Hello all, as a newcomer to the world of land rover, I have owned my 1st land rover - a D2 for just 6 months. From day one I was aware that the handling and steering was wrong - tramlining, vague steering on bumpy roads etc. after hours of experimenting and £££s spent with land rover specialists I finally found the cause ........ The tyres!. The car has only covered 50K, FSH, so wear and tear was unlikely. It has never been off-roaded so damage was unlikely. The experienced LR specialists that inspected the car all reported nothing was wrong.. Swapping the tyres front to back has transformed the car - I now enjoy driving it. The Wrnaglers that were on the front are the land rover spec and in good condition, only half worn. Having put the wranglers on the back and the coopers on the front all is well. It's a mystery to everyone I talk to ... but a fact. I hope this helps others with similar issues.

 

I'm glad you are happy!! Nothing better than a Happy LR owner. I find it funny that LR Specialist didn't notice the mismatched tires in the first place? That would be a good place to start when dealing with handling/steering issues. You should always run a matched set of tires front to rear to prevent (possibly) having the problem you just had.

 

Always important to note that even though you can pick up a used Land Rover on the cheap these days, that they actually are NOT cheap cars and you can not treat them or maintain them as such with used mismatched inferior parts or tires.

 

To clarify .... The tyres were not 'mis matched' there were original OEM spec Wranglers on the front and premium Coopers on the back. All tyres equally worn and passed inspection by the local tyre centre. My point is, and the reason I share my experience, is that even the experts are puzzled why swapping the wranglers with the coopers solved the handling problem. So my dilemma now is, when I need new tyres do I fit the OEM spec wranglers and risk handling problems? Hopefully someone in this LR community will help me decide.

 

did you swap the tyres, or rotate the wheels?

 

I would skip the Wranglers and the Coopers and go with Michelin. I just replaced a set that still had tread with 120,000 miles on them.

You might check to see if one of those sets are directional tires that were installed wrong and putting them right fixed your issue.