New Defender 110 XS called Larry!

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SnowTrippin

SnowTrippin

Member
Posts
89
Location
St Martin de Belleville, France & Bracknell, UK
Hey guys,

Picked up Larry this morning, did 90 motorway miles back home and my god is he slow! :eek:

Haha, drive great though, with only 21,000 miles on the clock he's tighter than a nun's :D

Here he is meeting Nancy, our other slow vehicle, a 1971 VW Camper:

Larry-and-Nancy_zpsa4249499.jpg


Now that he's back home, we need to start modifications to make sure it copes with ferrying guests around over the winter. The garage I bought it from serviced it with -35 degree coolant, 5w30 fully synthetic oil, fresh brake fluid etc. so that should all be good, but I'm looking for your recommendations on a few things:

  1. Tyres - standard tyres are fitted, i.e. General Grabber RTs in as new condition. Should I change these out for Cooper Discoverer AT3s or will the TR's cope in snow?
  2. Roof rack - can anyone recommend me a roof rack? I like the look of the Land Rover rack but I'm not paying over £1k for it! Any recommendations around the £3-500 mark?
  3. Light bar - I would like some spots fitted to the front of the roof rack but do not want to make any holes in the bodywork for cables etc. Can you recommend a good way to fit, and a good set of lights?
  4. Any other mods that would be a good idea?

Thanks in advance, look forward to your ideas! :D

Cheers, Paul :cool:
 
Might as well be me... What you'll be needing is a computer with internet capabilities and a working knowledge of how search engines work!
Only ribbing ya. Seriously though, there are countless answers to what you want and you won't find many on here to do the finding for you! For what it's worth I run BFG ATs like so many others out there, and they've never let me down, Grabber AT2 are supposed to be good too, a decent set of chains too!
Good luck!
 
Cheers bud, I have searched re the Grabber TR's but nothing really specific to do with snow driving. 90% of my driving this winter will be in sub-zero snow conditions, and if I can save £700 by using these 5% worn tyres I will, however if people with experience say that they are no good then I will cough up the cash for a better alternative :D

Chains will definitely be on the list of bits to buy!

Does anyone have an opinion on the Masai 2.8m roof rack? Looks great for £500.

Edit: Forgot to add, does anyone have any recommendations for a remap in or around Berkshire? Definitely need more power! lol
 
Last edited:
No worries - depends how far you want to go, I went for a stage 3 (remap, intercooler, egr blank, exhaust, etc) specifically for towing/economy as I tow a 3.5 tonne trailer on a regular basis for work. It's made towing far better and without trailer I'm getting 33mpg on a good run (also got a roverdrive which makes motorway miles much calmer)

Toying with the idea of getting the hybrid turbo now.....!!

I'm near Hook in Hampshire if you want to pop over to see the difference :)
 
Sweet, sounds good! What sort of power is stage 3?!

I won't be going that far, need the car to be quiet (!?) and comfortable for the passengers, but a decat may be on the cards if it's not too expensive!

Would love to pop over and have a look, will give you a shout next time I'm over that way :D
 
Keep the GGRT's on the alloys for summer use and get some for the snow on steel rims. Best of both worlds then and they'll all last for years. (still a big outlay I know)
They are pretty good at keeping resort roads open, though you will obviously know how much snow and how often you will need to deal with it.
 
SnowTrippin said:
Hey guys,



Picked up Larry this morning, did 90 motorway miles back home and my god is he slow! :eek:



Haha, drive great though, with only 21,000 miles on the clock he's tighter than a nun's :D



Here he is meeting Nancy, our other slow vehicle, a 1971 VW Camper:



Larry-and-Nancy_zpsa4249499.jpg




Now that he's back home, we need to start modifications to make sure it copes with ferrying guests around over the winter. The garage I bought it from serviced it with -35 degree coolant, 5w30 fully synthetic oil, fresh brake fluid etc. so that should all be good, but I'm looking for your recommendations on a few things:



  1. Tyres - standard tyres are fitted, i.e. General Grabber RTs in as new condition. Should I change these out for Cooper Discoverer AT3s or will the TR's cope in snow?
  2. Roof rack - can anyone recommend me a roof rack? I like the look of the Land Rover rack but I'm not paying over £1k for it! Any recommendations around the £3-500 mark?
  3. Light bar - I would like some spots fitted to the front of the roof rack but do not want to make any holes in the bodywork for cables etc. Can you recommend a good way to fit, and a good set of lights?
  4. Any other mods that would be a good idea?



Thanks in advance, look forward to your ideas! :D



Cheers, Paul :cool:
Click to expand...


What does it say on the side of the tyre and what the patten look like? Normally M+S rating and blocky slotted pattern should do the trick.

Looks lovely btw, as does the van.
 
Nothing will beat chains in the snow so just get a gpod set of them. Or are winter tyres mandatory with you ?

For the lights id get a LED bar massively more powerful. Lower current draw and sleek :cool:
 
Regarding M+S tyres, best go for the ones with the mountain and snowflake symbol on them, these are the ones rated for mountains and snowflakes and other wintery stuff, not sure if having M+S only on the sidewall cuts it anymore.
 
My 90 came with general tr's , and I didn't rate them in the snow.
Actually I didn't really rate them anywhere.
 
roccotune said:
What does it say on the side of the tyre and what the patten look like? Normally M+S rating and blocky slotted pattern should do the trick.

Looks lovely btw, as does the van.
Click to expand...

Cheers, it is spotlessly clean, and the van was imported from Nevada, good ol' US of A so she's in good shape too. Just don't get enough of a chance to use her :rolleyes:

Anyway, I checked the tyres and they do indeed have the M+S symbol but as you say Bluedog, not sure if that cuts it...

jaygti said:
My 90 came with general tr's , and I didn't rate them in the snow.
Actually I didn't really rate them anywhere.
Click to expand...

What do you rate Jay?

Cheers, Paul.
 
SnowTrippin said:
Cheers, it is spotlessly clean, and the van was imported from Nevada, good ol' US of A so she's in good shape too. Just don't get enough of a chance to use her :rolleyes:



Anyway, I checked the tyres and they do indeed have the M+S symbol but as you say Bluedog, not sure if that cuts it...


.
Click to expand...


Certainly in North America and Canada tyres need to have the mountain symbol to be legal winter tyres, not sure about Europe though!
 
[/QUOTE]What do you rate Jay?



Cheers, Paul.[/QUOTE]




I swapped them for some Cooper st maxx.

They are fairly aggressive All Terrains. As good as the gg tr's on the road and loads better off-road .

I don't know what they are like in the snow, as we didn't get any in Essex this winter.

The only time they struggled was in some really thick mud, when I really needed proper mud tyres.

But other than that I have been hugely impressed. They are better than the bf Goodrich a/t's I had on my original defender too.
 
SnowTrippin said:
Cheers, it is spotlessly clean, and the van was imported from Nevada, good ol' US of A so she's in good shape too. Just don't get enough of a chance to use her :rolleyes:



Anyway, I checked the tyres and they do indeed have the M+S symbol but as you say Bluedog, not sure if that cuts it...







What do you rate Jay?



Cheers, Paul.
Click to expand...


I agree that it's largely down to the tread pattern and tyre but if you are really serious then a full winter AT tyre will be the best. It never ceases to amaze me how well winter tyres do in the alpine winters. Winter spec tyres and chains and I'm sure you will be fine. Last ski trip I just has 4x4 and winter tyres and never needed the chains even when some other 4x4 with normal road tyres had to stop.

Van from US of A, lucky devil. I have a T25 I got from Germany so it's basically rust free :) I wonder why we all get such silly vehicles.
 
SnowTrippin said:
That looks nice Brian :cool: when do you take delivery?
Click to expand...

About 4-6 weeks I'm afraid, as he's swamped with orders. However, he knocks 50% off every 50th rack ordered so I timed it right and got the 110 size with a mesh base for just £280 :)
 
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