Check out John Deere Blitz black if you are painting your wheels. You can get it in a spray can or in cans if you have your own sprayer. It's made for painting farm equipment and has a matte black finish, sticks well to surfaces and quite tough. It's used by a lot of hot-rodders. I would prep the wheels by power washing at the coin-op car wash and then scrubbing with a scouring pad and maybe fine sandpaper.

 

235-75/16 would keep the same overall diameter of 29.0" as your current 255-55/18's using this converter:

Metric Tire Conversion Calculator

But like you said, it varies a bit from manufacturer to manufacturer so ymmv.

 

Cool! Thanks guys!

 

I found my 16's on craigslist… but it took awhile to find the right deal and right wheel. I sanded the wheels down with a very fine sandpaper, then used a self-etching primer, wheel paint and a clear coat from Autozone. Probably overkill, but I wasn't busy doing anything else.
If I had known about the John Deere paint I would have probably tried it, but I am very pleased with how mine turned out.
I have pics on my User profile thing.

 

Thanks for the info! I like what you did with yours with the wheels and tires. That is pretty close to the look I'm going for. I probably won't go as big on the tires, as I don't plan on lifting my ride any time soon. I do like the way the wheels look painted black. Thanks for letting me know about the pictures in your profile! Now, to just find some wheels.

 

Remember, the change is percentage based, so, unless you are going really fast or getting really big tires, this isnt a big deal.

I have 31" tires on mine. When I was running sizes through a tire calculator, I believe it said the vehicle speed would be like 6% faster than the speedo. Thats only about 3 MPH going 60.

I passed by one of those portable "check your speed" things the cops put in school zones and It said I was going 31 when the speedo said 31.

 

So, since I'm still trying to decide what I want to do... if I keep my 18's, I'm curious how much taller of a tire I can go and not have to worry about rubbing issues. Has anyone figured that out? Road driving, no off-roading.

 

When I got my Disco, the PO had 285/60 - 18's installed. I've since changed them to a smaller 265/60-18 but the larger size didn't rub on the street but as close as everything was I think it would have given even a mild trail. Here's a couple of pics of them before I replaced them. HTH

 

Discovery Series II 99-04


<29"

255/65/16: Stock tire size.

255/55/18: optional stock size.


30"-31"

255/55/19: stock size for range rover III. works fine for DII

255/70/16: a little taller than stock.

245/75/16: a little taller than stock. tire manufacturers recommended these be fitted with 7" wheels, but 8" works fine.


32"

275/70/16: possible to fit without lift. minor rubbing.

265/75/16: possible to fit without lift. minor rubbing.

285/60/18: 32" tire for the 18" rim. costs much more than 16".


33"

285/75/16: even taller than 265/75-16, requires around 3" of lift. Very wide and requires trimming. consider upgrading to hd axles & getting lower gears.

255/85/16: a bit taller than 285/75-15 but narrower. consider upgrading to hd axles & getting lower gears.

 

drowssap, I saw that table on the original thread for it, but it doesn't really tell me the tire sizes for the 18" rims... other than the stock size or the 32" tire.

BK, that is the info I was looking for (and the pics). Thanks!! I'm thinking of going to a 255/60-18 like this one... 255/60R18 Nitto Terra Grappler

It's a 30" tire, instead of the stock 29". Looks like it has some pretty good reviews too.