best 225x55x17 tyres for my fat chick?

Hi, I've got to get 4 new tyres for my MY04 HSE TD....ouch!

So at the moment I have Michelin Synchrones on there, but I am led to believe they are discontinued.......?

I would like the best I can get for the best price....obviously! I have £500 budgeted for a set of 4......my questions are;

Are there any that would fall into this price range for good quality ones?
Are there any high street retailers doing deals on the ones I need?

Cheers chaps and chapesses!!

Google it mate, there are quite a few internet companies and some that do deals fitting them at yr home by a local agent.

thanks mate, the trouble is, i don't know wether they are ok for a freelander or not.... ive found some 225/55R17 101W AVON ZZ3 XL for a good price from event mobile tyres but although they are XL(extra load) are they suitable??

Ahhh now you are asking a question about sizes and there has been much debate on this matter. Search the forum for suggestions, though I think your Avon's size were given the thumbs up for the FL's on another thread

ah.......i'll have a quick search.
you have the same model as mine....what do you use?

Iv just ordered some new michelin lattitude cross's, got them on order at costco fitting them on friday, at a cost of £98 a tire fitted but by having an executive membership (£30 extra) you get 25% off (4tires for the price of 3). So will be spending a total of £324 for 4 tires.
I was happy with the michelin synchrones and fronts were getting close to the wear limit after 39K, the backs have about 4 -5 mm left on them still and was wondering if it's worth keeping hold of them and sticking them on ebay or something?

Just noticed size, mine are 215/65/16 but i would have thought it would be a similar price for yours.

I've done about 5000 miles on my lattitudes since January, including in the snow. I haven't noticed any real difference between the synchrones which were on it and the lattitudes I have now.

Incidentally, I had mine fitted at Costco, and got the same deal. If I had thought to ask for the synchrones back, we could have a set between us, as my rears had about 4mm to 5mm on them. Might be worth asking if they've got any others they're throwing away while you're there, if you explain to the fitter they're just for personal use, and you don't intend to sell them on.

It's well worth doing the front to back every so often on the tyres so they wear evenly, as advice is to fit 4 new tyres at the same time, so you can maximise the life on the whole set.

Thats a great idea, il ask on friday while im their. Their might be someone out their looking to replace just 2 of their synchrones like I was. Will definatly be rotating mine this time now knowing that i have to replace all four each time.

If you swap more warn front with less worn back it causes extra wear on the drivetrain / VCU. I thought on FL that if fitting in two's the newest i.e largest diameter / circumference are to be fitted to the back to keep the drive balanced. Every time a new pair is fitted the newest should be put on the back. This is also quoted in the manual.

stedlocks said:

ah.......i'll have a quick search.
you have the same model as mine....what do you use?

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I havent a clue LOL I got these boots with the car and there is plenty of tread left on them all. So I'm waiting for a time that I have to replace them and will check, much as you have done here, for suggestions for a new set. I will be looking to use the tyre as a way of increasing ground clearance too.

If I rotated say every 5000miles the wear differance should be only very small? Shouldn't this keep them all at about the same tread depth therefore little wear on the drivetrain, surely rotating them frequently is better than having to buy 4 new tires everytime 2 wear down?

I've just had a new set fitted to my td4 sport which has 235/50 18's and i managed to get them for £73 each fitted at a place in tunbridge wells. Only a budget tyre but they look and feel great.

trustystead said:

Iv just ordered some new michelin lattitude cross's, got them on order at costco fitting them on friday, at a cost of £98 a tire fitted but by having an executive membership (£30 extra) you get 25% off (4tires for the price of 3). So will be spending a total of £324 for 4 tires.
I was happy with the michelin synchrones and fronts were getting close to the wear limit after 39K, the backs have about 4 -5 mm left on them still and was wondering if it's worth keeping hold of them and sticking them on ebay or something?

Just noticed size, mine are 215/65/16 but i would have thought it would be a similar price for yours.

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I phoned costco today and the deal is similar but the initial cost of the tyre is £156 then I would have to upgrade to executive membership @£30 which would mean each tyre would be £125 ish then the £30 on top.....

I have found better....Event tyres have some really good prices starting at £367 for 'Falkens' which are pretty good apparently. He said to steer clear of 'avons' as they lose shape quite quickly....the next option would be for pirreli scorpions at about £450 ish.I have left the exact prices at work, but event tyres seem to be the cheapest by far.....And they come and fit at your home or work

tonyt37 said:

If you swap more warn front with less worn back it causes extra wear on the drivetrain / VCU. I thought on FL that if fitting in two's the newest i.e largest diameter / circumference are to be fitted to the back to keep the drive balanced. Every time a new pair is fitted the newest should be put on the back. This is also quoted in the manual.

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What the manual actually says is:

"Ideally, tyres should be replaced as sets of four, but if this is not possible, replace the tyres as exle sets. When replacing tyres in axle sets, always fit the new tyres to the rear axle"

As the good stedlock says, if you rotate the wheels every 5000 miles or so, the difference in wear and therefore circumference should be negligible.

It is now accepted practice to always fit new tyres to the rear of a vehicle, as it is believed to be easier to control a front wheel blow out than a rear. I think it is this that the manual is leaning towards rather than potential drivetrain problems.

As an aside, Costco also inflate the tyres with nitrogen, which is also supposed to be safer in the event of a blowout.

I'm of the opinion that not rotating tyres is better.
Allowing the fronts to wear quicker will actually reduce the front drive bias a little so giving the VCU and transmission a slightly easier time.
Then move your part worn rears to the front when you replace just the two tyres.
I cant see any problem with this provided the same tyre sizes are used.
We have part worn syncrones on the front and new scorpions were fitted to the rear 6 months ago.

Ive decided to go for 4 Falken tyres from event mobile....£367 for all of em fitted.

I'll keep you posted as to how they ride when done.....Thanks for the input!!

Got the Falcons fitted today and first impressions are very good!

A small increase in road noise is noticeable over the synchrones, but at half the price, I am not worrying

It may be because I had all the windows and the roof open tho

Anyway, Ive put the good 2 rear michelin synchrones on ebay to see if I can make the Falcons even better value!!

It is now accepted practice to always fit new tyres to the rear of a vehicle, as it is believed to be easier to control a front wheel blow out than a rear. I think it is this that the manual is leaning towards rather than potential drivetrain problems.

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This was also believed that a driver would drive to the limit of his worst tyres. Being that most vehicles are now front wheel drive, by putting the better tyres on the rear of a front wheel drive vehicle reduces the risk of losing the rear end apparently.

I've just had a set of 4 TSW 6 spokes fitted with Toyo 225/55/17 Toyo Snowprox for £560. All i can say is compared to the CAMAC AT tyres on the std alloys the ride and noise is a HUGE improvement

The road noise prior to that was awful, and seeing that this was my first Freelander i had to put trust in my instincts that it was the tyres causing the noise!!

BTW only my second post, so hi guys, great forum......