Preferred Tyre Size?

[Chicken Drumstick]

Thought it would be a bit of fun to see what size tyres everyone prefers. This is probably more aimed at Defender/Series owners, but still valid for RRC/D1/D2.

[Cornish Rattler]

I'm running 235/85x16 cooper sst's but they don't do them in 750x16 but the 235's upsets the gearing a tad with them being bigger than 750's and i always forget to calculate that when trying to upgrade the gearing ☹️

[Chicken Drumstick]

7.50's can be a bit weird, especially in the remould tyre world. So there is sadly a lot of variance. However they should in theory be very similar height to the 235/85, just a lot more narrow.

 

e.g. a BFG MT 7.50 is officially 31.8" tall. By the numbers, a 235/85 is actually 31.73" tall, so fractionally shorter!

[Mo Murphy]

I like 255s. An extra inch under the diff, a small upgear and they do fill the arches well.

Mo

 

 

[Gazzar]

They do require to to have those plastic body extensions that all these modern coil sprung vehicles are so enamored with.  

Which there's nothing wrong with, of course. Nothing at all, it's a modern world, after all and times have moved on; we're so much more embracing of diversity and all that stuff.

[Mo Murphy]

Blooming new fangled coilers 🤣

Mo

[Anderzander]

I put 255’s and other, other for the series. 6.50 x 16’s on that 

[Gazzar]

1 hour ago, Mo Murphy said:

Blooming new fangled coilers 🤣

Mo

To mangle the quote from the visionary Eric Blair: Coil springs good, air bags better!

I'm channeling Boxer, and will stick with proper proven leaf springs until the trailer comes to take me away.

[miketomcat]

I like 285/75x16 but the 110 is running 255/85x16 and the ibex has 33/12.50x15's what ever way you look at it I like the gearing lift that 33's give and they look good.

Mike

[hurbie]

to quick with my vote "others" , didn't see the 255 in the list (were's my glasses...)

[tuko]

That's a loaded question, I've tried so many different sizes over years and I've finally settles on 33x10.5R15 on composite rims with 10mm offset for the Series 3.

The Defender I've bought 265's, a size I'm happy with for overlanding or long trips. 

After this weekend offroading trip I'm selling my 35's. I'm getting out of offroading and want to emphasize on adventures with more moderate size tires on my vehicles.

[western]

1 hour ago, hurbie said:

to quick with my vote "others" , didn't see the 255 in the list (were's my glasses...)

4th line from top of the list 🤓

[Badger110]

the 255/85\s just make the truck look more complete.  

I have removed the spacers although the inner kid still wants them on as they look even cooler, however they rub the arches and aren't a particular great idea on an overloading truck.

[pat_pending]

255/85/16 here as well.

Optimum size for a 90 or 110 as far as I'm concerned.

[ThreePointFive]

Can't help but notice all of the photos and at least one other commenter have 255s on Wolf rims, they do just seem to be the package to have. Very 'right', as said in other threads.

I'm not sure they suit other rims as well though, and I just didn't need MTs for what I have planned but even so I'd have to vote for them too.

[Nonimouse]

20 hours ago, Mo Murphy said:

I like 255s. An extra inch under the diff, a small upgear and they do fill the arches well.

Mo

 

 

Being pedantic, .65 of an inch

[missingsid]

Personally IMHO 6.50s are too narrow for a Series unless you like the really odd 50s pram wheel look!😊

I grew up with SATs as the best mud tyre but in truth to run on an off road site then 9.00s or 10.50s are needed to cope with the ruts so I have a set of 8.00 inch wheels waiting for tyres.

American sizes are also good but I am not familiar with them.

[Mo Murphy]

1 hour ago, Nonimouse said:

Being pedantic, .65 of an inch

Pedant 😘

Mo

[Anderzander]

2 hours ago, missingsid said:

6.50s are too narrow

They look ok on the 80 I think. The original 6.00 ones look too small and 7:50’s a little large.

They are way too small on the larger later Series though. 

[Gazzar]

I agree, but the 6.00 tyres can make a series look very unintimidating, and approachable, which can help with the thread softly campaign.

[missingsid]

1 hour ago, Gazzar said:

I agree, but the 6.00 tyres can make a series look very unintimidating, and approachable, which can help with the thread softly campaign.

True, and it looks like a classic car than a trials warrior. But, nah I like my arches filled.

[Daan]

The 255/85/16 is a very good tyre, as mentioned, especially if you run stock axles. If you are willing to upgrade, it is in my opinion 285/85/16 or 35*10.5*16 in old money. 9.00x16 is also good, but hard to get. It seems the larger diameters have very little choice in thread patterns unfortunately.

Does anyone on here have experience with 8.25 x 16 tyres? How do they compare with 255/85/16?

For wheels, it is very personal, but original land rover wheels do look right on a land rover in my opinion. Just get them banded to achieve the right offset and width.

[Chicken Drumstick]

8 hours ago, Daan said:

Does anyone on here have experience with 8.25 x 16 tyres? How do they compare with 255/85/16?

I’ never seen anyone else running 8.25 x 16 not even sure you can get them these days. On the farm we had a set of 5 XZL’s in this size. 
 

I really liked them. More narrow than a 255 but tall. Fitted my Series III lovely and I used them as a green laning tyre. We still have one that is practically unused. But 2 are very worn now and haven’t been able to source anymore. 

[Snagger]

A fag-packet calculation suggests 255/85s give an 8% gearing increase over 235/85s, close to my previously calculated 10% step from 7.50s to 9.00s, if I got those figures right.  They’re a modest gearing increase that shouldn’t significantly adversely affect performance or fuel economy, and may improve them, while giving a considerable benefit to ground clearance and low pressure foot print on soft surfaces.  My concern would be going too wide rather than tall - that increases rolling resistance and aquaplaning tendency.

[smallfry]

On 7/28/2021 at 11:01 AM, missingsid said:

Personally IMHO 6.50s are too narrow for a Series unless you like the really odd 50s pram wheel look!😊

I grew up with SATs as the best mud tyre but in truth to run on an off road site then 9.00s or 10.50s are needed to cope with the ruts so I have a set of 8.00 inch wheels waiting for tyres.

American sizes are also good but I am not familiar with them.

Firestone SATs (Gum dipped) always seemed to have a higher profile than other 750s ISTR ?

I always liked the 1 Ton rims for the greater offset, I like the Disco 1 steel rims, but they are inset too far.

At the moment my 90 has 33-12.50-15s on 8 spoke steels with spacers ATM (spacers already on it when I bought it) They stick out too far, but fill the arches nicely, so they are coming off at some time, and will be getting something else.