Early 90 heavy steering, different tyres?

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
J

johnmm51

Member
Posts
28
Morning Folks,

I could do with some thoughts on tyre/wheel combinations. I currently have Maxis Bravo tyres 31 x 10.5 x 15 on my early 90 without power steering. Until I can do a power steering adaption I could do with lightening the steering, it seems very heavy compared to other landies I have owned (without PS again). Would a different tyre/wheel setup help? Maybe something narrower / different profile etc? Any ideas / suggestions welcome, cheers John
 
johnmm51 said:
Morning Folks,

I could do with some thoughts on tyre/wheel combinations. I currently have Maxis Bravo tyres 31 x 10.5 x 15 on my early 90 without power steering. Until I can do a power steering adaption I could do with lightening the steering, it seems very heavy compared to other landies I have owned (without PS again). Would a different tyre/wheel setup help? Maybe something narrower / different profile etc? Any ideas / suggestions welcome, cheers John
Click to expand...
The narrower the tyre the easier it will be to turn without power steering. 7.50's would have been the ordinal tyre size (I believe) and I run these quite happily on my series which has no power steering. People will claim a 235/85 is the modern equivalent to a 7.50 but these are a wider and for no power steering you want thin and skinny!
 
dag019 said:
The narrower the tyre the easier it will be to turn without power steering. 7.50's would have been the ordinal tyre size (I believe) and I run these quite happily on my series which has no power steering. People will claim a 235/85 is the modern equivalent to a 7.50 but these are a wider and for no power steering you want thin and skinny!
Click to expand...
Thanks for that dag, I assume that would mean a change to original style wheels rather than the 15" modular that the Maxis are on to take a 7.50?
 
johnmm51 said:
Morning Folks,

I could do with some thoughts on tyre/wheel combinations. I currently have Maxis Bravo tyres 31 x 10.5 x 15 on my early 90 without power steering. Until I can do a power steering adaption I could do with lightening the steering, it seems very heavy compared to other landies I have owned (without PS again). Would a different tyre/wheel setup help? Maybe something narrower / different profile etc? Any ideas / suggestions welcome, cheers John
Click to expand...
It kind of depends what is causing the heavy steering. If you say it is heavier than it should be, it sounds like something might be worn or faulty. Or at least needing some attention.

Smaller, lighter tyres (and more road biased) will generally be easier to turn than big, wide off road ones. I'd also suggest a narrower track, so wheels with less offset would help. And of course, try inflating your tyres more. Running at 40psi instead of 25psi in the front tyres should help too.

As for buying new tyres and potentially rims. I'd guess this would cost more than fitting PAS.
 
johnmm51 said:
Thanks for that dag, I assume that would mean a change to original style wheels rather than the 15" modular that the Maxis are on to take a 7.50?
Click to expand...
Yes you would need some 16" wheels for that but standard rims are very cheap to pick up second hand and you may even get a set with reasonable tyres as most people want larger rather than smaller. these may tide you over until you can fit PAS.

I also apologies for jumping straight to the wheels and tyres as asked, my assumption was the steering system itself was in good working order. As above by @300bhp/ton it would be worth checking everything else in the steering systems as well if you haven't already. May also be worth seeing if there is anyone who would let you fit a pair of 7.50s for a test drive to see if they make any difference or enough difference to be worth effort. Would also be a diagnostic tool to see if it is the tyres or the system that is making the steering heavy.
 
The 7.50x… are 19 cm wide (road contact)
7,5 * 2.54(inch) = 19 cm

The 235/…. are (gues) 235 mm (23,5 cm) wide (road contact) that is a quarter more!!!
And de diameters are almost identical so the footprint with the 235 is much bigger..

The older models with harder rubber like the 7.50 are easier to make turns with at a low speed.
 
Last edited:
Thanks chaps for the info. I think I can see the way to go now. Probably original rims with 7.50, I don't need anything aggressive or off road.
 
I went from 205R16 to 7.50’s on my old series 3 and the 7.50’s made the steering much lighter. It was a different tread pattern too.
 
Knappster said:
I went from 205R16 to 7.50’s on my old series 3 and the 7.50’s made the steering much lighter. It was a different tread pattern too.
Click to expand...
I did the same thing on my series 3. The 205 are very very small tyres. The 7.50's just look right whereas the 205 look like they are too small for the vehicle. 205 is also still theoretically a wider tyre than a 7.50 so will also have a larger footprint with the floor and moor turnign resistance.

As a side nots I always thought 205 tyres were 100% profile but that cannot be the case as 205mm is 8" which would make them larger than a 7.50 (which does have a 100% profile) in diameter.
 
205 x 16 is normally sold as 205/80R16 these days. Although I think I've seen one tyre maker list them as 205/85R16, but I think they were still the same thing.

205/80R16 is a great size for a Freelander and is 28.9" tall and still pretty narrow (although depends on the the brand/tread to how narrow they look).

A 7.50 should be about 31" tall, BFG list the KM3 at 31.7" iirc.
 
Thanks guys, got a few options now to look at but I'm leaning towards the 7.50 & I've just sourced a set of good s/h original steel rims 16" so Phase 1 complete!!
 
johnmm51 said:
Thanks guys, got a few options now to look at but I'm leaning towards the 7.50 & I've just sourced a set of good s/h original steel rims 16" so Phase 1 complete!!
Click to expand...
If you are going to 7.50's i would be looking at one of the oem tyres although there are lots of others to choose from. I run Michelin xzl's but would also be happy the XPC or latitude cross if not doing much off road work. Tyres are very personal choice so everyone will have their own opinion.
 
tottot said:
I also found 7.50 Firestone SAT were lighter but then with their tread pattern there was not a lot of rubber in contact with the road.:D
Click to expand...
SAT’s are the tyre I associate with my early days of Landy ownership and trialling! The hum on the road was great, although interesting driving in the wet!😬

I had 7.50 Michelin XCL’s which replaced 205R16 Avon Rangemasters.
 
I fitted SAT's on my 2a petrol years ago when I got into RTV 4x4 trials. On the way to an event going around a sweeping bend where I never had any issues before found myself in a 4 wheel drift :eek: Good job no one coming the other way! They were the best off road at the time, more so when half worn and treads would be better at clearing mud away.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

LandySurf
Heavy Steering - Tyre Advice - Possibly pump?
Replies
16
Views
2K
miktdish
miktdish
K
What money should I be asking?
2
Replies
27
Views
4K
Karls
K
ChrisBduck
3.6L Land rover 90
Replies
2
Views
791
ChrisBduck
ChrisBduck
H
Yes folks! It's tyre pressures again....
Replies
7
Views
2K
Hector the Bad
H
M
90/ discovery front axle swapping
Replies
7
Views
2K
MrF
M
Back
Top