Ok, this is my attempt to capture all of my details so that you can understand what I did and what I went thru. I originally ordered a MY21 with the 20" Duratracs and wound up with a MY22 20" Wrangler All-Terrains. So, here's my efforts to fit proper off-roading tires onto my 2022 Defender P400 (X-Dynamic HSE).

Specs:
Original:

• 20" Style 5098, 5 spoke, Satin Dark Grey rims
• 255/60 R20 Goodyear Wrangler AT Adventure
• Weight of each wheel/tire: 75.4 pounds on my wife's scale (don't tell her).
• Size: Height - 32"; Width - 10"; Tire depth (rim to road) - 6"

Modified:

• 18" Evo Corse DakarZero in Matt Black (5x120). (Link - They aren't listed on their website, but they are the US Distributor and had them in stock. Worked with Joe Kolarik who was great: jkolarik@mainlineoverland.com).
• Lug Nuts. If you go with Evo Corse, you will need new ones to fit the longer threads (Link)
• LT285/60 R18 (E1) Nitto Ridge Grapplers. (Link)
• Weight of each wheel/tire: 87.6 pounds (12.2 heavier, each)
• Size: Height - 31.5"; Width - 11.2"; Tire depth (rim to road) - 6.7"
• TPMS. Added new ones (Link)
• 1" Lift from Lucky8. Didn't need them, no rub without them. Added them because I'm an Off-road Hooligan (Link)

What I did:
1. First off, I had to acquire everything. That took a little while. I contacted Evo Corse who pointed me to http://www.mainlineoverland.com and they were able to fulfill the order faster than I was willing to place it! The tires took longer. I tried to order them from a big box retailer but their fraud alert wouldn't let me place it no matter what type of financial instrument I used. They must know me as the dead-beat I am. So I then tried http://www.discounttire.com near my office. They told me that they couldn't find inventory and tried to convince me to switch sizes. I knew that was B.S. after a little research, so I ordered them from a store closer to my home. They were willing to have them shipped from 3 different stores to place the order. Every other item was very straight forward. Took the set to DiscountTire and less than an hour later everything was ready to roll.

2. Rear tire/Spare tire was the first swap. Wow, that beast is heavy for an old fart like me. I started there so I could take pics of the two tires and admire the work. It was likely the easiest once I got over lifting the beast up there. I think I'm going to order a wheel extender because the tires are much wider than before. No need for any wheel spacers. The wheel offset change negated the wider tire gain. The original rims were 41.5 ET and the Evo's are 20 ET so effectively it pushed the tire out 21.5mm. Since 1/2 of the increased tire width (1.2") is only 15mm, there's actually 6.5mm more room in there. All this means that it doesn't rub at any height.


Much more tire on the new Nitto's on the right.

The ground slopes to the right making the Wrangler look much higher. In real life it's < than 1/2".

That tire is a "Beast" to put up there.


3. Next up I went with the front tires hoping that would be easiest. I have an old floor jack that I bought ~30 years ago when I had a Series IIA. I bought an adapter off of Alibamazon that did the trick but was VERY sketchy ( ). I had to use a Forstner bit on the bottom to ensure it was more stable. Even after all that I never trusted the set up. Definitely need a better/higher floor jack for this beast.

This was very easy. Just had to take off some sort of damper off of the front of the front brake with a T-35 Torx. I've looked everywhere in TOPiX, the Workshop Manual, and parts schematics and for the life of me can't even locate the name of it.

Make sure to torque the lug nuts to 103 foot pounds.


Hockey puck on floor jack worked but was sketchy.

Definitely need a new setup for this crazy mount point.

Depending on floor jack, you may not have to do this. I have a height thing that made it more challenging.

Damper on the left comes off very quickly. Also was shocked how rough the rotors were after 5,300 miles. Starting to get crazy gouges after a short haul.

Use a T-35 Torx bit.


4. Now for the real challenge of the effort: the back tires. Like everyone else, it takes an angle grinder with a flap sander. I started with some old 80 grit. Then went to 60 grit. Tried 40 grit and DO NOT recommend that. If I did it again it would be fresh 60 grit all the way. On the first tire, I marked a line with a fine point sharpie 1/16" in and ground down to it. I swear I put that first tire on 10 times before I had it right! I was MUCH better on the other side. There's a steep learning curve, so here are my pro tips that I wish I knew before I started:

a) Fresh 60-grit for each wheel. Make darn sure you have goggles, earplugs and a mask.
b) Mark the line on the calipers 3/16" in board and go from there. Make sure to "sculpt" the calipers as you are trying to mimic the inside curve of the wheel.
c) Put the wheel on very loose. Underneath the Defender, look "out" from the inside of the wheel. You can see the caliper and look or measure the spacing. No need to use chalk, etc. If you have the clearance you want/like, tighten the nuts further until they are fully seated. If you fully seat them first you will anchor the metal calipers into the aluminum rim if there's not enough clearance. Yeah I learned that the hard way. Once you have enough clearance (or once you see where they are too close & fix that), then tighten & redo. Eventually you will have the right clearance when the tire is fully torqued. The first tire, I went in and out about 10 times. The second tire, 2x.


First side started with 1/16" marks on top & bottom fins. Second side started at 3/16" which was much better aiming point.

Grind away until you want to cry! Wear goggles, mask, and ear protection.

Also did a 1" lift. Interestingly, it doesn't take a lot of adjustment to get an additional 1". Didn't realize that it wasn't a 1:1 ratio.

From the "inside", check your gap. Don't crank down the lug nuts until you check. If it kisses, grind more. If it doesn't kiss, tighten lug nuts more. When fully torqued and I had >1/16", I was done.


5. Off for a test ride. No rub. Checked and the clearance I wanted was still there. Any time you change tires, bring your torque wrench and check it after about 50 miles. Mine were still to spec.





Insights after 50 miles:
Yes, they are louder. They are noticeably louder, but they aren't obnoxious (to me). The inside of the Defender is well noise insulated and it doesn't impact talking to someone and after a short while you get used to it. Or turn up the radio. I think it needs about "2 clicks" to be normal.
Yes, they are heavier. I can feel it when accelerating. I can still get the acceleration I need, but I don't dare look at the MPG this causes.
Yes, they are rougher. My wife noticed that they transmit more road hazards to the passengers. It's now on par with her XC90. It's no where near my Silverado 2500 High Country. That breaks my teeth!
Do not do this if this is your daily driver or if you don't plan on off-roading. I'm keeping the extra wheelset and will likely just switch them out each time I want/don't want to go off roading. With a pneumatic wrench and a (soon to be new) floor jack, I can change them in ~20 minutes. NASCAR I'm not, but it's not a big deal.


Folks to Thank:
The following folks had threads that I greatly relied on and were very helpful while I had questions. Thanks for the community!

@aao4473 's thread "P400 goes from 20inch to 18inch Evo Corse Dakar Zero". Loved the wheels as well as the caliper advice.

@TrioLRowner 's thread "Ready to Order Nitto Ridge Grapplers -- last chance to change my mind". Loved the tires and the stats on them.

@_Allegedly 's tip on where to score the TPMS. Even though they haven't come on line yet, but I'm optimistic!


Caveats, Warnings, Legal Disclaimers:
This is a log of my journey and what I did to my Defender. I do NOT recommend you do any of this to your Defender. Any and all of these mods can cause any amount of damage, chaos, carnage, bloodshed, or fatalities that are all on you and your skills (or lack thereof). Any other doom or gloom you can imagine - insert here.

Off-Road Experience:
None yet! At the end of March I'm going to a Land Rover off-roading event and will post my results/impressions.

 

@GrouseK9 This is a great post mate. Another to add to the original caliper trim thread you linked from our Kuwaiti forum-member. Brilliantly useful.

I reckon I can manage this DIY when the day comes. I'm hoping to abuse my OEM Goodyears this spring/summer and see how they do for my purposes before making the switch to 18"s. They look really good.

Curious why you decided to go for a smaller tire diameter losing a little of the sidewall you gained from using the small rim. They do look very good so perhaps that was a driving factor.

My plan ultimately is to go with Tuffants and 255/70 R18 BFG's I like the idea of keeping the OEM size and although it's only a D load tire, it should be more than enough for my needs. The 275/65/18 and 275/55/20 are E rated so I think the side wall is the same design but the footprint of the tire reduces the load rating. Given all the back and forth with the try-in as you grind I plan to do all that trimming before the tires go on the wheels and have Costco do the heavy lifting and balancing when I make the swap.

Sorry for my tangental stuff here ^^^^

60 grit discs and an angle grinder are on my wish list. Thanks for the info on what you used. Maybe an adaptor for my floor jack too.

Any issues with the wheel weights contacting the calipers at all? I guess not given how thorough the post is.

Great pictures and documentation of your process. Thanks for taking the trouble to put it all together. Really useful. Cheers!

 

@GavinC - Thanks for the reminder. There were a line of weights that "could" have tapped the outboard edge. I just slightly rounded that side and when I checked the wheels they were clear. The brake caliper "fins" are nicely in the center-ish of the rim and didn't have any issues.

Main reason for the compromise was because @aao4473 reported that he had no issues with that size (different rubber) on the wheel set. I didn't have the access that he did in his earlier thread where he reported out a lot of different wheel sizes. This was a "one and done" for me. Also, I was looking for more "grip" in case of need. The 11.2" width does the trick. I already had the 1" lift rods for quite a while waiting for the wheels. If I did it again, I would likely go with the 1.5" to compensate for the slightly smaller diameter.

Tuffants were my #2 choice. If I failed to find the Evo's that would be the route that I would have gone. I also went back & forth a LOT on that size. If this was more of my daily driver, I would have gone with 255/70 R18's. I moved away from the BFGs because of either something @TrioLRowner wrote or I read on a review. I basically had those tires on some off-road vehicles I had ~25 years ago. The Nitto's just seem to be a newer design and able to hybrid to roads better. Or so I read! We'll see.

I would have gone with the XL's over the E1's, but they seem to be much more impacted by the supply chain issues. So, I pulled the trigger with a bit of a compromise.

DEFINITELY wish I would have done the caliper trimming when I just had the rims on hand. I had plenty of time. Don't know what I was (or wasn't) thinking that caused me to wait until I got the rubber on them. If you ship the wheels/rims first, I would think this is a more optimal way to go. Then it's only 47 pounds and a LOT easier on the lift.

 

I had a bit of a tinker with the spare wheel at the weekend. Just the OEM 20" with Wrangler Adventures and it is heavy I tell you hwut. I just wanted to get a feel for its weight and see how easy it was to take off and on etc. That must have been an absolute bear putting them on and off as you ground the calipers. Hats off.

 

Beautifully processed and inspiring. I have a lot to consider and I believe I will make the right decision. Thank you GrouseK9 alec nahoru:

 

@GrouseK9
Wow wow wow !!! congrats on the new mods, looks stunning.
great that you chose the 285, i concur the 11.2" width does the trick!

 

@aao4473 - I have ordered some wheel arch extenders. They should come in tomorrow and I'll put them on this weekend. That will "complete" my wheels. With these tires I totally think these are the way to go. Before these I thought the tires were to narrow to really "fill out" the extended arches. I'll post more pics after. Thanks again for all the pioneering on this.

 

update us on the on-road handling and dynamics vs. stock.

 

Here's some random points going from stock to 285/60-18's:

1) Definitely more road noise. There's a background hum. At <45mph it's not noticeable at all. Faster it's a background hum. The Defender has such exceptional sound proofing that it's just a background growl. Mainly noticeable because of the change from deathly silent. I'm OK with it and it doesn't bother me. Not that loud obnoxious, mud tire sound. But then again, I'm not listening on the outside!
2) With about 12 pounds per tire, I didn't expect it to be a little more sluggish. The P400 handles it and will eat it up, but it takes more "effort" to accelerate. Again, if I started this way, I would have hardly cared. But it is what it is.
3) It is CRAZY straight. I feel that the truck tracks much more solidly in a straight line. It doesn't fight me in turns and appears as nimble as before, but it is a train on straight roads.
4) In a couple weeks I'll be at SCARR in Texas (link). Hope to report more on the off-road characteristics at that time. I'm still trying to dial in the tire PSI so maybe it will help there. With the LT tires and more plies, I'm confident it will handle the crazy Hill Country sharp limestone (think ancient coral seabed), but not sure about where to air down to.

If I had a long road trip (say > 7 hours), I would switch tires.

If I had the opportunity to replace them, I would change both dimensions. They look fantastic, but I think I could get more height. I would definitely like to try these in a 65 vs 60. Then for the weight/noise, I would like to try a 275 rather than 285. So, if I had access to infinite tires I would go 275/65-18. LOVE these, no regrets - it's just that you learn as you live and I would/will make slight adjustments next time.

 

You sir are a bad ***! This post should be put at the top of the page as a sticky.