road tyres for steel rims

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Mr Freedom

Mr Freedom

Member
Posts
92
Location
France
Hello
I got my first defender recently, it came with standard steel rims with 750/16 tyres. I want a wider tyre for road use, can I put wider tyres on standard steel rims?
Cheers
 
thanks for reply. what tyre sizes are typical for a defender 110 not taken off-road and without stansard steels? I'mdbe sorry to part with the standard steel rims ...
 
Google hifly tyres or search for my thread - hifly tyres for poor people.
I'm very impressed and they are cheap.
 
Mr Freedom said:
thanks for reply. what tyre sizes are typical for a defender 110 not taken off-road and without stansard steels? I'mdbe sorry to part with the standard steel rims ...
Click to expand...
7.50/16 are the typical tyres, do not part with them and you wont be sorry.
Best looking as well.
 
Mr Freedom said:
thanks for reply. what tyre sizes are typical for a defender 110 not taken off-road and without stansard steels? I'mdbe sorry to part with the standard steel rims ...
Click to expand...
Standard size for the original steel wheels is 7.50, however if you have alloys of aftermarket wider steel wheels then 235/85/16, 255/65/16 or 265/75/16 are also very common sizes. It depends what you want to do with it and how much you want to spend.

kevstar said:
IIrc 235/85/16 will be roughly 40/50mm wider than the 750x16
Click to expand...

I did not think there was that large a difference between them, I know the metric is slightly larger but I thought it was by less than 10mm which made them basically equivalent.
 
Hifly on me tratter £60 a corner
IMG_20171102_124940785.jpg

Coped with the white stuff very well anorl.
IMG_20171210_085019775.jpg
 
Thanks for all the replies. I was told, when I bought the Defender, that wider tyres would be better/safer/quieter/economic. Although, I should stress that the 7.50/16 tyres that I have are not really road tyres they're more for gravel/dirt tracks (I was told), I think they are the default MOD tyres - yes its an ex MOD defender (ducks for cover). It sounds like my best option is then to get 7.50/16 road tyres and then I can keep the original steel rims which are surely the nicest :) Thanks again for responses.
 
Mr Freedom said:
Hello
I got my first defender recently, it came with standard steel rims with 750/16 tyres. I want a wider tyre for road use, can I put wider tyres on standard steel rims?
Cheers
Click to expand...
You don't mention the age or if the 7.50/16 rims you have are original type ones. Are they tubeless or with inner tubes? I had original 7.50 steel wheels with inner tubes. Had to change the wheels to ones that could accommodate tubeless tires.
 
^ Its a 2010 defender, presumably the tyres are tubeless. I've been googling about skinny vs fat tyres. My impression is that skinny is best unless your doing VERY extreme off-roading. The justification for fat tyres seems to come down to cosmetics, which is subjective too. I'd be very b interested to know any opinions about 7.50/16 road tyres vs 7.50/16 off-road tyres, particularly with regard to cost, wear and mpg.
 
235/85 16 were also standard on a defender. For road use I would go with these as wider tyres would have better stability on tarmac than the 7.50x16. I have 265/75 16 at the moment and would say they are a bit too wide.
 
As another option, I went for something even more road-biased. Fitted to new tubeless steel rims.

Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport 235/70 R16

Profil_Zeon4XSSport.jpg


edit. The project will be on roads for 99% of the time, and because it'll have nigh on 300hp I wanted something with a decent speed rating.
 
^ & ^^ but, as I understand it, both of these tyres will have a minimum rim requirement of 6" and are therefore too wide for standard steel rims. I like the standard steel rims - I like things standard :)
 
This is my spare, which is a 7.50/16 road tyre, right?

photo (25).JPG


I prefer the look of the off-road versions ... But I assume this one will give a better/safer ride on the motorway, be fuel efficient, last longer?
 
It looks like an AT to me. As for fuel efficiency I really don't know whether there is a massive difference between tyres...in theory yes there is but in reality you're not going to save a fortune.

Tyre choices are very subjective and everyone you ask is likely to have a different opinion. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer. If you like the standard 7.50 X 16 look then get a set of tyres like you have on the spare. I am sure they will be good as it's unlikely Michelin would sell a substandard product. In fact the narrower tyres you like may be less prone to aquaplaning and will have a lower rolling resistance. They will be less stable than wider tyres but then again there is no such thing as a perfect tyre for all conditions.
 
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