rick111s Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Hi all, after 2 years the Land Rover itch would not go away so over christmas i bought an E reg 90 v8. Wife thinks i'm mad but there you go. anyway a few stupid questions if someone can offer any advice. the paintwork is being freshen up in a week or so and i want to have the car looked over by a local garage to see what needs doing etc but then i can start making it more my own.. I intend to swap the existing wheels over to black modular and i read good things about BFG AT tyres. (want to use the car for mainly road but with a bit of offroading) what's the best size to go for? ideally i would want to put the largest without compromising the car. At the moment the car is running on chrome 8 spoken and new atacama tyres? Security wise the car has nothing and i'm a bit concerned about spending money on it then having someone steal it. what do people suggest? i'm toying with the idea of putting on an alarm and would perfer to avoid side and rear window grills.. thanks and any general tips would be great. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Jenkins Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Security- Other than conventional alarms and immobilisers, - Try and hide stuff out of sight if you can. Many people think "ooh, Land Rover, lots of tools in that". Some use a false floor in the back to stow gear securely out of sight (and it can't fly forward on a descent and hit you in the head). - Use a visible deterrent eg. a wheel lock (I have a cheapo one) or a Clutch Claw (about £80). - Consider putting a hidden cut off switch in your ignition electrics that will prevent a drive away theft. - Buy a big dog and leave it in the car. M. Security wise the car has nothing and i'm a bit concerned about spending money on it then having someone steal it. what do people suggest? i'm toying with the idea of putting on an alarm and would perfer to avoid side and rear window grills.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roybatty666 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Hi and welcome As you have seen with a screwdriver (or even a thumb nail) you can get into a Defender so you are right in wanting to protect your car, visible mechanical deterrents and a maybe a hidden kill switch on the fuel solenoid is a good start, apart from helping insurance premiums alarms are pointless in stopping such a mechanical vehicle being stolen and no one seems to listen to car alarms anyway. I am just about to get a clutch claw and fit a removable steering boss to mine which makes for a good combo Tyre wise the BFGs are hard wearing and will last a long time although the ATs are pretty tame offroad and you will soon find after a trip or two that you wish you got something more aggressive and the spending will really start the BFG mid terrains are only a little less on road friendly (really not that bad and hardly any different to the ATs) but a marked improvement offroad You can slap on 33's without much issue but you start to get gearing issues, I currently run 31 x 10.5 sahara's but am soon to ditch them for 35-37s as they are a bit small for what I do. I am about 4.5 k in on spending on my car in 6 months so be prepared to come down with the bug good and proper You will want a megasquirt kit soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlykepower Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 If your vehicle is mainly for road use, with occasional off-roading, then I reckon BFG A/T's will do you just fine. They are a superb tyre, with legendary status & mileage. They are not at all noisy on road, and handling is great in all conditions apart from the most severe downpours. Off road, they can handle a variety of conditions very well. If you aim to drive through very deep, squishy mud, then they will get covered very quickly, and be quite useless. I would personally go for 265/75 16's, for no other reason than that is what I have, and it looks & feels right. Security-wise, as has been said already, go with something visible. I dont bother with alarms, as mine is an expedition vehicle, and I dont really want to worry about electrickery in the middle of the Sahara! If you dont worry about stuff like that, then an alarm cant be bad. Some people fit extra heavy-duty locks to all the doors too. At the end of the day, if a pikey thief wants your vehicle, they will have at it . If you have a cubby-box, maybe leave the lid open to advertise the fact there is nowt worth nicking in there. If you have a GPS, keep some baby wipes on board to wipe the sucker mark off the windscreen, as thieves will break in if they see those rings on the windscreen, just to see if you left the Sat-Nav inside. HTH Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick111s Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 thanks guys. i've put a steering lock on whilst it's on my drive and plan to hide a kill switch over the weekend ideally. i've done a search on the clutch claw but unless i'm going mad i cannot find any on line suppliers? thanks again. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirkthe1 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 i know that a couple of the tree firms i know who have land rovers leave them unlocked with nothing worth nicking inside-at least then you dont have to replace a broken window- and a hidden cut off switch. and take the batteries out at weekends.and keep then in a locked compound-but we dont all have one of those! but at the end of the day if they want to steal it, and they've planned it, chances are it'll be gone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landy andy. Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Clutch claw available at Noise killer and Screw fix. It is about £90 but Screw Fix had it on offer and got mine for £44. (website deal) BFG AT's are the best tyre (265x75x16). I do about 18thou miles a year, and go green laning or off road once or twice a week, and the AT's manage this well. If you get stuck in the mud it's PITA, but smashing into the back of some one's BMW at a set lights due to the wrong tyres is a real s**t. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roybatty666 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Clutch claw available at Noise killer and Screw fix. It is about £90 but Screw Fix had it on offer and got mine for £44. (website deal)BFG AT's are the best tyre (265x75x16). I do about 18thou miles a year, and go green laning or off road once or twice a week, and the AT's manage this well. If you get stuck in the mud it's PITA, but smashing into the back of some one's BMW at a set lights due to the wrong tyres is a real s**t. Andy Without sounding preachy / condescending / sarcastic if you drive according to your vehicle's capabilities you should never rear-end anyone, I drive with pretty aggressive muds and leave a suitable braking distance and also go at a sensible speed around corners etc My first landy was a lifted disco on ATs and the reason I almost stacked that was the massive weight shift under emergency braking, soft high suspension and high C of G that made the rear go light and start to step out and want to go into a roll situation, this was caused be my underestimation of the weight and stopping distance that the vehicle required. As long as you allow for your mods be it tyres, suspension or even a heavily ladened 110 and don't drive it like a ford focus then you will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landy andy. Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 But can you always know what the car infront is going to do ? By the way they work the mud tyre will have less road ability than an AT tyre, that is how and why they are different. The question to ask your self is "What terrain do I drive most" not "what looks best". It is just a case of working out where your Landy spends most of it's time on or off road. Not meaning to be rude just giving my opinion Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krissvdh Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 The fuel cut off switch hidden somewhere is a great idea, but as i found out if they want it they will take it... Mine had a clutch claw, a steering wheel clamp, one of those things the council puts on your wheels when you park somewhere you are not supposed to, a large reinforced concrete bollard and no fuel and the thieves still managed to take it from the forecourt of my local landrover place. Gutted. To make matters worse the wife spent the insurance money on our wedding so i am without landy for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 But can you always know what the car infront is going to do ? No, that's why you keep a safe distance appropriate to your vehicle's stopping distance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantd5 Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 The fuel cut off switch hidden somewhere is a great idea, but as i found out if they want it they will take it... Mine had a clutch claw, a steering wheel clamp, one of those things the council puts on your wheels when you park somewhere you are not supposed to, a large reinforced concrete bollard and no fuel and the thieves still managed to take it from the forecourt of my local landrover place. Gutted. To make matters worse the wife spent the insurance money on our wedding so i am without landy for a while. Sorry to hear that!! OT but at times I wonder what I would do if mine got nicked!! Or betterstill get the blokes in the act of stealing my landy!! Shoot or throw ACID at them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike4444244 Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 meck lock, chuffing expensive but saved mine from getting nicked, they were in it for a while before they gave up, and it was unlocked but they still chiselled off the door handles (had no tbox or props on!) , lazy thieves cant even be bothered to check Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirkthe1 Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Sorry to hear that!! OT but at times I wonder what I would do if mine got nicked!! Or betterstill get the blokes in the act of stealing my landy!! Shoot or throw ACID at them? the farmer where we put some of our rubbish/do work for had a tractor barn at one end of one of his feilds. he went down one early morning as farmers do and found a toyota hilux or equivilent stuck in the entrance to said field (the gate had been removed) so he dug a ****ing big hole with jcb, put said hilux in it, then moved the tractor to another field. classic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick111s Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 hi all. thanks again for the various opinions. fuel cut off is a cert. still torn between tyres. i've not really experienced any off road / green laning yet so it's hard to know if i'm going to do it once a month or once a year. the tyres on it are brand new mud tyres at the moment so before i change them i've going to do a pay and play day and see how i get on. thanks again. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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