Tyres and insurance companies

Hi all, just a general question about changing the Tyres on my FL2, I currently have 18 inch wheels on with road tyres but have just bought a set of used 17 inch LR Factory alloys and plan to fit Insa Turbo Ranger all terrain tyres on just for winter use, just wondered if anyone has had a problem with their insurance company fitting Remould tyres as they do have a speed rating of just 112mph, at the moment my insurance company isn’t really taking questions so I can’t even ask them, does anyone have any knowledge on this, thanks guys....

You need to tell them

I would speak to your insurer first as some companies won’t even deal with mods and may just tell you no.
Standard alloys are fine it’s the tyres.

Yes I definitely think you’re right, I can just imagine a scenario where I couldn’t stop in time and the insurance company could say it’s down to the none standard tyres, I’ve just got to wait until the insurance company office staff are back to normal I guess, I did try to phone about something else a couple of weeks ago and it was emergency calls only and the wait was nearly 2 hours

Try ringing other insurers for quite so you know, may even find a better one

sharmanator43 said:

Turbo Ranger all terrain tyres on just for winter use, just wondered if anyone has had a problem with their insurance company fitting Remould tyres as they do have a speed rating of just 112mph

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I'd just not fit remolds full stop.

Is your vehicle worth so little, that it's not worth spending some money on a decent set of tyres? The tyres are the only thing that keeps it on the road, so why try to save a few quid on them?

Do yourself and whoever is in or around the vehicle and fit some tyres that actually do the job without risking damage or injury.


These will do what you need without messing about with second sets of wheels, fitted with crap tyres.
https://www.camskill.co.uk/m65b0s25...Eff_:_C_Wet_Grip:_C_NoiseClass:_2_Noise:_71dB

Insa Turbos are not crap, they are just a budget tyre made by re-treading a used carcass. They perish quicker and are quite soft, but i don’t believe they are dangerous. I had an issue balancing Dakars but they are m/t tyres which can be tricky. Ive never had any issues with them safety wise beyond the normal limitations of an m/t.
There is loads about remould v retread etc.... if you have a search.
If they are a different size to factory, then you will need to declare it.

ronsealdeath said:

Insa Turbos are not crap, they are just a budget tyre made by re-treading a used carcass.

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The weren't good on my Pajero, and they don't seem to come with any test data, now good in the wet compared to a premium tyre. There's no guarantee they perform better in winter than a premium brand tyre either, on a Freelander, they'll be noisy.

ronsealdeath said:

They perish quicker and are quite soft, but i don’t believe they are dangerous.

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Mine also perished and being softer, wore out faster.

So would you agree that they could well be false economy, when you factor in buying different wheels, potential insurance cost increases? When the OP could just simply fit decent tyres that does what he wants, without altering the tyre specification on the vehicle?

Personally my thoughts are, tyres are the only thing keeping the vehicle on the road, so why fit anything that's below the factory specification for the vehicle.

Thanks for all the posts, I was just so in the dark about remoulds, you hear the term remould and your mind instantly goes to bits of shredded lorry tyre sitting in the central reservation, I have tried to research Insa tyres and to be honest there’s not too much info in n them, it does seem they are a factory in Spain who have been producing remoulded tyres for a very long time, also it wasn’t the fact really I wanted to save a few quid on each tyre, well that wasn’t the main reason, I just really liked the tread pattern and design of the Insa tyre range, I have now found some general grabber tyres which have a similar pattern but only about £30 more each tyre, I’m still going to do my research with the insurance company even when fitting a named genuine tyre, it’s just interesting that most of the 4x4 tyre companies sell the Insa range but other than the speed rating there’s absolutely no information on how this effects the handling of your vehicle or your insurance premium, I suspect now my insurance company would say no

I have insa turbo M/T s. They are a remould yet a very strong tyre have taken an absolute hammering over the years and still going strong.
Don’t like heavy rain on motorways compared to road tyres

General Grabbers are a favourite among many landy owners.

Ah that’s good to know so you have them on your road car, did you tell your insurance company or just never thought to, it might not even be an issue, if it’s a road legal tyre then surely it’s ok to use

Again,
It’s a mod which my insurer is happy to charge me for.

sharmanator43 said:

Ah that’s good to know so you have them on your road car

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You have to remember that a Freelander 2 isn't a Land Rover in the traditional body on frame design of old. The FL2 is actually a modified Ford Mondeo platform, so ask yourself the question. How noisy and horrible would a Mondeo be if it had aggressive AT tyres on it? Not to mention the fact the most AT tyres don't come close to premium road biased tyres when it comes to ride quality, handling and wet weather braking.

sharmanator43 said:

did you tell your insurance company or just never thought to, it might not even be an issue, if it’s a road legal tyre then surely it’s ok to use

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If you change the wheels specification (i.e. size or design) from the factory specification, then the insurance company will need to know, and potentially charge you more, because the risk has changed.


What is wrong with using properly specced tyres of the original size, like the ones I linked earlier on? The Michelin Latitude Cross will grip well on any surface including snow and wet tarmac and last about 30k miles too, which makes them good value, without messing with insurance companies and changing wheels twice a year, and so on.

Yep totally agree with you, no argument there, in fact the link you sent provided me with much cheaper tyres than the sites I had been looking at, I’ve found a local independent tyre fitter that’s going to take delivery of the tyres and charge me just £10 a tyre to fit and balance, just to be clear these aren’t going to be my everyday tyres, I already have very good road tyres on factory fitted 18 inch rims, but I’ve bought a set of 17 inch Land Rover rims also from a Freelander 2 so they left the factory on those wheels as the 18 & 19 inch rims have very limited choice when it comes to anything other than summer road tyres and want to fit winter tyres to the 17 inch rims which I have now gone for because we spend a couple of months a year in the highlands and the summer road tyres quite frankly on winter highland roads are dangerous, but thanks once again for recommending that tyre site they really have saved me money

Nodge68 said:

You have to remember that a Freelander 2 isn't a Land Rover in the traditional body on frame design of old. The FL2 is actually a modified Ford Mondeo platform, so ask yourself the question. How noisy and horrible would a Mondeo be if it had aggressive AT tyres on it? Not to mention the fact the most AT tyres don't come close to premium road biased tyres when it comes to ride quality, handling and wet weather braking.

If you change the wheels specification (i.e. size or design) from the factory specification, then the insurance company will need to know, and potentially charge you more, because the risk has changed.


What is wrong with using properly specced tyres of the original size, like the ones I linked earlier on? The Michelin Latitude Cross will grip well on any surface including snow and wet tarmac and last about 30k miles too, which makes them good value, without messing with insurance companies and changing wheels twice a year, and so on.

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Yer but no but the FL2 used eucd before the mondeo did. But that dun't make a mondeo a FL2. Ford originally wanted to use the mazda design until LR pushed back to stay with 4x4 and selected eucd instead as it was stronger and they dun't like fords idea of the FL2 being front wheel drive only. It always amuses me how peeps describe the FL2. All vehicles share parts with others. It dun't corner/handle like a mondeo.

It's not just max speed yer need to watch out for when picking tires. Don't forget about the other figures like load rating.

Many years ago 4x4 tires were thick like van tires. Not anymore. They're more like car tires with a rougher tread these days. Cheap tires are cheap for a reason.

Don't forget to buy round ines anorl.

I had the gg at2 as below on my FL1. Grip was good but the noise and rumble was horrid. To the extent they had to go. Never again. You could tell they had more grip as it was harder to push on a level surface. Lot more infighting in the tread. I learnt the hard way with tires. Freelander suspension can't take out the rumble from rough tread. I remember driving away after getting the gg at2 fitted. Instant rumble. The fitter asked why I was fitting what he referred to as a budget tire. They weren't cheap but the ride was bad. When driving home from a lr eggsperiance event having driven other Freelander's that day I realised my setup was bad and the tires had to go. Gone within weeks.

On my FL2 I have standard fit 19 inch wheels (for the model I have) which is the biggest lr spec in the range. 2 different main dealers have told me to drop the pressure from 35 to 32psi to remove the slight feel of the tread pattern. Standard manufacturer fit continental cross contact uhp 4x4 fitted.


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Thanks for all that Hippo, I must admit I did see the Mondeo comment and thought well that will provoke interesting chat if nothing else does, I have now picked tyres, I ended up speaking to my local independent Land Rover specialist and although I’m not actually getting the tyres from them (they are fitting them for me though) I’ve finally gone for Matador winter tyres, I think they’ll do everything I require for highland winter driving, I know people will say go for all season tyres b ut I really like the current summer tyres I have on my 18” inch rims, the stopping ability in heavy rain is unbelievable on them, they just don’t cut the mustard on hilly winter highland roads, I’m pretty sure the matadors wouldn’t need me to tell the insurance company but I’ll inform them anyway

Hippo said:

Yer but no but the FL2 used eucd before the mondeo did. But that dun't make a mondeo a FL2. Ford originally wanted to use the mazda design until LR pushed back to stay with 4x4 and selected eucd instead as it was stronger and they dun't like fords idea of the FL2 being front wheel drive only. It always amuses me how peeps describe the FL2. All vehicles share parts with others. It dun't corner/handle like a mondeo.

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The Mondeo reference is an accurate representation of the sort of of suspension design that you wouldn't want to fit aggressive AT tyres too. Because the FL2 and Mondeo do actually share the same basic platform, and many components (the front suspension is identical) the noise from AT tyres will transfer to the bodywork through the suspension, but you already know this from experience.
Because of this parts sharing, my comparison was valid.

sharmanator43 said:

Thanks for all that Hippo, I must admit I did see the Mondeo comment and thought well that will provoke interesting chat if nothing else does.

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There are differences, but also a lot of similarities too.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_EUCD_platform

sharmanator43 said:

I have now picked tyres, I ended up speaking to my local independent Land Rover specialist and although I’m not actually getting the tyres from them (they are fitting them for me though) I’ve finally gone for Matador winter tyres, I think they’ll do everything I require for highland winter driving, I know people will say go for all season tyres.

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A decent winter tyre is better than a 4 seasons tyre in snow and ice, but also a much shorter tyre life if used on dry tarmac. For instance, I get about 10k miles out of a set of winter tyres on the wife's Fiat 500 (yes I fit winter tyres to the 500, but it is only 2WD), but closer to 30k out of a set of Michelin performance tyres it wears between April and November. Don't forget that once a winter tyre has less than 4mm of tread, it stops being any use as a winter tyre and doesn't work any better in snow/ice than a conventional all weather tyre.

sharmanator43 said:

I really like the current summer tyres I have on my 18” inch rims, the stopping ability in heavy rain is unbelievable on them, they just don’t cut the mustard on hilly winter highland roads, I’m pretty sure the matadors wouldn’t need me to tell the insurance company but I’ll inform them anyway

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I use all season 18" Cooper tyres on my Freelander, and they do what I need, without messing around swapping wheels and such. True I don't see weather like in the Highlands, but the Freelander is an amazing vehicle, and makes the most of the tyre's available grip.

What I was originally suggesting still stands. There are excellent tyres available (I linked to them) in your standard 18" size, which you can use all years round, in all conditions and not have to mess about swapping wheels and informing the insurance company each time you do.

Anything that alters your vehicle from how it left the factory is a modification which the insurance company needs to know about, and that includes changing the factory fitted wheels from 18" to 17", even though the 17" wheels came off another FL2.

Eggsamples of tires I cut open previously to see how thick they were. You would think a 4x4 tire would be thicker to make it's stronger, but not the case in the ones I cut open. Looks to me as if the tread is the only difference.


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