Thread: So you think you need specialised off road tyres?....read on

Got that sorted...easier read!!

Back in 1991 there wasn't much choice in off road tyres and the tread paterns and compounds were vastly differant to a modern off road tyre.
Sure we used to get around back then on skinny light truck tyres because a set of fatties or balloon tyres as we used to call them were bloody expensive But they were a better tyre.
These days a decent set of off road tyres don't cost that much more than a set of standard tyres.
The ride quality on those old light truck tyres was bloody atrocious especially on heavy corrugations But they did tend to last forever.

I still prefer 7.50R16’s for many reasons. They are lighter on the steering, quieter on road, use less fuel, they elongate better when let down for sand, they’re better in mud, and they generally have flatter sidewalls. Wide tyres are the opposite of all of the above IMO.

235/85R16 are the widest I’ll go. But I prefer 7.50R16 if I can get them. They are getting harder to find. I’m keen to try the new BFG KM3’s in 7.50R16 when next I need tyres. Kudos to BFG for making them. They’ve pretty much become ‘specialist tyres’.

...and there are good reasons why companies like Michelin make a range of floater tyres. Same reason as well why Arctic Trucks out of Iceland fit their vehicles with balloon tyres. They are heavy and do have a fuel compromise, but the balloon tyres work better off road.

My reason for posting the above was to let people read Tim Webster's reasons for choosing this particular tyre. His reasoning seems solid for the job he wanted the tyres to do. As he also had a winch this allowed him to go for the non aggressive thread tyre. I know tyre technology has come on since then. For instance if you have a good magnified look at the thread on the spare wheel tyre, even though it is a road biased tyre there are no rain clearing snipes in the grooves.
I agree with Webster and his comments about the natural ability of the Land Rover owing to the engine power set up coupled with the transfer box and permanent four wheel drive. Any modern AT tyre will let the Defender perform well off road. Recently the Continental Conti Tracs were replaced on the 2008 Defender due to wear. I chose Michelin Latitude Cross 235/85/16 as the Continentals are no longer made in 235/85/16. The Defender spends most of it's time on the road as it is the wife's car. Good road handling especially in the wet is always a consideration with me. It came shod with General Grabber TR's which served well. The General Grabber TR's and the Continental Conti Tracs performed well in the wet and snow. Even on frozen snow progress was good, it was the stopping that was the problem. Driven judiciously and with gentle braking all was fine. I have no doubt that an emergency stop on the frozen snow would have been interesting but that would be the case with any tyre.
All of these AT tyres allowed progress in soft ground that went from the bottom of the tyre to above the rim and the same in snow. So I found that modern AT tyres to be a good compromise. Generally Land Rover got it right in their choice of tyres for the Defender.
Having said all of that, if I were to accompany some AULRO members to the outback I'd no doubt have to go back to the drawing board but for conditions here (rain, snow, mud) AT tyres are fine.
P.S. I have a 1992 Defender 110 which is shod with Goodyear Wrangler Radial 7.50x16 tyres. These are a fine tyre. The 235/85/16 Goodyear Wrangler Adventurer has a more closed thread than the 7.50x16 version.

I have owned 4WD's for over 30 odd years and have had various brands/sizes of tyres on various different 4WD's and the ONLY time I have felt that skinny tyres to be better than wide tyres is on sharp rocky country as I didn't get any sidewall damage But that was a couple of decades ago and the build quality and strength of the tyres available now is far superior.
I also found that the skinny LT tyres tended to chew up the track a lot more that the wider tyres.
The only thing I now run LT tyres on are my boat trailers and that's only because the mudguards won't allow me to fit a wider tyre.
As most of the 4WDing I do is in sand the floatation and the load rating I get from 70/75 profile wider tyres is very important, I run 245 and 265 tyres which are not super wide.
As with ANY tyre it is the pressures that you run them at that will determine just how well they will perform in any given situation But the wider tyres are a bit more "forgiving" than the skinny tyres are.

Never worried much about all these boutique tyres , just bought what ever was available at the best price and they were my go every where tyres , just drove to conditions and never really had a problem . Got stuck in the tidal mud in the Pilbara ocasionaly but thats life . .

Originally Posted by Fatso

Never worried much about all these boutique tyres , just bought what ever was available at the best price and they were my go every where tyres , just drove to conditions and never really had a problem . Got stuck in the tidal mud in the Pilbara ocasionaly but thats life . .

I like your style.