My 2000 came to me with pretty weak tires - 2 front Toyo street tires with 2017 date codes, 2 rear tires with 2006 (!) date codes and rubber decay on the sidewalls and the rear spare was the original 1999 Goodyear spare that looked as if it had never been removed.

Not lifting my truck now, so went up a size from 255/55/R18 to 265/60/R18. I wanted 265/65/R18 but didn't want to deal with rubbing. Have another car with rubbing issues I'm figuring out now.




Chose after tons of research the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W. Falken? WTF? Right? Well... they're the original equipment on the new G-Wagen so they must be doing something right. And 2 guys I met locally with sick trucks swore by them. Pics



From the tire store to Lowe's to get rivets for another project

Love the sidewalls. Tire shop didn't scuff one wheel and used inside weights

Fronts look good 265/60/R18 stock suspension (103K mi on truck)

Rear 265/60/R18 stock suspension (103K mi on truck)

Spare tire - as I figured - wouldn't mount without spare relocation. Bought a kit from AB that showed up in 2 days (not awful!)

But after I got my spare off, and cleaned the gook of from 20 years, it was cracked at every stud. I was like huh.... I thought this only happened with bigger tires. I think I know why -- the PO had a rack on it, with no ladder. I bet they used the tire - as we do - to clamber up on the roof. I've done it on other Disco's... that's only reason I can think of unless these brackets are just junk. This explains a squeak every time I closed the cargo door.



I remembered a 2003 nearby at the Pick N Pull that had a spare tire and bracket on it still (16" stock tires) so went and pulled it off. Perfect.




Test fitting the relo mount. Decided to "cut the studs" and not use the spacers, to keep the tire as close to the cargo door as possible. You can see them sticking out here.



After 10 mins w/ Dremel and safety goggles (!) all set and mounted.



This is a nice bit of kit. You can see the 3 studs cut off here. I measured 15/16" from the stock mount and it was perfect. Flush with end of lock nut. If anything maybe I could have gone 1 full inch. BTW the smart instructions said to thread the nut on before cutting, which was good bc it helps make sure the threads "fix" from any poor dremeling/cutting... you just spin them off and it helps recut any threads you damage.




Looks good and lined up the center cap and valve

Bit further out, but it's a bit wider too.


3 spacers I didn't use as I cut the studs/threads shorter. Nice aluminum bits, will find something else for them to do for sure.

 

Those are nice looking tires.
About how much room do you have between the spare and the bumper?

 

I've been running the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W's for over a year now, they are great! Wife's Rover needs some new shoes before winter - guess what she's getting on hers.

 

Looking good! Another little trick to fit bigger tires is to flip the stock carrier over. I have no issues carrying just shy of a 33 on mine.

 

Great writeup! I have stock suspension and going to upgrade to 265/60R18 too. They are even cheaper than stock sized tires.

I am still undecided between Wildpeak and Grappler G2. Grapplers are said to be very good about road noise, but the Wildpeak are said to be much better in snow (they have the three peak mountain snowflake). I go on long road trips, so freeway speed noise is an issue and I have highway tires right now. How is road noise at 70mph compared to highway tires?

 

About 1". These tires are 30.5", 1.5" bigger than stocker 18's. So I'd estimate you could probably fit a tire that's in total 3 to 3.5" bigger in circumference here, ie 32" to 32.5" max. A couple pics.



With relocation bracket and 265/60/R18

With relocation bracket and 265/60/R18

 

Question: The instructions said to touch up the ends of the studs I cut off with paint to prevent rust. Will these actually rust? I thought wheel studs would be made of something that didn't rust out badly....

 

Wheel studs are usually zinc coated or similar, but once you cut the ends off you are removing that protective coating and they will rust the same as any steel.

 

Good Job on that!

 

Noise is the same or better than the stock tires. I was surprised. These are quiet tires on the highway / road. No humming or noticeable noise.