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Kumho KL71 Mud Tyres


DiscoClax

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Thanks for the link. When I first looked at these tyres I was put off by the sizes not available (I didn't want to go 235/85 on the Disco!), but the 225/75 R16 looks like it will fit the bill for me.

Prices of my Insa Turbos have gone up and the Khumos seem to have stayed steady so only £10 between them now...

Do you reckon 225/75 16" will be ok as a replacement on the Disco? I'm happy with the 235 and don't want to go wider (I'm a believer in skinny tyres for what I use them for).

Anymore feedback on mileage? I seem to be reading many differeces from 10,000 to 40,000 miles :unsure:

What about noise? I'm sure my Insas are getting louder with age!

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you have a disco 2 dont you M&S?

if so, then i'd be tempted by the 245/75, they'll fit more than happily without catching anything and being a bit wider will suit the truck better IMHO. remember your motor came with 255 section tyres are standard. So you'll still be thinner than normal, but you'll get an inch of extra tye height with no bodywork issues over the 225's

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I was going to get a set of these for my 110 for a recent rally but after a couple of threads on another forum I decided against it.

They're a directional tyre so unless you get lucky(ish and have a puncture on the correct side you're going to have a tyre on the wrong way round.

Could be very dangerous in wet conditions.

My 2p's worth (but I am a BFG whore anyway :lol: )

DD

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  • 1 month later...

Hi there all, can anyone give some feedback on the KL71 used in winter and more so on the ice.

Many thanks Gary

Found them good in last years snow, self cleaned very well. On ice better than the Mitchelnes XLT that i had on before, still a little slippy if over heavy with the right foot, but i had no dramas.

Done 38,000 miles on them now and still only a little wear, comparing to the spare probably 3/4mm, so very pleased with them :D

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and hear in lies the confusion :blink: Some folk are getting 12k, others 40k, some say quiety, others say noisy :blink:

Still loads of tread left on my traction tracks so I still have a while to decide :lol:

Very quiet, no noise difference between the KL71 on my disco and the grabber AT2's on the betterhalfs :D

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Found them good in last years snow, self cleaned very well. On ice better than the Mitchelnes XLT that i had on before, still a little slippy if over heavy with the right foot, but i had no dramas.

Done 38,000 miles on them now and still only a little wear, comparing to the spare probably 3/4mm, so very pleased with them :D

Thanks for the feed back, I have been toying with putting on the Avon Ice Range for the winter or to go with the KL71. (Just cant make up my mind)

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Thanks for the feed back, I have been toying with putting on the Avon Ice Range for the winter or to go with the KL71. (Just cant make up my mind)

Wow big difference between the two! Think youre choice will depend if you go off road a fair bit, or are much more road biased. :D

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Wow big difference between the two! Think youre choice will depend if you go off road a fair bit, or are much more road biased. :D

I am on the road more (LR D2), I supose I want my bread buttered on both sides with good icy road tration and the ability to go off the beaten track now and then, and no one makes a winter compound MT tyre, woundn't that be great.

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I took a different approach to the whole tyre thing. I had a look around the place that U hunt on and found the the worst bit of ground I would have to get through. Then got the round black things that I thought would manage it. Ignoring road noise and MPG. It just does not cheer me up,knowing how quiet the tyres are when stuck in a puddle. So i stuck some Saharas on there and was presently surprised about the road noise they make ...or lack of it.

ATB

Michael

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While I can't comment on the KL71 on road I have used them a fair bit off road and I was far from impressed, to put this in contex they were 235 85's fitted to a 200tdi disco with a 2" lift and as a comparison we had 2 other identical disco's but one was fitted with grizly claws and the other michelin xlz's in the same size. The main problem we found was the lack of side bite when trying to turn out of ruts, they stuggled even on very shallow rutts (about 4 to 5" deep). Never had a problem turning in the same place in the other disco's. I also drove the same section many times in a RR with bfg's fitted and never had a problem with them. I also found them a bit lacking compared to the other tyres on wet rock as well. In the end we removed them and sold them on.

Just my views :ph34r:

Brookers

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  • 3 months later...

Alright, I've been a bit slack and not provided a update for yonks. So here it is...

Firstly I have to come clean and admit that I have been horrible to these tyres. Since fitting them they weren't rotated, or re-balanced, or anything. Tyre pressures adjusted only. The front wheel alignment ended up way out (around 12mm toe-out, due to worn tie-rod ends, etc) and was left that way for far too long. Plus I lent the car to a mate who drove it for about a year sight-unseen by me, around town mostly, having the tyres chewed up. I got it back in October and then I set about fixing the wheel alignment, etc as it was returning to use as a daily driver for me.

So the tyres had completed just over 65,000kms (40k miles), and I've just replaced the fronts only. They were still easily legal, but getting a bit low on tread to be much chop in the slippery stuff and heavy rain at highway speeds was starting to get a bit 'interesting', especially before the castor re-adjust :ph34r: . They've now gone onto my trailer for a second life. The rears have still got around half their tread remaining, or more, by eye. Noise levels did increase slightly with age, but the difference between well worn and brand new wasn't that much, and the worn noise was really no worse than a decent A/T at the end of its life (my previous 225/75R16 BFG A/Ts made more noise). The front tyres had scallopped a fair bit, largely due to the whacked-out front alignment. And yet the overall tread wear was reasonably even across the face, but with a bit of high-low'ing and tapering of the blocks on the shoulders.

The tyre wear rate did seem to accelerate towards the latter part of its life, but that may be more due to the different drive-cycle (urban grind vs open-road)and buggered alignment. Tyre grip dropped off a bit towards the end, too. But the step up to the new ones wasn't as big as you'd expect. The worn ones were still doing 90% the job of the brand-spankers, I'd reckon.

When I had the fronts replaced in late January (with another pair of KL71s 'natch :P), I asked the tyre joint to spin the old ones up (all four) just to check the dynamic balance. None of them were more than 20g out. All run/ran true, no bulges or problems at all. They have held their tyre pressure very well, with maintenance involving checking rather than re-filling.

I'll take some decent pics and measure the actual tread depth and post that up. But, here's a couple of pics of it recently, and one of the new front tyres after being 'run-in' on the way home...

The outer shoulders of the rear tyres have chopped up a little bit (tyre to fender lip handshaking), but otherwise the tyres have held up very well to the use/abuse I've put them through. Having said that, I haven't driven on much flinty stuff, so can't comment on chip-resistance under those conditions. No problems in/on mud, dirt, sand, gravel, or sealed-road, though.

I would agree with Brookers that the side-bite and rut-climbing isn't steller. It's OK, but there are better performers out there.

As an aside, I've just fitted up 3º front radius arms and a D2 front prop-shaft (DC joint at T/C end) and got rid of the mass damper on the front axle. Smooth as a baby's bot now. :D Should have done that mod years ago. Highly recommended mod. Worth every cent. Next step: a bit more lift :)

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hi

i've been reading this thread with loads of interest. i'm looking at set of the KL71 MUD 33/12.50r15 on 8x15 modular. i'm running a disco 1 1998 300tdi. have a 2" lift on it. will these tyres fit on mine or will i need to do some modification? i'm braking a v8 disco 2 as well and can get some parts which might be useful to me ( like prop's, arms etc) any advice?

i've run general grabber AT2 before can't complaint they did a good job on the road so looking for something which will handle well off roading

thanks

thierry

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G'day Thierry,

Not sure I can answer that as I don't run anything that large (yet... anyway), but I can give you some indicative info based on my smaller tyres. There will be others on this forum running that size rubber (or bigger), and I'll guarantee it's been covered in another thread, so I would suggest you run a search. It'll depend on the offset (backspacing) of your rims, as to how much trimming you'll need to do, but you will need to do some bodywork renovation to fit those boots on a Disco1. A 33x12.5R15 is roughly the same size as a 305/70R16, for reference (same diameter as a 285/75R16, but an inch wider). Note that the lift itself won't stop any rubbing, it just moves the tyre away from the vehicle a bit in normal driving. During articulation, the tyre will still come all the way back into the arch anyway, unless you extend bump stops, etc to reduce suspension compression.

To run my 31x10.5R15s on 15x7" rims with P19 offset (P33 is standard), I've had to trim the trailing edge of the rear wheelaches and notch out the front upper section of the rear aches as well. I've also pushed the trailing edge of the arches outboard by about 3/4" with extended stays. I still get a bit of rubbing at full articulation in the upper forward section. Note that a lot of the aftermarket rims are very low offset (0, +6) or even negative offset (-25, -10) so your tyres may sit out further in the guards than mine, meaning a lot of trimming and fender flares as a minimum. I've heard that front bumper end caps need to be trimmed as well, but I run an ARB Bullbar so haven't seen that issue.

Advice? OK - I would fit the front prop shaft from the D2. It has a double-cardan joint at the transfer case end (looks like two UJs next to each other in one assembly). You'll need to fit the matching transfer case flange as well (the D1 is different to the D2 one), but it's a straight swap. Castor correct the front end either with offset bushes or new front radius arms (2.5-3.0º) or you'll always be chasing the front end around while driving (especially bad under hard braking). Do these mods together or your driveline angles will be horrible (lots of vibration, early death to the joints) - don't do the castor correction before doing the front prop. You'll be able to get rid of the circular mass damper on the diff nose (at the steering damper bracket) at the same time, as it's there to tune out some of the vibration caused by the standard UJ front prop shaft. The double-cardan joint (DC joint) is effectively a form of CV joint (constant velocity) and can run at big angles smoothly, unlike a normal UJ which has to be under 0.5-1.0º to be truly happy. Just check that it's nice and tight without any play in the centering mechanism or it will vibrate and that part itsn't usually repairable.

Oh yeah, and if you are still running a front sway bar (anti-roll bar), you'll need to space it down away from the chassis by at least an inch. Otherwise the bar with make hard contact with the front prop at full droop. I used some steel hollow box section (1 x 2-1/2") and longer bolts (M8 or 5/16" from memory) with new nylocks.

Good luck :)

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