

Very happy with both. The MTRs are supprisingly good on-road too.

Mark.

[DionM]

Originally posted by camel_landy
As Gary says, tryes are a bit of an issue with the Freebee... Thanks to the IRD, they eat them for breakfast on the early models. I run 16" rims on mine with 2x sets depending on use. Michelin XPCs for road use & Wrangler MTRs for the sticky stuff.


Yeah, thankfully fixed on the later ones.

I was surprised, everyone mentioned bad tyre wear, but I've done 40,000 on mine (Michelin M+S) and they are wearing very well and should get 50,000 at least. Not bad for OE tyres (which are notoriously low on tread to start with). About the only thing I've noticed as they've aged is they howl a lot longer and louder under high speed cornering than they used to.

[rmp]

Well, my friend is up to 70,000km on his OEM tyres at the moment. High time for replacement, especially as it was driving it misaligned for some time which has badly worn one tyre.

Now I need to see what 215/75/15s there are out there. Quite a few. He wants only one set so I'm thinking Cooper ATs or something. He's not ready for a set of muddies just yet. His is an '01 I think and they'd designed out the front/rear intentional windup by that time.

[Steinzy]

Originally posted by Jamo
I run 205/70R15 Bridgestone Dueler 693 AT's on the Suby.

They're passenger construction but have proven to be very tough. A large rock bashed in one rim on the Meereenie Loop Road but the only damage to the tyre was a minor scrape up the sidewall.

The D 694 is a better tyre than the 693 a little more chunky - but also harder to come by