Disco 2 Wheel and tyre preference

Afternoon all!

yes there are hundreds of threads on wheels and tyres which I have spent the last couple of days sifting through- however many are dated and I would like to hear people’s preferences from experience.

So I currently have 18’s with 255/55/R18 (road tyres) and looking to down size to 16’s with something like 265/70/R16 (Looking at something like Yokohama geolander AT-S or General Grabber AT3).

My reasons for this is because I feel as though the ride is pretty rough on the current set up and I live in Cyprus where there are speed bumps every 20metres! Plus the tyre range out here is limited and mega expensive for 255/55/R18.

I have someone out here with 16s on and is happy to do a straight swap; I’m wanting to know if anyone else on here has downsized alloy and increased tyre to improve drive comfort. Also he has offered to give me some cash in addition to the wheel swap- is there much value difference between the wheels (excluding tyres) or should I just go with the swap.

Any other obvious advice regarding this wheel tyre set up preference is welcome.

Many thanks.

Watching with interest as I am about to do the same. I am looking for improved comfort ride with the 16" over the 18" although I understood 265/70/R16 wouldn't fit without a lift.
Bizarrely I did the opposite with my last D2 over 10 years ago when I swapped the 16" Adventurer alloys for 18" and I now find myself wanting to do the opposite with a set of brand new 16" OEM Adventurer alloys I have.

Here are the changes; interested to know if it would require a lift? Currently on standard air to the rear. Does anyone know the max size before requiring a lift?

That's a great calculator , just tried it with 235/85/16 (current defender size) to see how they would fit but even bigger.

May not be the type your looking for, but we've had good experience with Kumho Road Venture M/T's. They lasted many years of heavy mileage. Maybe other Kumhos are as good. We were recently quoted quite a reasonable price for another set, also to fit 16" wheels. But that was a local tyre fitter, not Cyprus.

Interceptorxj said:

I understood 265/70/R16 wouldn't fit without a lift.

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265/70/16 are what's fitted to mine without a lift and there is no scrubbing or anything

From a comfort POV I'd go for the swap with cash your way to ease the cost of putting new rubber to your own taste on them, I've seen a D2 locally with 245/75 R16 Goodrich KM2 MT tyres on, that width and aspect ratio would give you a 5.5% diameter increase and good choice of tyres at a lower cost to the 265/70.

Many thanks for the responses. Most helpful.

I'd never have 18's on mine again... the 16's are SOOOO much betterer. No tramlining for a start

Jgwoodley said:

Anyone have experience of improved ride comfort by dropping down from 18’s to 16’s?

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Try doing a search , has been discussed a few times .

Cheers

neilly said:

Try doing a search , has been discussed a few times .

Cheers

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What’s the point in forums if all we did was tell people to search all the time. As stated at the beginning I have searched and sifted through. I am looking for up to date responses and experiences as opposed to direct answers. Please do not comment for the sake of commenting just to wind people up! I wouldn’t be asking if I had already found whilst searching!

Yeah @neilly , stop winding people up

Jgwoodley said:

What’s the point in forums if all we did was tell people to search all the time. As stated at the beginning I have searched and sifted through. I am looking for up to date responses and experiences as opposed to direct answers. Please do not comment for the sake of commenting just to wind people up! I wouldn’t be asking if I had already found whilst searching!

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OK, , just saying, I did a search and found a current member who runs both and had commented within the last year. But hey ho. you carry on.

Cheers

neilly said:

Try doing a search , has been discussed a few times .

Cheers

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I just did a google search and it has been done to death on all Land Rover forums and then I put it up for J**ps and found exactly the same info, thousands of threads in fact.

Then LZ alone had a couple of hundred.

dieseldog69 said:

I just did a google search and it has been done to death on all Land Rover forums and then I put it up for J**ps and found exactly the same info, thousands of threads in fact.

Then LZ alone had a couple of hundred.

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Don't tell me, tell jgwoodley. he is the one asking...LOL.

Cheers

Jgwoodley said:

What’s the point in forums if all we did was tell people to search all the time. As stated at the beginning I have searched and sifted through. I am looking for up to date responses and experiences as opposed to direct answers.

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Please don't take offence at this, but, a great many of us have been around this and other various boards for several years.

We have often given the same advice today as we gave maybe 6, 7 or even 8yrs ago on multiple threads centered around the same topic.

So when you kindly pop in and ask for your direct answers to your direct questions, it is a question that has been asked a thousand times before and more often than not been answered in the exact same way a few thousand more.

You can always ignore the responses you don't like but a little research on these boards goes a long way to receiving a better response.

neilly said:

OK, , just saying, I did a search and found a current member who runs both and had commented within the last year. But hey ho. you carry on.

Cheers

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dieseldog69 said:

Please don't take offence at this, but, a great many of us have been around this and other various boards for several years.

We have often given the same advice today as we gave maybe 6, 7 or even 8yrs ago on multiple threads centered around the same topic.

So when you kindly pop in and ask for your direct answers to your direct questions, it is a question that has been asked a thousand times before and more often than not been answered in the exact same way a few thousand more.

You can always ignore the responses you don't like but a little research on these boards goes a long way to receiving a better response.

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Dieseldog,

Many thanks for your honesty. I cannot tell you how many times I have been extremely grateful for the wealth of experience and knowledge on this forum which in turn has helped no end in fixing problems over the years that may have cost a pretty penny in the garage.

On this occasion today I was looking for a discussion with people that may have a similar interest in downsizing alloys which granted has been discussed many times before on multiple LR forums. I did not find during my search what I was wanting so put it up for discussion only to be shot down for putting it up.

I clearly stated at the beginning of the thread about ’hundreds’ of previos threads to this subject and to be honest if people do not want to answer again then just ignore it.

This thread might as well be deleted now because it is full of a useless slanging match and point scoring rather than keeping it on topic for those that were interested.

Jgwoodley said:

This thread might as well be deleted now because it is full of a useless slanging match and point scoring rather than keeping it on topic for those that were interested.

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Whooaa easy tiger, if there is one thing you have to understand about this place, it is a sacred place, a holy place almost, in a world where everyone is trying desperately to find offence in everything around them, this is one place where we can come as enthusiasts and be free to be the mud monkey spanner jockeys that we are, pizz taking and larking around winding folk up while we discuss the finer points of the latest F*** ups or offering to lend a hand to the next poor soul who buys that Egay bargain at 02:30 on a Sunday morning wearing only his cider visor with credit card in hand.

Relax man, I'm not sure how legal or not it is where you are, but I hear marijuana has medicinal properties

dieseldog69 said:

Relax man, I'm not sure how legal or not it is where you are, but I hear marijuana has medicinal properties

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Nooooo! A nicely aged single malt is much more civilised.
Just to steer back on topic, I've never felt the need to swop my 16s for 18s. They just soak up the knackered road surfaces we seem to have to cope with these days. I keep toying with the thought of some winter wheels clad in winter tyres but I'd look for the same size and style I currently have. Hope that helps.

Feathers McGraw said:

Just to steer back on topic, I've never felt the need to swop my 16s for 18s. They just soak up the knackered road surfaces we seem to have to cope with these days. I keep toying with the thought of some winter wheels clad in winter tyres but I'd look for the same size and style I currently have. Hope that helps.

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I do have a set of 16's and 18's. The 16" rims have cold climate tyres on and the 18" rims have normal tyres. The difference between them is quite marked, the 18's give a much harsher ride than the 16's. I put this down the deeper sidewall in the 16's being more compliant. I run both wheel types with the quoted recommended tyre pressures for the vehicle.