Hello all!

I had the 18s from my 04 and the 16s from the 2000 today, and boy am I ever satisfied.

My wife's 2000 (without black trim) looks MUCH more elegant than it did before, and my 2004 with the trim looks much stronger, and manlier.

But... I also found out that the new NITTO Trail Grappler M/T that I had my heart set on would not be available in any size that would fit my un-lifted Disco.

The guy said I should just get some nice All-Terrain tires.

Here's what I want:

1) DEEP SNOW performance. My directional, low profile, street tires didn't do very well in the snow. Not at all.

2) Road performance. I'd like a smooth, fairly quiet ride up to 80mph. With my performance street tires, 120mph was as smooth as 10... it was wonderful. I don't expect this performance, and I don't need it.

3) Off road. I don't do much off-roading, but it would be cool if the tires did okay in loose gravel, grass, and dirt hills, and so on.

The tires on it now are 255/65 R16. Specific links would be GREAT, but I'll take ANY suggestions you can give me!

I'm not too worried about price... but I'd say $250 per tire is my limit. I'm gunna have to buy 5 of them.

THANKS!

Pat

 

http://coopertires.com/Flash/index.aspx

The Cooper Discoverer S/T, hands down bottom line you can stop looking right now.
$160 per tire at Discount Tire, just look at them, you can see the great off road and snow traction in the tread pattern, quiet ride, long lasting and they look kick a$$ on a white DI.
they come is a wide variety of sizes and they are very popular with snow plow drivers here in GR and Holland...where all the snow is.
My second choice would be the Hankook Dyna Pro RF-10.

 

Hey Phil, did that cargo cover fit and work okay?

THANKS for the tips. I've been doing a lot of research, and it came down between the Discoverer S/T and the much less cool looking Discoverer ATR.

On Cooper's site, the ATR is said to perform better in the snow.... but I'm not sure why. I'm still torn and reading reviews.

QUESTION:

How narrow can I go on these stock 16" rims? Right now, there are 255/65R16.

Could I go as low as 235/65R16? If not, what about 245/65R16?

Thanks for the help man... this is a big purchase! I can barely drive my Disco with the Goodyears on there right now. They are "cuffed up", which I have no idea what that's supposed to mean, but I know they feel rough, and they make my Disco shake after 45mph.

My wife is loving my beautiful high performance tires on those 18" rims though

Pat

 

PS- I'd like to get the narrowest, tallest tire possible while avoiding rubbing...

 

Your old tires are "cupped", meaning that they have little "cups" in the tread, so if you look at them you will see spots where the tread is thinner is one spot than another.

The ATR is rated better in the snow because it is of a softer rubber, rubber gets hard when it gets cold, softer rubber does not get as hard.
When a tire is hard it does not grip as well.
One of the nice things about the S/T (Sure Trac) is that you can spin it to heat it up and melt through ice to gain traction.
I have done this many times on my work van, get stuck on a small ice patch and you cant move.
Spin the tires up to 30mph and hold that speed and keep watching them in the mirror, when they start to get hot they melt right through the ice and grab pavement, you shoot forward a few feet and do it all over again, depending on how big the ice patch is of course.
If they start to smoke then they are to hot, let off the gas and wait a few min then try again.
The BFG A/T will melt when I do this, the Coopers last all winter.

DI's run a 235/70 as stock with the option of running a 245/70 or a 225/70.
I do not know about the DII, sorry.

And as for the cargo cover...go to the "roaming with friends" section.

 

245/75/16 will fit your DII and its the biggest you can go with no rubbing, they will give you a slight lift as well

 

Thank you both- that is some good info. I will get 245/75R16- I'm reading more tire reviews right now...

 

Hey Urban, do you think that size would fit on my spare, without being stopped by the bumper? I'm going to try to do some measurements given the exact size in inches, but have you done it?

Thanks!

Pat

 

Yes, 245/75 will work for your spare, no problem. I had a 245/75 mounted on my carrier and it had plenty of clearance over the bumper.

Here's a pic of my 245/75 spare mounted.

 

Hey THAT's a good looking tire, and I love the beefy side walls! How are they in the snow?

Are there different models of Goodyear Wranglers? That is what is on the 16s right now, and they look nothing like that...

Are those noisy on the highway and freeway?

Thanks for the tip and pic!

Pat