I've only had my Discovery for about 3 days and it's the first Land Rover I've ever had (but I have quite a bit of Jeep experience) so please excuse me if I ask lots of questions that have been asked before but................

The vehicle is a 2003 Discovery 2 V8 auto with ACE and 18" wheels. The tyres are really all in need of replacement as the environment here in Abu Dhabi is very harsh on rubber components so the fronts are getting old and hard and the rears are quite worn. The current tyre size is 255/55x18" and I'm looking for a bit of guidance on what size to fit.

Like most 4x4s it will spend most of its life on road and when it does venture off the tarmac, the majority of its offroad time will be spent on dry sand or occasionally rock. The soft sand means that high sidewalls are desirable to give maximum traction when deflated to about 15psi. I'm wondering if a step up to 255/65x18 would make the tyres too big for the arches on the (currently) standard coil suspension (up from about 29" total diameter to about 31"). However, it may get a small suspension lift of 1-2" in the not-too-distant future, which may change matters somewhat.

Alternatively, could I fit a wider tyre, say 275/55x18 which would give a diameter of about 30". The standard size just seems to be a very shallow sidewall which is not ideal for conditions here, although I appreciate that a moderately wide tyre does give a reasonable sidewall, even at 55% aspect ratio.

Another option is to see if I can find some 16" wheels and fit them with 255/65x16 tyres (or taller). In summary:

255/55x18 = 29" (current size)
255/65x18 = 31"
275/55x18 = 30"

255/65x16 = 29"
255/70x16" = 30"
255/75x16 = 31"

What are your opinions, chaps?

 

No real opinion to offer, but I use this site quite a bit when helping people choose tire upgrades.

Custom rims, wheel tire packages for your ride - RIMSnTIRES.com

it allows you to compare different tires sizes and see how much more space the larger size would take up.

 

you can fit a 31 under there stock. If your planning to lift just order both at the same time and get a 32" tire.

 

32" is probably bigger than I need. The 65% profile on 18" looks like leading option for now.

Thanks

 

I have the Grabber AT/2's on mine in the 255/55/18 flavo. My good buddy has the same setup aswell. Great in Mud and Snow and not at all loud for NJ roads. Both of our wives have never complained about the ride. Tread wear has been very impressive aswell

Pics here at my for sale thread!
https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...d-truck-67307/


Cheers!

 

I've got 255/60-18's and I really like them. They are 30" high. I've also hear people using 265/60-18 and they would work also, about 30.5" tall.

 

I run 275/65/18 Good Year MTR/s..kevlar ...great tire and wear...little noisy...but good noise

 

So basically the situation is that anything up to about 31" will be fine - sounds like I'll be keeping the 18" wheels and buying some new, bigger tyres

 

I found an interesting document from the Low Volume Vehicle Testing Association in New Zealand which gives a suggested wheel rim width for given tyre sizes. These are the guys responsible for assisting in gaining approval for specialist cars, homebuilds, imports, modified vehicles etc.

The info sheet suggests that the lowest acceptable width is 225/55 (better suited to modified VW golfs than Discoverys I'd say) and the widest is 285/60
http://www.lvvta.org.nz/documents/in...lity_Guide.pdf