Why are you selling, didn’t you have springs as well and intended to be off-road a lot?
I managed to find a set of the same OE wheels and have 265/65 rubber ready to go - pity I didn’t see this a few weeks back!
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Why are you selling, didn’t you have springs as well and intended to be off-road a lot?
I managed to find a set of the same OE wheels and have 265/65 rubber ready to go - pity I didn’t see this a few weeks back!
Yes, it's a shame. I had a few forays off road in the DS with these wheels but have decided it's not something I'm going to do very often as I've now bought an 'on-road' caravan, and for the occasional sandy track 18" road tyres deflated to 15psi are probably just as good. The BFGs would come into their own on corrugations, rocky tracks, or mud, but I don't expect to be doing much of that in the future. Then the clincher was that the wife is planning having a few friends around over the hols, and my 17" wheels are currently taking up half the patio - so they have to go [bigsad]Quote:
Originally Posted by Webz
Mine are 30" and the front left just starts to rub in reverse at full left lock. It rubs on the vent slats inside the wheel arch at the front. Only in reverse and full lock - which isn't a problem as the wheel rotates with the "grain" of the vents and won't rip the wheel arch lining off.Quote:
Originally Posted by Webz
I feel pretty certain that if you go to 31" (and probably 30.5" as you have mentioned) that the tyre will rub without much lock on and/or under compression in a forward gear - which I think could dismantle your wheel arch lining if you're unlucky.
I'm also not really sure that you need to push the limits of tyre dimensions for sand driving in the DS anyway? If you get some 30" AT tyres on 17/18" rims I think you'll be amazed and the performance difference for the extra sidewall height will become negligible. I have the GG AT3 255/55 R19s and have been flogging my DS, fully loaded with camping gear, all around the SEQ/nNSW beaches at 40psi. I started out lowering to 26psi each time i left the bitumen but i just haven't been able to get the thing stuck yet. Now if i'm just day-tripping and it's mostly foreshore and a bit of backshore i'll often leave it at 40. save the time to re-inflate afterwards.
I will say that the ride is more stable at high speed with the psi dropped, though. So you can definitely feel the difference in grip. Overall, though, I couldn't be happier with the sand driving performance - still weighing up that spring lift though....
Quote:
Originally Posted by gneissdiscosport
Really interesting to hear the feedback that you haven’t got stuck at all on sand and ground clearance hasn’t given you grief either, which beaches have you ventured onto - Bribie, Fraser etc?
29.2” diameter to a 30” (basically 235 to a 255 tyre you’ve mentioned) wouldn’t give you much of a lift in clearance which is why I’m surprised as well. My genuine DS 17” wheels turn up tomorrow actually and have 225/70/17 MT on them currently (what was already on them - I didn’t purchase, so no diameter increase but it will sit higher) so will be interested to see how they go off road before playing with new tyres.
How do you find the “sand” program when on the soft sand, or do you use the mud program?
I made a trip up to Bribie on the weekend taking the DS with 225/70/17 mud terrains on it through a very chopped up and deep sand track as well at high tide on the way back just to test things out on the very soft stuff and have to say it transformed the DS!
Didn’t look to have any issues getting bogged at all and the extra clearance the higher tyres provided was invaluable as I didn’t bottom out at all. Although a narrower tyre (and less radius) than I wanted (I got these with my rims) I thought I’d try them out and I think the narrower tyres helped with the soft sand.
A hint that I’ve found invaluable if you intend to do beach driving is - 1. Turn off the dsc before hitting the sand 2. Select sand mode at same time; & 3. Select “S” and use the manual gear selection using the paddles for better control, never automatic due to losing control of acceleration
I found the Cooper LTZ 255/55R19 fit nicely. Helps having the spring lift.
Photos taken immediately after the lift. They did fit previously, but just.
Attachment 147688Attachment 147689Attachment 147690
I fully expect to get stuck eventually, because of the clearance as you said, but I think it's simply been such a consistent summer so far for rainfall that not much out there is too dry. It has seemed like whatever I have driven into or up has had a firm enough sand pack underneath to keep some momentum going. At this stage, though, I can't fault those tyres.Quote:
Originally Posted by Webz
Sand mode and command shift, with DSC off, has been working great for me and S-auto on the long stretches of foreshore to drop the revs a bit and save some juice. So far, beach driving in Northern NSW and Sunny coast and inland tracks around Cooloola and tentatively around Moreton. Straddie is coming up for me soon and then hopefully do inskip to Fraser later in Feb.
