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Advice on tyres


1STDISCO

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Hi all, bought my first discovery back in May, its a 2001 td5, I'm 22 so fairly new to the whole car maintenance thing anyway so any advice would be greatly received! I have to admit that my disco rarely sees serious mud, but we bought it to tow our horse trailer around so its definately not a Chelsea tractor!

So far I've had no major issues other than an dodgy handbrake which has just been fixed by LR. However it does at times venture off road either down dirt tracks to fields, or towing the trailer across fields at events. The first time I took it down a dirt track to one of the field our horses are in it had been raining a little, after only a few hundred yards it started spinning it wheels. It coped ok in the end and was great off road in all other aspects. Again it spun its wheels a few weeks later towing the trailer over a damp grass field at an event that all other 4x4s (including discos) seemed to be coping fine with. Slightly concerned at the lack of grip I looked into the tyres on the vehicle. When I purchased the car I asked the sales guy about the history of it, and with it already having a towbar, what it had been used for. The previous owner was a regualr LR customer and the salesman confirmed that he had used the disco to tow his caravan to and from France. With a bit of further investigation, it looks like the tyres on it are really suitable for roads only.

In terms of experience driving off road I have driven my mother-in-laws L reg discovery tdi across the fields for years (since I started dating my wife when I was 16) and have had no problems coping with worse that I have put my disco through. Her discovery has now gone as we have the horse and she can't remember what tyres she had on it.

Bearing in mind that I do spend the majority of time driving the car on the roads, I am looking for a tyre when it comes to replacing them that is mainly for road use, but will have grip in minor offroading, I'm not going to be doing anything major, but dont want to get stuck in a field at an event with the horse on the back.

Any recommendations?

Thanx

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Welcome :)

General Grabber AT2, just what you need. They are available in both the standard sizes 235/70R16 and 255/55R18 and other non standard sizes as well e.g. 255/70R16.

http://www.4site4x4.co.uk/tyre-details.aspx?id=6 shows details

It won't perform nearly as well as a proper MT in really muddy fields but will be a hell of an improvement over any of the standard road tyres without compromising the on road performance. What exactly is fitted at the moment?

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if you wanted to go a touch more aggressive, ive just fitted cooper discoverer STT's to mine and theyre absolutely brilliant. My driving is about half road half tracks and fields and only the odd little bit of playing, but the siped tread on these and the fact theyre somewhere between a BFG AT and MT in agression makes them really impressive on the road, especially with braking in wet or dry.

theyre one of the heaviest load rated tyres available too which is good for towing etc. Ive not got stuck with them yet, and believe me, Ive tried!

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I've got general grabber AT2's on my 300Tdi disco... in 245/75/16 size..

I'm very pleased with them, not tried them in really deep mud yet but they performed pretty well on a recent trip to the Pyrenees..

I'd buy the same again when they wear out...

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i have just fitted a set of cooper discoverer all terrains to our disco2.

coped perfectly on a few very muddy fields in the past couple of weeks, rarely having the traction control kicking in. Well impressed.

on road they are superb.

the blurb from coopers website goes on about directional pattern blahblah computer designed for reduced noise blahblah.

well i thought this was jsut sales waffle, but eee-by-gum, they are SILENT on the road. Even on the concrete bits of the A1 - which normally make the car sound like all 4 wheelbearings are siezing up - it was virtually noiseless.

Much much quieter than the mitchelin road tyres it had on before!!! I really am impressed at how nice they are to use day to day considering they are an all terrain. Previous bfg a/ts made a total din in comparison.

Well worth considering if the majority of your miles are on the road and you just need that extra bit of traction for towing stuff over fields.

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i have just fitted a set of cooper discoverer all terrains to our disco2.

coped perfectly on a few very muddy fields in the past couple of weeks, rarely having the traction control kicking in. Well impressed.

on road they are superb.

the blurb from coopers website goes on about directional pattern blahblah computer designed for reduced noise blahblah.

well i thought this was jsut sales waffle, but eee-by-gum, they are SILENT on the road. Even on the concrete bits of the A1 - which normally make the car sound like all 4 wheelbearings are siezing up - it was virtually noiseless.

Much much quieter than the mitchelin road tyres it had on before!!! I really am impressed at how nice they are to use day to day considering they are an all terrain. Previous bfg a/ts made a total din in comparison.

Well worth considering if the majority of your miles are on the road and you just need that extra bit of traction for towing stuff over fields.

Thanks for all the advice, the coopers sound good, any idea of cost?

Think the tyres are going be up for replacement within the next month or so.

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Thanks for all the advice, the coopers sound good, any idea of cost?

Think the tyres are going be up for replacement within the next month or so.

i got mine from ebay - brand new and fitted for £220 for 4

the chap i bought them off is from just outside York and he actually has a set of coopers on ebay at the moment:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/255-65-16-Cooper-Tyr...id=p3911.c0.m14

cant remember his name - but he's someone well known in the british offroad championship race series.

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