Thread: Feedback on suspension and tyres for 1993 Disco 1

I run Ironman suspension which has held up to regular abuse at my hands and come back asking for more (foam cell shocks and hd springs) the tyres I run are Mickey Thomson MTZ mud tyres which do make some road noise but grip very well off road but do suffer on the blacktop in the wet. In saying that though it's not a race car or a sedan so it won't handle as well as them regardless. Depending on what sort of driving your intending on doing should dictate All terrains or Mud terrains, if it's mostly black top and occasional off road then I'd go the AT's. I like the mickeys so I'd go ATZ's but you can't go past BF Goodrich AT's for all rounders. I'm sure others will add more and have different opinions to me but in the end the choice is yours

Thank you nicho

I was looking at the Ironman suspension kits and they are very reasonably priced, do you have the foam cell or nitro gas variety and is it standard height or lifted? I was looking at the Mickey Thompson mud terrains and they do look like an awesome tyre but I did read about soft tyre walls somewhere - have you found this to be the case?

Matthew

Sent from my ASUS Transformer using Tapatalk

I have the foam cells and they hold up great in the high country for the price IMO value for money. The mickeys have been great never a puncture I did cut 1 side wall but that was on a piece of old rail at work but it's not bad enough to throw out I use it for a spare now just to be on the safe side. Fantastic grip and cleaning ability, great on rocks gravel mud, we have 4 4x4's at home and 3 run the MTZ's 1 runs BFG AT's no punctures off any

G'day guys,

I also have a 1993 D1 and I'm running a 2" ironman suspension lift kit also with the foam cell shocks which give a great ride on and off road. With me they cop a lot of abuse. For rubber I am running the previous pattern of 265/75 BF Goodrich M/T on standard LR steel rims. These tires are approx 31.6". I have had no troubles with these tyres at all, incredibly good offroad, but thanks to the combination of these tyres and suspension I had to camel cut the rear guards slightly to allow for max flex or else the tyres bite the guards and deform them. The bigger tyres have also put my speedo out i think 6.9 k's so i always just sit 5 k's under the limit.

I have a 95 Disco 300tdi with a 2 inch TerraFirma lift which includes Medium duty springs and long travel sport shocks. Compared to stock the on road handling improved significantly, and off road even more so. I did consider the Ironman set up but was recommended to this kit for the same price.
I did end up taking off my rear sway bar because I flex it up alot and the connecting rods from the bar to the axle would flip over, pointing up not down .
This actually improved on road handling again! The swaybar was introduced so they could run softer rated springs from the factory for comfort and when you upgrade to MD or HD springs its not needed. The flex now is amazing.
As for tyres, I run Maxxis Bighorn 762 in 245/75 16 (30.6 inch) on stock steelies and wouldn't go bigger without a gear ratio change or power boost. Speedo is now spot on accurate too. Bigger would be painful on hills. I haven't needed to do a full camel cut, just trimmed the arch inner fold and rear quarter fold at 45 degrees from the bottum rear point of the arch. No rubbing and no change to the wheel arch shape.
I am very happy with this setup both on and off road.

When looking at a suspension upgrade you need to consider what you are going to be doing at the back end - are you goin gto be towing a lot? if you are then heavy duty springs may be the go, if you are only occasionally then soft / medium with air bags may be a better option.

the most important thing is to really know what you want to do with it then talk to every one ( us ) and the suspension mobs, all the leading brands are good so you wont go astray if you stick with them.

Thank you so much for the feedback guys, I really do appreciate it. Because we want to make the Disco into a bit of a tourer we will be doing the following to it:

* Addition of a rooftop tent and cargo rack
* Drawers for tools, food and housing the Engel fridge that we've just purchased
* Bullbar of the front and custom rear bar to house spare tyre/s and additional fuel (front bar will have a winch installed)

Now while I'll probably remove the cargo rack, tent and fridge etc when we're not out-and about would the additional weight of the bar work alone justify heavy duty suspension? We may purchase a camper trailer further down the track but until we do the Disco won't be required for dedicated towing duties.

@ blitz: I thought that fitting aftermarket airbags to vehicles not originally fitted with them was illegal - is this not true?

Matthew

Originally Posted by PV5150

... would the additional weight of the bar work alone justify heavy duty suspension? We may purchase a camper trailer further down the track but until we do the Disco won't be required for dedicated towing duties....

My '98 D1 has TJM front bar, full roofrack, dual batteries and towbar on standard suspension, and has no worries except when fully loaded (like touring). So you shouldn't need a suspension upgrade just for the bar work. If you're really going touring regularly then it's worth it to cope with all the extra gear.

Regards,
Norm