road tyres for steel rims

Hello
I got my first defender recently, it came with standard steel rims with 750/16 tyres. I want a wider tyre for road use, can I put wider tyres on standard steel rims?
Cheers

IIrc 235/85/16 will be roughly 40/50mm wider than the 750x16 any wider & youl need a wider rim

thanks for reply. what tyre sizes are typical for a defender 110 not taken off-road and without stansard steels? I'mdbe sorry to part with the standard steel rims ...

Google hifly tyres or search for my thread - hifly tyres for poor people.
I'm very impressed and they are cheap.

Mr Freedom said:

thanks for reply. what tyre sizes are typical for a defender 110 not taken off-road and without stansard steels? I'mdbe sorry to part with the standard steel rims ...

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7.50/16 are the typical tyres, do not part with them and you wont be sorry.
Best looking as well.

Why do you want wider tyres?

Mr Freedom said:

thanks for reply. what tyre sizes are typical for a defender 110 not taken off-road and without stansard steels? I'mdbe sorry to part with the standard steel rims ...

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Standard size for the original steel wheels is 7.50, however if you have alloys of aftermarket wider steel wheels then 235/85/16, 255/65/16 or 265/75/16 are also very common sizes. It depends what you want to do with it and how much you want to spend.

kevstar said:

IIrc 235/85/16 will be roughly 40/50mm wider than the 750x16

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I did not think there was that large a difference between them, I know the metric is slightly larger but I thought it was by less than 10mm which made them basically equivalent.

Hifly on me tratter £60 a corner

Coped with the white stuff very well anorl.

Flossie said:

Hifly on me tratter £60 a corner
View attachment 136973
Coped with the white stuff very well anorl.View attachment 136974

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I'm sure we used Hifly tyres on the HGV's in my last job. Didn't have nay issues with them on the trucks so I'm sure they are more than suitable for a land rover.

Thanks for all the replies. I was told, when I bought the Defender, that wider tyres would be better/safer/quieter/economic. Although, I should stress that the 7.50/16 tyres that I have are not really road tyres they're more for gravel/dirt tracks (I was told), I think they are the default MOD tyres - yes its an ex MOD defender (ducks for cover). It sounds like my best option is then to get 7.50/16 road tyres and then I can keep the original steel rims which are surely the nicest Thanks again for responses.

I just purchased some for my 90, I just think it is the best look for the 90/110 or defender.

Mr Freedom said:

Hello
I got my first defender recently, it came with standard steel rims with 750/16 tyres. I want a wider tyre for road use, can I put wider tyres on standard steel rims?
Cheers

Click to expand...

You don't mention the age or if the 7.50/16 rims you have are original type ones. Are they tubeless or with inner tubes? I had original 7.50 steel wheels with inner tubes. Had to change the wheels to ones that could accommodate tubeless tires.

^ Its a 2010 defender, presumably the tyres are tubeless. I've been googling about skinny vs fat tyres. My impression is that skinny is best unless your doing VERY extreme off-roading. The justification for fat tyres seems to come down to cosmetics, which is subjective too. I'd be very b interested to know any opinions about 7.50/16 road tyres vs 7.50/16 off-road tyres, particularly with regard to cost, wear and mpg.

Fat tyres on the road are noisy. Off Road tyres on the road? Why?

235/85 16 were also standard on a defender. For road use I would go with these as wider tyres would have better stability on tarmac than the 7.50x16. I have 265/75 16 at the moment and would say they are a bit too wide.

As another option, I went for something even more road-biased. Fitted to new tubeless steel rims.

Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport 235/70 R16



edit. The project will be on roads for 99% of the time, and because it'll have nigh on 300hp I wanted something with a decent speed rating.

^ & ^^ but, as I understand it, both of these tyres will have a minimum rim requirement of 6" and are therefore too wide for standard steel rims. I like the standard steel rims - I like things standard

I'm not sure if you can get road tyres 7.50 X 16 as that size is quite good for mud as the tyre is narrow and 'sinks' to where firmer mud/ground would be.

This is my spare, which is a 7.50/16 road tyre, right?



I prefer the look of the off-road versions ... But I assume this one will give a better/safer ride on the motorway, be fuel efficient, last longer?

It looks like an AT to me. As for fuel efficiency I really don't know whether there is a massive difference between tyres...in theory yes there is but in reality you're not going to save a fortune.

Tyre choices are very subjective and everyone you ask is likely to have a different opinion. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer. If you like the standard 7.50 X 16 look then get a set of tyres like you have on the spare. I am sure they will be good as it's unlikely Michelin would sell a substandard product. In fact the narrower tyres you like may be less prone to aquaplaning and will have a lower rolling resistance. They will be less stable than wider tyres but then again there is no such thing as a perfect tyre for all conditions.