Rosco
Thanks for the clarification, however it does depend on the tyre. Most radials have an aspect ratio (the ratio between width and height) less than 100% all to do with the strength of the sidewalls. So on these reduced aspect ratio tyres you need to increase the width of the rim to retain the overall diameter. Crossply tyres have more rigid walls than do most radials so can have a taller aspect ratio (100%).
The Land Rover forward controls (101", 109" and 110") all use a 9.00/16 crossply (or bias ply) tyre on a 6.5" rim as original specification.
There seems to be only a couple of brands of tyre currently imported into Aus with 9.00 16 size, most are bar treads and very unsafe at highway speed particular on wet roads. The best being Michelin XZL 255/100R16 (9.00 16 equivalent) with a speed rating of 68MPH at about $700 each and Michelin Au reporting nil stock.
My thoughts were to investigate if any of the 35" or 36" off road radial tyres with a lower aspect ratio could be a compromise onto my standard S2B 6.5" rims. Otherwise I will need alternate tyres, the best being 8.25 16 crossply (common truck size), with a 1.5" loss of diameter and 3/4" lower ground clearence.
Diana

