Are Big Fat Tyres Better, Or Are They More For Looks?

Hi all,
Although ive owned a few Landy's over the years im pretty new to offroading and greenlaning so am after some advice from you more experienced people, Im currently running 205/16 mud tyres and seem to do quite well with them but i have not really come across anything too extreme, i really like the look of the oversized tyres but have been told 2 different things
1: wider tyres are better because they cover more ground?
2: thinner tyres are better because they dig down and bite?
Having only run on my current tyres im confused lol, i dont want to spend more money on bigger tyres to find out i can do just aswell on my current set, my mate keeps sayin get bigger tyres but he has not used anything smaller than what hes got.
Thanks in advance.

small ones are better in mud they cut though better and find grip widder ones are still ok but i would stick with what you know

Thanks for that, i do like the look of the bigger tyres, i would rather have more grip than looks though so ile stick with them.

i have wide ones 305/70r/16s and i have a bit of troble in deep mud as you can see but they are fooking tough for rock crawling in wales

The problem is if the grip is deeper down than the tires are tall then you aint onna get any grip!The 205's are standard size on ya classic and disco int they?Could go to 235 not much bigger, not too big, seem ok to me.Although when i had 205 they were at or roads.

I run taller and wider tyres, BFG AT's. Mostly 'cos taller gives me a tad more ground clearance, wider 'cos I mostly green-lane and they don't cut the ground as bad as thinner ... and they are way better on wet grass towing a caravan, they don't leave marks ... much ...

Pure off-roading or trialling I use full Mud tyres that are same height but thinner as these do feel like they give better grip. Never done a back-to-back test of them, and different vehicles using different tyres and different drivers don't give true comparisons as every vehicle and driver are all different and will give different results 'cos they're subjective.

Mostly it's down to what you drive, how and where you drive it and how you 'feel' the ground under the tyres ... some people seem to float everywhere and over everything, some people drive by digging the ground up!!

I dont want to dig the ground up and do lots of damage, theres not much in my area for greenlaning but i do take a trip to salisbury plain nearly every other weekend with my friend, a few of my other friends go to a place in alton, supposed to be off roading rather than greenlaning, which is something im keen to have ago at. I am pretty new to all of this but im not stupid and dont want to cause problems by tearing lanes up with my tyres if you know what i mean, they are not too aggressive though, they are insa turbo dakar remoulds.

run what ya got till the need replacing.Ya got muds so youll get the max grip outta thattire size in the mud.If yer feel flush get some bigger tires but dont expect much difference.As mentioned on saturday out laning-theres stuck and proper stuck.I go for the later!

Ok nice one, thanks all for the info, ile definately stick with what i got for the time being then

Wot e said ..

Insa TD's are fine, Mud patterns that might be copies and remoulds, but they work well. No point changing unless you're into specific stuff like Rock-Crawling or chalenge events etc ...

yeah AND PUT SOME PICS UP!!!!!Cos thats all ways good!

opening a can of worms this thread will

2 chains of thought, as people have said above. fat tyres do look better but i run 255/85 BF MT's. nearly 33" tall and only 10.5 wide, they are pretty good. what you will probably find (if you only do greenlanes and not mostly P&P) is that, ground clearance will be required on MORE occassions than muddy grip. i may be wrong, depends on your area. but i do a lot in the south and throughout Wales and not had any problems. as stated above, wider for rockcrawling (maybe the peak district?) depends where you drive.

also, its more dependent on experience and where you put the power. I have been out with guys in standard disco's on road bias tyres that do really well on 95% of most lanes, only neading a gentle tug here and there. excellent to go out with those guys and learn a few things

G

Wildpikey said:

Hi all,
Although ive owned a few Landy's over the years im pretty new to offroading and greenlaning so am after some advice from you more experienced people, Im currently running 205/16 mud tyres and seem to do quite well with them but i have not really come across anything too extreme, i really like the look of the oversized tyres but have been told 2 different things
1: wider tyres are better because they cover more ground?
2: thinner tyres are better because they dig down and bite?
Having only run on my current tyres im confused lol, i dont want to spend more money on bigger tyres to find out i can do just aswell on my current set, my mate keeps sayin get bigger tyres but he has not used anything smaller than what hes got.
Thanks in advance.

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I've used 205/16 muds before and personally, I think its too small and skinny......

There are 2 issues here which I thought had been missed or not described in more detail.........skinny vs wider tyres................small vs bigger tyres diameter wise.....

Skinny tyres performs better in muddy condition, as it digs in while forcing the surface mud through the sides and find grip, however, may cause more damage to the lanes......wider tyres however tends to float a bit more and get filled up with mud, then became a donut (as in the photos shown by 90boy. However, wider tyres provide more grips on steady grounds eg grass and rock and cause less damage..

Size in diameter does make a huge difference to the off road capabilities of your landy.......when I was using 205/16 (29" diameter, 14.5" clearance to center of axle), I get grounded a lot (sitting on diff) as the ground clearance is a tad too little for my liking........I then switched to 235/85/16 (approx 33" diameter, 16.5" clearance to center of axle) and loved it. The difference between the two is an extra 2" of ground clearance, allowing you to drive through deeper ruts without getting stuck.

I found huge benefit from increasing tyre size for my Series. I was always getting hooked up in ruts. The leaf spring hangers always make first contact, so I'd get stuck when a Defender/Disco/RR would get through. Started on 205/80R16, then went to 7.50R16(235/85R16) now have 9.00R16(255/100R16) 36" tyres, gives me 13" clearance under the lowest point of the Diffs.
Now I'm the one that gets to do the rescuing.

If I had a classic Range Rover that I wanted to use for greenlaning, the first thing I would do would be to find out what needs to be done to fit 7.50 R16 or 235/85 R16 tyres. Loads of people use tyres this tall and so this is how deep many of the ruts are. I seem to remember that the Camel Trophy Range Rovers ran on 7.00 R16 tyres as they were the biggest that would clear the arches as standard. I think 7.50 R16 tyres will fit if the inner wings are modified or if you lift the suspension and/or the body.

i run 265/75/16 insa turbo special tracks,i dont like skinny tyres they dont perform any better or any worse in the mud,a lot is down to the driver,correct gear selection etc.my mate has 7.50/16 sags on his disco and they perform no better than other pepes runnin 35" tyres.go with what siuts your driving style and the type of offroading or laneing you will be doin

Spyderman said:

I found huge benefit from increasing tyre size for my Series. I was always getting hooked up in ruts. The leaf spring hangers always make first contact, so I'd get stuck when a Defender/Disco/RR would get through. Started on 205/80R16, then went to 7.50R16(235/85R16) now have 9.00R16(255/100R16) 36" tyres, gives me 13" clearance under the lowest point of the Diffs.
Now I'm the one that gets to do the rescuing.

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i'm with im!
i run 36" fedima's on my 90 and they ar sound in every way,as long as yu dont want t go above the 66mph speed rating(which i dont,about 55-60mph is plenty).the only down side is its made mi gearing to tall wen av got mi big trailer on so am goin t fit a 1.667 ratio transfer box t bring mi gearin bak down.

jimbot where did ya get those from i have only found one place and they are £155 each

i got a set of 235 85 r16 khumos on my landy and they do a proper job lol

G-man said:

jimbot where did ya get those from i have only found one place and they are £155 each

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i got four of em second hand on rims,but i had t pay £155 fa mi spare wich wa a propa bastid!and that wa from kingoffroad.