Thread: Advice for Disco 4 Buyers

Thanks

Several times I towed on semi-soft sand (but not sand that when walking I would sink up to my ankles) with 19" MTRs on my V8 D3. Had 16psi on the MTRs and 12psi on the trailer (the old Goodyear HTs). Took a heavy throttle and it goes okay. I've also been on very soft (both powdery dry and ocean wet) with the MTRs at 16psi (up to Wedge Island in winter when the beaches are pretty cut up). Got well and truly stuck but then everyone on the beach was having the same problem. Maxtracks came to the rescue. The conclusions I reached from these sorties is:

1. The 19" MTRs at 16psi work better than I would have expected on sand. They're better performers in soft sand than were the 18" Cooper HT+, for comparison.
2. At 16psi, the rims would be hit by rocks and probably broken with 19" wheels, so I always have to stop and pressurise to 25-28psi as soon as I get off the beach.
3. Limits for getting stuck in 19" tyres is more due to the high weight of the D3 with all the air suspension weight. On two occasions, this caused the D3 to lean when on a sloping beach. leading to the tyres in the water-soft sand yielding and leaning over even more. Solution is to stop before getting into this situation.

To summarise, 19" wheels with MTRs are pretty good in sand, but need careful driving on sharp rocks to protect the rims. If I was going to drive mostly on very soft sand, then best would be a light jeep or Defender 90 with huge floppy tyres. Frankly tyre cost, not capability, is the big issue with the MTRs (think not much change from A$700/tyre). Finally don't assume that SWMBO will be willing to push out of sand (they keep novels in large purses for these occasions)

We did a trip last September with a range of vehicles to Newnes and the Spanish Steps track which resulted in all vehicles except 1 ( a Patrol with 35" tyres) being winched up the far side. I was interested in the comparison between my D3 on 18" General Grabbers and my mate's 100 series on 32" MTRs. He has front and rear diff locks although wasn't game to use the front one unless he has to
Capability between the two vehicles was pretty much line ball even to the point of getting stuck at exactly the same place on the way out. Runnng 20PSI my tyres bagged nicely and I did not come close to the rim touching.
I've also had my truck on Fraser Is and had no difficulty in getting where I wanted to go.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I would agree with RMP's statement above that there aren't many places that you would want to take a touring vehicle that the D3/D4 would be limited by the stock tyre/rim combination.
The only real reason I can think of to go to the trouble of getting 17" rims would be if I lived in a remote area and the cost of destroying tyres was getting too expensive or replacements were too hard to get.

P.S I also didnt mean the stock tyres, I meant stock size, the original wranglers weren't so good.
Regards,
Tote

To be precise, I said the stock diameter wasn't a limitation, at least to me and while I understand the advantages of a greater diameter I don't believe the tradeoff is worth it.

The stock rubber most definitely needs replacing for long-term offroad use, even dirt-road use. Yes, the vehicles can go places stock standard -- I've driven a RRS on 20" roadies around some very tough tracks -- but that doesn't mean to say it's a good idea.

Often people are looking to buy say 18" offroad rubber and if you look at the current tyre prices the savings you'll get by opting of 17s instead go a some way to covering the cost of the 17" rims, and you can eBay the 18s.

The 18" Grabber AT2s aren't standard and they definitely work better offroad than the stock Continentals.

According to my friendly tyre distributor .....

As the new Prado's and LC's are now specc'd on 265/60/18 and 285/60/18 tyres, you can expect a lot more maunufacturers releasing these sizes in Oz. Pirelli are already doing this.

Ditto with the 19" tyres (although mainly on 275/55/19), as Merc and BMW are using this size too. Dunlop's AT (3?) will be released in this size, Michellin already have a couple, but in the European market.

Cheers,

Gordon