does anyone know about tyres?

[carpenter-dj]

hi all, as some of you may know i'm taking ownership of a new (secondhand) Freelander next week, and need some advive.

before i had a vauxhall frontera, which some D**K smashed into outside my house. (ARRRR, rightoff) any way i managed to salvage the wheels, more specificaly the tyres, which are 31x10.50R15LT Runway enduro A/T's (nearly brand new cost £300 for 5), they fit 15 inch rims, but my new Freelander has 17inch rims which i intend sell/swap for 15's if they'll fit.

can any one tell me what sort of rims i should go for to fit this tyre, or should i just get new 17inch tryes?

[BogMonster]

I think the Freelander 15" rims are probably only 6x15 at most (6" wide), which probably isn't wide enough to run a 10.50 on. You can get both steel and alloy 15" rims to suit a Freelander but either will have originally been fitted with 195/80R15 tyres which are a hell of a lot smaller - 27.2" diameter against 31". I therefore think that even if you can shoehorn them onto the rims without your insurers having an epileptic fit, they probably won't physically fit on the vehicle without wiping out large chunks of the bodywork every time you go over a kerb

If you want AT type tyres then your choice is pretty limited (if any) - the 17" size for a Freelander is a 225 section IIRC, and the General AT2 doesn't come in one that small and I don't think the BFG AT does either, though I haven't checked. If it was me I would go for 15 or 16 inch rims which can probably be found quite cheap second-hand, and that gives you a much wider range to choose from, of which my choice would generally be the AT2.

[carpenter-dj]

i think you right will have to look at smaller ones, bit of an a**e never mind, thanks for the advice

[carpenter-dj]

what about raising the suspension? what is the cost of this sort of thing?

[FridgeFreezer]

what about raising the suspension? what is the cost of this sort of thing?

I believe you can get about 1" raise by using Honda (CRV? HRV? no idea ) wishbones. From my previous enquiries on this forum and googling, the general consensus is the largest tyre you can stick under a Freelander without major surgery is ~28".

However, it's not just the physical fit you've got to worry about - bigger tyres put more stress on the drivetrain, you can see this with the guys who put 36" tyres on a Defender and then snap halfshafts and blow diffs. Not many people have pushed the limits of the FL drivetrain, tyre-wise, but with the well-known delicacy of the IRD, rear diff and VCU I can't imagine they'd enjoy spinning 31" tyres. You would also be losing a fair bit of gearing, which may harm performance, MPG, and your clutch.

There are guys out there who do seriously off-road their freebies, so a trawl round google may turn up some real-life experience of various tyre sizes etc.

[Jon White]

So when are the volvos going on the freelander then John???

[FridgeFreezer]

So when are the volvos going on the freelander then John???

When I can afford a set of GenIII's for the 109 - which isn't going to be anytime soon

[carpenter-dj]

hope this worked

[jules]

You can buy a off the shelf lift kit for a Freelander from Bearmach.

This only requires a little work to the body were the steering arms can touch once lifted.

I have a 65mm lift on a Freelander which had different arms as the struts were off a WRC Focus.

I blew several IRD's (transfer box) due to racing but only ever one diff and one shaft. My wife did three shafts in her time racing.

we ran 225/75 R16 MTR's but that was racing so we didn't need any bigger.

However we needed to use spacers to stop the tyre rubbing on the shocks also the front foot well rubs on full lock