20"s to 22"s?
#21
08-04-2022, 09:42 AM
Ahh if only we had considered that during our multi-year development program 
Let's get serious for a moment. It's not like we are looking to increase our costs and complexity- we put the larger calipers on the P400 for a reason. It's a very heavy vehicle (even more so than the P300) and it's going to see some serious towing usage from people. Wrangler & Bronco owners can only dream of towing 8,000lb/3600kg. It's also notably more powerful and needs to be brought down from high speeds (repeatedly) in a hurry because some folks treat a powerful SUV like a sports car.
You can handle just about any encounter with the 19" wheels and the appropriate tire (at the correct pressure). The P300 is the truer off-roader for a number of reasons and more likely to see that duty around the world- so it has 18" wheel options. Additionally, the crowd in the US that typically pays P400 money doesn't want the 18" wheels. We know because we interview hundreds (actually thousands on Defender) of people before these vehicles go on sale. Many of them existing Land Rover owners. I can count on my hand how many times we've met someone willing to pay $80,000+ for a Defender who would like to option 18" wheels.
People across the pond in the US need to understand that your idea of off-roading and overlanding isn't always the same as the rest of the world (or desired). I would not like to be in South America or remote parts of the African continent trying to find a 35" tire.
Ultimately, if everyone makes a big enough fuss to the retailers we'll go back to the drawing board- we're always willing to spend the money and make the customers happy. However, thus far, the demand hasn't been there.
Hope this helps provide some insight into the situation.
Let's get serious for a moment. It's not like we are looking to increase our costs and complexity- we put the larger calipers on the P400 for a reason. It's a very heavy vehicle (even more so than the P300) and it's going to see some serious towing usage from people. Wrangler & Bronco owners can only dream of towing 8,000lb/3600kg. It's also notably more powerful and needs to be brought down from high speeds (repeatedly) in a hurry because some folks treat a powerful SUV like a sports car.
You can handle just about any encounter with the 19" wheels and the appropriate tire (at the correct pressure). The P300 is the truer off-roader for a number of reasons and more likely to see that duty around the world- so it has 18" wheel options. Additionally, the crowd in the US that typically pays P400 money doesn't want the 18" wheels. We know because we interview hundreds (actually thousands on Defender) of people before these vehicles go on sale. Many of them existing Land Rover owners. I can count on my hand how many times we've met someone willing to pay $80,000+ for a Defender who would like to option 18" wheels.
People across the pond in the US need to understand that your idea of off-roading and overlanding isn't always the same as the rest of the world (or desired). I would not like to be in South America or remote parts of the African continent trying to find a 35" tire.
Ultimately, if everyone makes a big enough fuss to the retailers we'll go back to the drawing board- we're always willing to spend the money and make the customers happy. However, thus far, the demand hasn't been there.
Hope this helps provide some insight into the situation.
With respect, get out your second hand and keep counting, cuz I'm ready to give you my order today for a P400 with 18" wheels. Seriously, there's a whole cottage industry springing up around it, with multiple threads on this board about grinding brake calipers, calipers swaps, 18" wheel options, etc.
DM me for my build order any time today
#22
08-04-2022, 11:28 AM
i made the opposite change recently, going from 22's to 20's and i can confidently tell you that the overwhelming majority of dealers were completely clueless and provided me with the absolute wrong information and advice. Spoke with 6 different parts departments and got everything from "oh you can't change from 22 to 20 because of the calipers," to "we spoke to LR engineers and they say it's impossible," to "we will order the wheels for you, but my head tech says the swap won't work and if they don't fit, you still have to pay for them," to "sorry, we won't do this for you because the ones that come with 22's will only work with 22's."
long story short, i researched the caliper and rotor parts numbers myself, got advice from several folks here, spoke to a few independent wheel shops who successfully did the swap, and confirmed this was easy and very doable. I then found a dealer who had a great and experienced parts manager, and they easily did the swap for me in about an hour.
If your p400 defender comes with 20's you can go to 22's. If your defender comes with 22's, you can go to 20's.
long story short, i researched the caliper and rotor parts numbers myself, got advice from several folks here, spoke to a few independent wheel shops who successfully did the swap, and confirmed this was easy and very doable. I then found a dealer who had a great and experienced parts manager, and they easily did the swap for me in about an hour.
If your p400 defender comes with 20's you can go to 22's. If your defender comes with 22's, you can go to 20's.
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robn (08-04-2022)
#23
08-04-2022, 10:30 PM
Rock Crawling
However, I take exception about what you say about the US notion of off-roading and overlanding. What I'd like to avoid is being in South America or remote parts of the African continent trying to find a 32" tire for a 19" rim. That's why I ground my calipers to fit an 18" rim so that I'd have over 65 different tire options instead of just 3. Overlanding and 4-wheeling in the US isn't limited to the small group of folks who like to fit oversized tires on Jeeps and drive around town. There are a whole bunch of us who'd like to take our stock Defenders into the desert. mountains and forests with the confidence that we've enough tire handle trough terrain and not leave us stranded with a tear or puncture that lower profile tires are more susceptible.
Last edited by POPTOPP; 08-04-2022 at 10:42 PM.
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dj200 (08-07-2022)
#24
08-04-2022, 10:40 PM
#25
08-05-2022, 06:24 PM
Would love to know what setup you went with. I've got to get some winter tires/wheels and hoping to go to a 20" setup. Part of me is hoping I could get wheel adapters for the 20" Velar winters I have in storage but they would need to be machined and I haven't done the math to see if I could make it fit.
I went with the OEM 6011 6 spoke black wheels as my 20" option. Currently fitted with the Goodyear AT Adventures (the LR spec), but will probably swap those out for some BFG KO2s or Falken Wildpeaks in the slightly wider 275/55/20 size at some point in the future.
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