Wheel / Tyre Help

Hoping someone can give me some advice.

To cut a long story short my company landcruiser 80 (medium duty 2" lift) has had a major drivetrain failure and I now need to bump my R Reg Discovery 1 300tdi to back up vehicle while this is being fixed. The disco is set up for fun and so has a 2" terra firma HD lift kit on it with Hankook dynapro MT 285/75/r16 on. The tyres really drag when driving on the road and the vehcile struggles above 65mph. Really it likes to sit at around 50 - 55mph in 4th.

I'm going to be towing marquee's with a touch under 3 ton in additional weight. I'm worried that the current tyre set up really isn't right for the job and it will seriously struggle. Either way it would be handy to have another more road suited set anyway as I can change them on in an emergency like the one I've currently got.

I'm not that knowledgeable and I'm wondering if people can give me some advice on a suitable tyre? It will be used for 70% road tow with about 30% in fields when we arrive to the job.

Maxxis bravo 235 70 16

Part of your problem here is over gearing. Disco's use the 1.2:1 transfer box. While Defenders use 1.4:1

But the stock tyre for a Disco means the mph/1000rpm is about the same as a Defender on it's stock tyre size.

The tyres you are running means you are now geared much taller, hence the poor performance.

Dropping to a smaller diameter tyre will improve performance, cruising and probably mpg (as you won't need to be so hard on the power).

Narrower tyres will also generally have less drag, so should improve mpg and performance also.

As for tread pattern, this really depends how "off roady" you need. The milder the pattern, the more refined and better road performance, but the worse it'll be off road.

Personally, if I was doing a lot of road miles and towing, I'd probably look for a "new" tyre, rather than a remould. Although for general use and off road, remoulds are brilliant.


Something like this would be a good road biased tyre:
225/75R16-108S-Maxxis-AT771
225/75R16 108S Maxxis AT771 order online from Tyres Direct


But might not be aggressive enough on a wet field.


These are probably a good 'do anything' tyre. A little fatter and taller than the above, but a better tread pattern for wet grass.
245/75R16-120N-Maxxis-Bighorn-MT-764
245/75R16 120N Maxxis Bighorn MT-764 order online from Tyres Direct


I also quite like this tread pattern, again as a 'do anything' tread. Lots of different sizes, although depending on what rims you wanted, these might work well, narrow and tallish.
205/80R16-110/108Q-Federal-Couragia
205/80R16 110/108Q Federal Couragia MT order online from Tyres Direct

Thanks for the detailed reply really helpful.

We're also looking at hiring a defender 110 from SHB so just trying all angles for crisis management!

I've just found these on ebay:

landrover discovery es alloy wheels and 4 good tyres and 20 chromenuts lu7. | eBay

While I can see they aren't going to be ideal for wet fields they seem to be a similar profile to the maxis and will get me out of the **** while the might 80vx gets fixed (not so mighty now LOL!!)

What do people think?

Thanks for all the helpful replies!