FL2 tyre sizes

Hi all,
Anyone running non-standard tyre sizes? I saw one wearing 255/65s on its 17s and thought "I bet they don't fowl anywhere, they're only slightly bigger than standard".
I just put a deposit on an FL2 and was thinking of doing the same.
Any thoughts?

Cheers all.

I'm guessing they will foul on the struts without spacers, as the standard 235/65/r17 tyres are very close.
Also the speedo will under read, which is illegal.

However before spending on frivolities, I'd be changing the Haldex fluid and filter, along with the oils in the gearbox, PTU and rear diff.
These service items are seldom done, and are a major expense when the components fail.

Nodge68 said:

Also the speedo will under read, which is illegal.

Click to expand...

Question, don't you get bored of posting this same thing, despite the fact it usually isn't true and you are just giving out misinformation?

The size difference above is only enough for a 3.4% speedo reading change and as it is mostly universal that most speedo's will be over reading by 10% at most speeds. The chances are (99%+) that it will still be over reading..... and be perfectly legal.

300bhp/ton said:

Question, don't you get bored of posting this same thing, despite the fact it usually isn't true and you are just giving out misinformation?

The size difference above is only enough for a 3.4% speedo reading change and as it is mostly universal that most speedo's will be over reading by 10% at most speeds. The chances are (99%+) that it will still be over reading..... and be perfectly legal.

Click to expand...

Completely incorrect.
The Freelander 2 speedometer is calibrated to be 1% slow on new factory size tyres.
So at exactly 70, the speedometer on my FL2 displays 69.5 MPH.
Having tyres 3% larger will put the speedometer 2% fast, which is illegal.
Get your facts correct before inviting someone to break the law.

I know it's a different car, but my p38 came with l322 wheels one, 19" if i recall. When i was doing 30 on the dash, gps on my phone said a consistent 32

300bhp/ton said:

Question, don't you get bored of posting this same thing, despite the fact it usually isn't true and you are just giving out misinformation?

The size difference above is only enough for a 3.4% speedo reading change and as it is mostly universal that most speedo's will be over reading by 10% at most speeds. The chances are (99%+) that it will still be over reading..... and be perfectly legal.

Click to expand...

Nodge68 said:

Completely incorrect.
The Freelander 2 speedometer is calibrated to be 1% slow on new factory size tyres.
So at exactly 70, the speedometer on my FL2 displays 69.5 MPH.
Having tyres 3% larger will put the speedometer 2% fast, which is illegal.
Get your facts correct before inviting someone to break the law.

Click to expand...

Guys for the avoidance of doubt......

It is illegal for a speedometer to read below the actual vehicle speed ( except when travelling slowly below 25mph ).

It is ok for a speedo to read up to 10% above actual speed ( plus 6.5mph for luck ).

Therefore if a vehicle is actually travelling at 70mph the speedo will read between 70 mph and 83.5mph....(assuming legal tyres etc are fitted and its not faulty)
Varies (legal) tyres sizes and tyre wear are accounted for within this range.

Kevm said:

Guys for the avoidance of doubt......

It is illegal for a speedometer to read below the actual vehicle speed ( except when travelling slowly below 25mph ).

It is ok for a speedo to read up to 10% above actual speed ( plus 6.5mph for luck ).

Therefore if a vehicle is actually travelling at 70mph the speedo will read between 70 mph and 83.5mph....(assuming legal tyres etc are fitted and its not faulty)
Varies (legal) tyres sizes and tyre wear are accounted for within this range.

Click to expand...

I think you'll find that the 10% allowance was for old analog type speedos, and manufacturers used/needed this allowance because of inherent inaccuracies.

With 'modern' speedos running digitally off ABS sensors, they are much more accurate. Therefore LR can calibrate the speedo to be virtually spot on LRs specified tyres.

Its therefore not surprising that Nodge found his speedo to be very accurate.

The allowance for different size tyres if they are slightly larger than spec, is much reduced.

My BMW could be programmed to display 'actual' or '+10%'

GrumpyGel said:

I think you'll find that the 10% allowance was for old analog type speedos, and manufacturers used/needed this allowance because of inherent inaccuracies.

With 'modern' speedos running digitally off ABS sensors, they are much more accurate. Therefore LR can calibrate the speedo to be virtually spot on LRs specified tyres.

Its therefore not surprising that Nodge found his speedo to be very accurate.

The allowance for different size tyres if they are slightly larger than spec, is much reduced.

Click to expand...

I was quoting UK law....it may differ in other countries.

Under UK law a speedometer can not read low therefore the assumption would be that a manufacturer would have the speedometer calibrated for the largest tyres that the vehicle takes ( legally ).

As the tyre size could vary by up to 2% and tyre wear could give another 2% then it would be expected that an accurate speedometer could vary from actual speed by up 4% dependant upon tyres.

Also the accuracy of sat nav speed readings can be very variable.... it depends upon the accuracy of the road on the map and uphill/downhill can affect it as well.....my personal record is 220mph along a newly built road.

Although in general along a good flat road sat navs can be quite accurate......well at least as accurate as the radar gun that got me.

kermit_rr said:

My BMW could be programmed to display 'actual' or '+10%'

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That's quite common for German cars. Is allows the driver to compensate for winter tyres with a larger circumference.

I'm sorry for inadvertently opening a can of worms here, not my intention.
My Navara reads 35mph when travelling at 30mph sat-nav speed. You just learn to drive accordingly

I'm a pretty steady driver so, driving at an indicated 1mph below the limit is fine with me. What I'm not super excited about is paying £300 for spacers. Maybe I'll stick with 235/65-17s for now. I'll probably go for the Coopers ATs that I have on.my Navara, they're 3pmsf and great across the fields

Craig_mate said:

I'm sorry for inadvertently opening a can of worms here, not my intention.
My Navara reads 35mph when travelling at 30mph sat-nav speed. You just learn to drive accordingly

I'm a pretty steady driver so, driving at an indicated 1mph below the limit is fine with me. What I'm not super excited about is paying £300 for spacers. Maybe I'll stick with 235/65-17s for now. I'll probably go for the Coopers ATs that I have on.my Navara, they're 3pmsf and great across the fields

Click to expand...

Don't worry about it spacers are another controversial subject they aren't all equal

Craig_mate said:

Maybe I'll stick with 235/65-17s for now. I'll probably go for the Coopers ATs that I have on.my Navara

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Loads of people including me find Yokohama Geolander AT 015 to be a good compromise between wet road, dry road, mud and snow ability.

They're also less noisy than Cooper ATs (which is fine on a separate chassis vehicle), and slightly cheaper too.

kermit_rr said:

spacers are another controversial subject they aren't all equal

Click to expand...

Indeed. I won't have them my vehicle, but my wife's VW Eos came with them fitted.
Her insurance company refused to cover the vehicle if spacers were installed, so I had to remove them, which I didn't complain about.

Nodge68 said:

Loads of people including me find Yokohama Geolander AT 015 to be a good compromise between wet road, dry road, mud and snow ability.

They're also less noisy than Cooper ATs (which is fine on a separate chassis vehicle), and slightly cheaper too.


Indeed. I won't have them my vehicle, but my wife's VW Eos came with them fitted.
Her insurance company refused to cover the vehicle if spacers were installed, so I had to remove them, which I didn't complain about.

Click to expand...

Looking in to the Yokohama Geolandars now, tar.

Nodge68 said:

Completely incorrect.
The Freelander 2 speedometer is calibrated to be 1% slow on new factory size tyres.
So at exactly 70, the speedometer on my FL2 displays 69.5 MPH.
Having tyres 3% larger will put the speedometer 2% fast, which is illegal.
Get your facts correct before inviting someone to break the law.

Click to expand...

I do not believe you can accurately read the speedo to a 0.5mph difference. And how are you determining you are doing "exactly" 70mph? GPS is not accurate enough to do this.

It also makes no logical sense seeing as Land Rover offered 16. 17, 18 & 19 rims on the FL2 (according to the internet...). And looking at the factory sizes there is a 12.6% speedo difference across the tyre sizes.

And aside from this, can you provide any evidence of anyone ever being prosecuted for running a slightly larger (3%) tyre?

300bhp/ton said:

And aside from this, can you provide any evidence of anyone ever being prosecuted for running a slightly larger (3%) tyre?

Click to expand...

only slightly illegal.. thats ok then

pretty sure if I ran oversize.. I'd be the first one to be stopped and made an example of.. but i'm unlucky like that

GrumpyGel said:

I think you'll find that the 10% allowance was for old analog type speedos, and manufacturers used/needed this allowance because of inherent inaccuracies.

With 'modern' speedos running digitally off ABS sensors, they are much more accurate. Therefore LR can calibrate the speedo to be virtually spot on LRs specified tyres.

Its therefore not surprising that Nodge found his speedo to be very accurate.

The allowance for different size tyres if they are slightly larger than spec, is much reduced.

Click to expand...

The only thing is "modern" speedo's have really been the norm for about 30 years now. You'd probably do well to find many vehicles on the road that use a speedo cable.....

Even Defender's haven't used a speedo cable since 1998.

I'm yet to be convinced that anything modern reads 100% accurate at lower speeds. My 2020 Jimny certainly doesn't. 30mph on the speedo is more like 26-27mph according to GPS and radar traffic signs. Although oddly at 80mph it seems to agree with GPS.

I'd say this is true in most modern cars, at least any I've driven and used GPS or been past radar signs. Which would include the new Defender, L405 Range Rover, 2017 Smart ForTwo and others.

So it would be really odd (read incredible) that the Freelander 2 is the only vehicle produced that has a 100% accurate speedo across all speeds on all factory wheel and tyre options.

kermit_rr said:

only slightly illegal.. thats ok then

pretty sure if I ran oversize.. I'd be the first one to be stopped and made an example of.. but i'm unlucky like that

Click to expand...

Running at 72mph on the motorway is illegal too. But I bet anyone who has driven on a motorway has done it. Even if they didn't know or by accident. But I bet people also aren't persecuted for it.

While I'm here, how much clearance should there be between the lett rear tyre and the shock damper blob? I have about 3mm....
Tar.

300bhp/ton said:

I do not believe you can accurately read the speedo to a 0.5mph difference. And how are you determining you are doing "exactly" 70mph? GPS is not accurate enough to do this.

It also makes no logical sense seeing as Land Rover offered 16. 17, 18 & 19 rims on the FL2 (according to the internet...). And looking at the factory sizes there is a 12.6% speedo difference across the tyre sizes.

And aside from this, can you provide any evidence of anyone ever being prosecuted for running a slightly larger (3%) tyre?

Click to expand...

If there's a 12.6% difference across factory tyres, then the speedo must be calibrated to the tyres installed on the vehicle when it left the factory or else some of them would be illegal.