Are 245 tyres a good choice for a P38 offroad?

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90jc

Active Member
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100
Location
hampshire
hi, i have searched throught the forum and the web in general and theres loads of info about fitting BIG tyres to p38s but not much regarding slightly bigger tyres(31 inch ish) other than the fact that they fit with no mods, i cant find any discussion about either 255/70/16 or specifically 245/75/16 tyres and if they work well, just people saying that they have used them but not if they where happy, anyone using this size? happy? wish youd gone wider?, will be used for 50/50 road - offroad, english mud, farm tracks, fields woods etc, probs some lanes and salisbury plain. im after as much diff clearance as i can get without changing the vehicle too much from stock gearing, handling, looks etc. currently on 255 road tyres on 18 rims but changing to 16 rims, just need to choose a tyre, Im looking at grabber AT2 as they seem to be popular.
any opinions appreciated.
 
At the Landyzone event someone had a P38 on R16 either 275/70 or maybe 290/70 with damn great knobbly treads. Member must be on here somewhere?! They looked the business but not sure what difference they made. The Yanks put bigger tyres and wheels on so maybe RR.net will have more info?

I had a set of old 7J rims running 235 on R18. Didn't notice much difference off-road or on-road although the steering felt slightly lighter.
 
90jc said:
wish youd gone wider?,
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Unless you are on sand, then narrower tyres tend to work better for a lot of UK off road situation.

I think the biggest questions here is what rims and what sort of use. If you are getting full flex, then 255's on standard 18" rims will rub in places.
 
thanks for the replies guys, ih had a look at cooper tyres and the reviews are very positive so cheers for the advice,
300bhp/ton said:
Unless you are on sand, then narrower tyres tend to work better for a lot of UK off road situation
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,,,,,this was my thinking too, just wondered if there was such a thing as too narrow given the weight of the p38 but id certenly not fancy anything wider than the 255 thats currently fitted. now i just have to decide whether to buy new tyres for the p38 or new bulkhead for defender and get that back on the road and use that instead.
 
Grrrrrr said:
Off road? Defender every time.
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both on and off road tbh, vehicle will be used for shooting, fishing, camping trips, (some green lanes...but nothing too serious), i agree that the defender would be best off road everytime but the p38 is soooo much nicer for driving on the road, can sit at 70 and eat up miles rather than the shaking drone of the defender, and the defender feels very cramped after using the p38. i think i will go with the defender in the end though as its generally a better vehicle all round for the use, and some places i shoot flood pretty bad,,wich would be the end of the p38 for sure, i will miss the range rover on the motorways though.
 
90jc said:
both on and off road tbh, vehicle will be used for shooting, fishing, camping trips, (some green lanes...but nothing too serious), i agree that the defender would be best off road everytime but the p38 is soooo much nicer for driving on the road, can sit at 70 and eat up miles rather than the shaking drone of the defender, and the defender feels very cramped after using the p38. i think i will go with the defender in the end though as its generally a better vehicle all round for the use, and some places i shoot flood pretty bad,,wich would be the end of the p38 for sure, i will miss the range rover on the motorways though.
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P38 not as bad in water as people make out. I've been in over the wheels and got away with it. So did the P38 behind me. :)
 
Grrrrrr said:
So did the P38 behind me
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you mean there was 2 working at the same time....?
haha,, yea im starting to find that they arnt as bad as people make out, iv given it some abuse and not had any problems yet, i think its more people worrying about what COULD go wrong rather than what does go wrong, interesting what you say about them in water though as i had been lead to belive that water was the one thing they realy didnt like, good to know they are up to it.
 
300bhp/ton said:
Unless you are on sand, then narrower tyres tend to work better for a lot of UK off road situation
Click to expand...

I dont know how much sand driving you have done but narrower tyres work much better in soft sand than wide ones. I know from experience of driving across the Simpson desert and Canning stock route and the great sandy desertand 750x 16 tyres work much better than 10.50 x 15 . the 7.50 tyres tend to push the sand aside whereas the th10.50 tend to bulldoze the sand into a lump in front of the wheel.
 
ovalandrover said:
I dont know how much sand driving you have done but narrower tyres work much better in soft sand than wide ones. I know from experience of driving across the Simpson desert and Canning stock route and the great sandy desertand 750x 16 tyres work much better than 10.50 x 15 . the 7.50 tyres tend to push the sand aside whereas the th10.50 tend to bulldoze the sand into a lump in front of the wheel.
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Not so much in Hampshire, I'm guessing!
 
ovalandrover said:
I dont know how much sand driving you have done but narrower tyres work much better in soft sand than wide ones. I know from experience of driving across the Simpson desert and Canning stock route and the great sandy desertand 750x 16 tyres work much better than 10.50 x 15 . the 7.50 tyres tend to push the sand aside whereas the th10.50 tend to bulldoze the sand into a lump in front of the wheel.
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Interesting. My experience is more sand quarries.

Narrow wheels tend to sink more so, mean you can get beached more easily. A fat tyre tends to float on top more so. Plenty of wheel speed often needed though.

On mud and such, you want the tyre to dig, as there is normally something underneath the mud with more grip. But not usually with sand.
 
90jc said:
thanks for the replies guys, ih had a look at cooper tyres and the reviews are very positive so cheers for the advice,
,,,,,this was my thinking too, just wondered if there was such a thing as too narrow given the weight of the p38 but id certenly not fancy anything wider than the 255 thats currently fitted. now i just have to decide whether to buy new tyres for the p38 or new bulkhead for defender and get that back on the road and use that instead.
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Surely the price difference of 4 tyres vs a bulkhead is pretty big?

You could get remould tyres, or some used ones. A bulkhead will need fitting, which is a pretty major job and likely to result in more bits needing replacing too.


As for off road, a p38 should be just as capable as a Defender for the most part. And if equipped with TCS, then arguably better than a lot of Defenders for a lot of situations.
 
300bhp/ton said:
Surely the price difference of 4 tyres vs a bulkhead is pretty big?

You could get remould tyres, or some used ones. A bulkhead will need fitting, which is a pretty major job and likely to result in more bits needing replacing too.
Click to expand...

yes a bulkhead will be more expensive, about 400-450 for tyres plus fitting vs about 600-700 for bulkhead plus bits n pieces, however if i brought the tyres it sets me back again on my saving towards the bulkhead. i can only afford one or other right now if ya see what i mean, tyres will allow me to play now in the p38 or i could spend cash on defender and get that going sooner as bulkhead is the last big spend needed. regarding fitting im rebuilding the defender myself, its a background project (one of five) and it will eventially be my main offroad vehicle when its done. just fabricated new floor for seatbox tonight so will hopefully have that all welded and painted by weekend.

300bhp/ton said:
As for off road, a p38 should be just as capable as a Defender for the most part. And if equipped with TCS, then arguably better than a lot of Defenders for a lot of situations
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generally i would agree with you here, it has certenly supprised me so far, hasent been defeated yet and thats on 18'' road tyres. its a 96 so no traction controll etc though,, however the defender is just more practical (mabey not right word),,, utility like mabey, for what i need, although much less comfy. kind of funny though as i never intended to buy the p38, it just kind of happend and having grown very fond of it now its like having another mouth to feed.
 
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