Lord_Unsub Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Hi all, I've been toying with the idea of getting a second set of wheels for my FL1 and fitting them with more aggressive A/T rubber. I've got standard 16" five spoke alloys with mud/snow bias road tyres at the moment, and I want to start getting into green laning. I appreciate that in theory there is no need for massive mud pluggers, snorkels etc for laning, however the current rubber just doesn't look up to it. My question is, what have people fitted to theirs, and does it require lifting / spacing or other suspension geometry changes? Not too fussed on which type of wheel steel/alloy etc. I am going to keep them as a separate "weekend" set so it drives normal for daily commuting. Cheers team Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 I'm on standard size (215/65 R16 I think it is) general grabber AT's and they're absolutely fine on the road and pretty good off it, no alterations at all, drives as normally as the road tyres that came off it. Doing ~30,000 miles a year in the FL so would notice if they didn't drive normally. TBH even something like BFG muds would drive pretty normally, plenty of people use them as their "one and only" tyre. It's only cheap remoulds or madly aggressive tyres that can be a bit of a handful, and on a Freelander the handling's that much better to start with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Unsub Posted August 15, 2014 Author Share Posted August 15, 2014 Thanks for the advice. I think I've settled on some ATs as you've mentioned. Looking forward to finding some legal lanes now which is proving difficult in Somerset. Sailsbury Plain is just under an hour down the road though, just got to convince people to go with ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrRob Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 I went out with a FL1 onto the Plain recently. Only issue was the odd deep rut or two where it's bellied out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Drumstick Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 We run a BFG A/T copy on the Freelander. Can't recall the size off the top of my head, but think they are about an inch taller than stock. No probs with rubbing and it drives better on the road with them than it did on it's previous road tyres. Work well in snow too. That said, if you are having them as a 2nd set, I'd highly advise a set of proper mud terrains. When it's slippery out they are night and day difference to A/T's. Many MT's will also run perfectly fine on the road too. It looks quite good in person, better than the pics suggest. I would say though, while I'm impressed with the Freelander and it's ability, I do find it more of a challenge off road. This is a manual Td4, and it stalls way too easy. And lack of low range is a real issue for low speed work, it just crawls too quickly and then doesn't have the grunt when you need it, or if you ride the clutch to pick up some revs will then spin the clutch too easily. It also doesn't have enough ground clearance for my liking, which makes it easy to get beached, and you are always hearing lots of nasty sounding knocks underneath. This combined with the lack of low range often means you have to tackle obstacles and terrain at far higher speeds than you would in another 4x4. Combined with the low ground clearance, the front over hang is long, so expect it to dig in occasionally. On the flip side the TCS is brilliant as is the HDC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Unsub Posted September 6, 2014 Author Share Posted September 6, 2014 DrRob and chicken drumstick, Thanks for the replies guys. Currently penny pinching for some new at's. As for overall ability, I knew it wasn't the best before I got one, it was more a bargaining chip to get the wife into the green oval.... As she loves it, I can now move into phase two of the plan, sell her scenic and buy either a defender 110 or disco 3... All good things and that... Cheers again guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Unsub Posted September 6, 2014 Author Share Posted September 6, 2014 DrRob and chicken drumstick, Thanks for the replies guys. Currently penny pinching for some new at's. As for overall ability, I knew it wasn't the best before I got one, it was more a bargaining chip to get the wife into the green oval.... As she loves it, I can now move into phase two of the plan, sell her scenic and buy either a defender 110 or disco 3... All good things and that... Cheers again guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muzzys Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 Here's my set up.16" alloys with 215/70 16's BFG A/T's and 10 mm wheel spacers (needed spacers as mines a facelift model and the wheels are from a pre facelift) it originally had 17" alloys when I bought it a years go.Whereabouts in somerset are you as I'm in Yeovil. I've done a bit of green laning in Somerton on the levels and out towards Shaftesbury way was quite a good mile long byway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Unsub Posted September 15, 2014 Author Share Posted September 15, 2014 Hi muzzys I've just moved to castle Cary but work at the air station so practically in Yeovil Dailey. Not done the somerton lanes as was not sure which ones were ok, would like to do them tho! Haven't got any tyres yet tho but on my last outing to Wiltshire it got very boggy and rutted and coped fine through there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.