Stanleysteamer said:

If you are worried about safety you have to trust the manufacturer to get it as right as possible. In which case go with the sizes they recommend. Then you will have done the maximum you can to protect yourself and family.

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Si Click said:

Don't think there are too many herd followers around here.

I understand that you want to stick to the manufacturers original size specification for safety reasons, but the tyre type will have a much more drastic effect upon how the car drives and performs than will small changes in width or profile. So, playing Devil's Advocate, should you not be fitting the tyre type specified by Land Rover? Which would be a Goodyear Wrangler or a Michelin XPC on both 7Js and 8Js. Their modern equivalents are both probably better road tyres than ATs. It seems odd that you would lecture Sierrafery on safety because he suggests even a minor deviation from the Owners Manual in terms of rim and tyre size, but then you plan to put on tyres with a 50:50 off road bias and which by your argument would be less safe on road than Land Rover's specification.

OTOH the fact that you have chosen to swap 18" rims for 16" in order to improve off road ability, and to fit ATs for the same reason, suggests that you have (to a small degree) embraced the adaptability of your Land Rover and are willing to move away from the road-biased, yuppie wagon that D2s are in standard form, and which Land Rover have specialised in ever since. Time to recognise that the beauty of Defenders, early Discos and Range Rovers is that they were made to be driven all over the world in a wide range of conditions and circumstances, and that Land Rover anticipated that a wide range of modifications would be fitted, and designed the vehicles to allow it. In particular, encouraging and even facilitating substantial modifications for extreme off road and overland use. Land Rover owners tend to break from the herd and adapt their vehicles to suit their needs and much of the chat on this site is about how to do that safely. Tyres and tyre sizes are common topics of discussion, but it is rare that so much time is spent discussing which standard tyre to fit. My recommendation remains to fit 245/70/16 BFG KO2s they will be cheaper and more readily available than 255/65/16s, they will fit your 7Js without an issue, will drive beautifully on road, cut through mud better off road, look great and last forever. You will probably never notice the 1.7% greater circumference than standard or the fractionally better motorway cruise performance.

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