Newbie tyre question

Hi All,

Just bought my first Landrover (1.8 Freelander) and have introduced myself in the new owners section.

I have a question on tyres. Is there a general rule for when the amount of wear on tyres is different between front and rear to prolong the life of the drivetrain. In other words should fronts be more worn than rears or vice versa (or does it make a difference).

TIA

The tyres with the largest diameter (i.e. more tread) should go on the back. However, for absolute peace of mind you should buy 5 fresh tyres and rotate them every 3000 miles, that way you can insure that all the tyres have indentical tread wear assuming that your tracking and shocks are what they should be.

Personally I say don't gamble with tyres, get good ones and make sure your transmission is healthy. You should have no transmission trouble if this is done correctly.

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

As a general rule new tyres should always go on the back. You will also find if you miss match them you will get a lot of road noise.

The tyres for general road use people tend to go for are Continentals, or Pirelli STR's which is what I've got on mine.

I made a mistake back two years ago and put a pair of Avon tyres (I think they were Avon) on and had a year of dronning and vibration before I changed them for the Pirelli's which were 100% improvement.

HTH

Grayo

To expand Grayo's post, if you want All Terrains the General Grabber are very good and BFGoodrich are generally held to be the best (I have them on mine, undefeatable in snow.)

Thanks for the advice. At the moment the two front tyres have quite a bit less tread than the rears. I've had a further look and have spotted that one tyre is different to all the rest and looks almost brand new. It's on the back so what I might do is buy three more to match it if it is indeed pretty much new (I'll measure the tread depth). Tyre is a Goodyear Wrangler.

Not sure how long the car has been running like this. I've tried going around slowly on full lock and in reverse it seems pretty free. Ever so slightly tight when doing it forward - does this mean the VCU might be beginning to seize up? I drove for a few miles and then put my hand against it and it didn't feel warm. Is this a good or bad sign? I would have thought it would be a bit warm if it was working.

If it were starting to seize then it would feel like the brakes were on during full lock reversing, you may be in luck. Goodyear wranglers have been known to go out of shape. If you plan on keeping the car, put some decent shoes on it .

4 Tyres , same size/make/model , as the tollerance is only 5mm between front and rear ! have a look on bellengineerings site

Is the spare new? If not then that could be the newest looking tyre. They were often one of the factory tyres fitted. I've got new Wrangler hanging on my rear door even though it's 11 years old!!

i used to have wranglers on my old freelander but with this one they are 17 ins wheel and seem hard to come buy so i have had michelins and they are good on tyre noise i am thinking for next winter to get a set of 16ins wheels and shod them with wrangers again

I quite like the Wrangler although I expect there are better tyres out there for the money? My V6 is still it's original set at 32K miles !!

WLJayne said:

If it were starting to seize then it would feel like the brakes were on during full lock reversing, you may be in luck. Goodyear wranglers have been known to go out of shape. If you plan on keeping the car, put some decent shoes on it .

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OK, sounds like it's not been running for long with the mixture of tyres.

Excuse my ignorance but what do you mean by 'go out of shape'?

What would you recommend instead of Wrangler (15 inch wheels on the car)?

Zigzagsky said:

What would you recommend instead of Wrangler (15 inch wheels on the car)?

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That depends on what you plan on using the car for. If normal road use Continentals, Michelin's, or Pirelli STR's. The lad's that go off road will advise on best tyre's for that.

Local tyre depot close to me knew nothing about the Freelander drive train problems and were more than happy to fit new tyres to the front and leave the part worn to the rear, not sure me pointing out the error in their ways did any good so the moral must be never trust the so called experts.

tyre rotation : ..
Freelander - Known Problems Suspension - Land Rover

Thanks fore the link to the tyre rotation info.

Will drop in to my local tyre fitters and see what they have to offer as alternatives to the Wranglers.

Zigzagsky said:

Thanks fore the link to the tyre rotation info.

Will drop in to my local tyre fitters and see what they have to offer as alternatives to the Wranglers.

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One of the best places for tyres is www.mytyres,co.uk used them not so long ago and paid a lot less than my local tyre fitter could offer. Once you choose what tyres you want fitted you can select to have them delivered to a fitter near to you. Mine took four days to arrive and were fitted with no problem at all.

Will defo use again.

HTH

Grayo