M

mfp2gosling1

New Member
Ok, yes I've used the search function but can't find the answer that I'm looking for.

I've got road tyres on at the moment 215/65/16 and I'm looking at fitting a set of Geolander A/T's but not sure about the size, do I stick with 215/65/16 or will 235/70/16?

What I'm not sure about is will the wider tyre with the larger sidewall fit on the rims and would they rub against anything when on full lock?

95% of the time the car will be on the road but will go up dirt tracks when I go shooting at the weekend and I don't want to get stuck in the mud but also want good grip on the road.

Cheers
 
Max you can go is 205/85 so I'm told so you'll have to do the maths there. I don't think 237/70 will fit with fouling issues - that's standard size for the disco isn't it :eek:? Stick with standard size if you can, you're not going to bottom out on dirt tracks. Also I would strongly reccomend the General Grabber AT, great price and a brilliant long lasting AT tyre.

grabber-at-profil,property=original.jpg


I put 215/70 BFG's on mine. No problems at all.
 
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When you say you have 'road tyres' do you mean car tyres?

Or do you mean a 4X4 tyre that is biased towards say 80% road and 20% off-road?

What have you got on now and have you got stuck with them?

There seems to be a mistaken impression that in order to go along green lanes or cross grassy fields etc a Freelander needs to have great big knobbly 'aggressive' treaded tyres.

They look impressive but I haven't found that I need them at all.

The Geolanders should be good for what you want.

The BFGs that have already been mentioned are great.

Pirelli Scorpion STRs are also perfect for rough tracks and are much less noisy on road.

Personally I prefer the Continental 4X4 Contacts.

As for size - the 235/70 16s you are thinking off will be highly likely to foul the front strut spring cups - even in the straight ahead position, never mind on full lock. They would likely need spacers which raises the insurance question - they would increase the ground clearance by approx 20mm but will upset the speedo and reduce the acceleration performance on road.

Best to stick with the standard size.

Singvogel. :cool:
 
My BFG's have made the Speedo accurate now - matches my GPS speed which is pretty reliable. I always err on the side of caution with speed limits anyway :).

SV is right about everything. You don't need knobbly tyres, I only got them because well, honestly, they look cool and I wanted them. That's at the bottom of it. Plus I think they will last for 50k or more which is a bonus.

I vote Pirellis or Conti's :).
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

I'll stick with the 215's then, my thinking was that if the 235's fitted with no issues it would give more contact with the road (or mud track) so better grip and a little bit extra ground clearance.

By road tyres I meant 4x4 tyres with a raod tread pattern, not knobbly at all, tread pattern similar to a normal car tyre.

The tyres fitted just now are a mix and match that were on it when I bought it, 1 Bridgestone, 1 Michelin, 1 Roadstone, cant remember what the last one is but it's a budget one. I've already swapped them around so that the 2 new tyres (budget one and the Michelin which I think was the original spare wheel) which were on the front are now on the back but I don't like maix and match tyres, I've spent enough time playing in performance cars to know that on the road it's your brakes that slow you down but it's your tyres that stop you. As my wife uses the Freelander now as her daily driver for work I want to make sure it goes and stops the best it can.

I went up the gun club 2 Sundays ago in my Mazda 6 and got stuck in a muddy rut, there were 2 Freelanders there with road biased tyres and neither of them were keen on towing me out but it was no problem for one of the guys in a Ford Ranger with nobbly Insa Ranger tyres on which has got me thinking that maybe the road based tyres aren't any good in the mud, I couldn't stand the embarassment of getting the Freelander stuck and having to get towed out again. I know a rad car is different but my point is the Freelander guys weren't keen on towing me out which I wouldn't have thought would be a problem unless they had no grip.

Did you get a bit of snow up your neck of the woods this morning SV? Sod all down here.
 
The freelander guys weren't keen on towing you because they were precious little arsehats who didn't want to lend a hand. A Freelander with road tyre cuold have got you out of there.

Honestly some people.
 
Cool, that's good to know. I've no idea of the off road capabilities since I've not had it off road yet so was a bit worried about that.
 
Yep, seen them now, typed that before I saw them. Looks like you had a better day than me, I drove to Manchester for a meeting then back again, luckily no snow on the road and no crashes.
 
I have "road tyres" on mine. It's never been stuck and never failed to pull anything out. The mast can duality was a transit can that we used to transport beer kegs from the mess to the gym where we had our Xmas function. Because the driver was a ####ing reread he only stopped the transit spinning when it hit the diff. I went round, soaking wet grass and mud but nothing to get excited over, hitched him up took the slack then went for it, came out no problem.

I agree that the other two freelander owners were probably arseholes, and that's from another shooter.
 
Just be careful with a 'mixed nonsense bag' of tyres as you could get spin from one tyre at any odd moment.

The VCU and the TC should ensure that you keep moving and don't get stuck except in really heavy sticky mud.

Click on the chart on this page to see which tyre type is best for which surface.

Continental Tires -Continental 4x4 / SUV Tires

As I said - better to have sipes than knobbly lugs, for most surfaces.

I haven't found any other manufacturers with such a clear 'tread-type' chart but I'm sure they have them.

Have a try with the tyres you've got though, and let us know how you get on.

SV.
 
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