Wheels and Tyre Choice. Advise needed.

Hi all,
Have done a search but not found anything relative to my question.

I need to replace tyres on my P38 4.6 HSE and would appreciate your advise.

1. Do I stick with 18" rims or take the opportunity to go to 16" ?
All the posts I have read say the vehicle rides much better on 16" and is better off road but 18" suites the car better.
I have been offered a set of brand new 16" diamond cut rims, dark Grey centre with silver rim (don't know what they are called) for a very good price and my 18" rims require refurbishment so seems to be a good option.

2. Choice of tyre. My usage is 75% road and 25% off road although I live in a rural area where the roads are narrow and covered in mud and Cow ****, so am looking for a All Terrain tyre type with good grip. Choices so far are General Grabber AT's, Toyo Open Country A/T's and Michelin Latitude Cross. Reviews of the Michelin are good but prefer to be guided by actual users who have no commercial interests.
I would also like to have minimal road noise on tarmac.

3. If I decide to go to 16" what tyre sizes can be legally used and will fit a standard P38.

Look forward to your advise gents..........

Plenty of cow **** and mud on the narrow lanes where I live, I run Goodyear Wranglers on 18" Hurricanes and I'm very happy with them. Not everyone will agree.

I Dont agree you should call it fertiliser

Hi Dopey,
Fertiliser it is then.

How you getting on with the Nankangs ??

Thanks Datatek and Dopey for your replies.
Update.........

Have decided to go for the new 16" rims which I have discovered are Land Rover Typhoon, so just need to decide what tyre make and size.
Choices are:-
1. Michelin Latitude Cross in 245/70x16 or 255/65x16.
2. Toyo Open Country AT in 245/70x16 or 255/65x16.
3. Struggling to find General Grabber AT in stock anywhere in these sizes.
4. Cooper Discoverer AT in 245/70x16.
Which tyre would you Guys recommend and would there be any problems with the 245/70x16 legally or physically?
I would really appreciate your views on this one.

Thanks......

Me Nankangs are doing fine, but I have yet to put some miles on before I know how they last, but right now, I would buy them again if I had to

I got a free set of 18's with Acceleras a year ago and since all four of my 16's were down to the legal limit I threw them on. Through a bit of bad fortune with punctures from rocks I ended up putting on two new Accellera on it. To be fair the Accelera's were cheap enough and not that bad.

But eight months on 18's convinced me that 16's were the only way to go on the types of roads I drive on and so as soon as the old tires were dead I took the chance to go back to 16's. I'd always bought Pirelli's for the 16's and while they performed fine (S/T's only, STR's were terrible) I wasn't overly impressed with their wear qualities and they were getting very rare. After reading hundreds of reviews the choice was down to GG's and Toyo Open Country AT. AS GG's are now impossible to get and the Toyos were cheaper anyway, the choice was easy.

After 5,000 miles on the Toyo's I can happily report that they are excellent. There is no noticeable wear, no tramling and grip is good wet or dry. I haven't tested them properly off road but they have a more aggressive pattern than the Pirelli's so I would expect them to perform in that regard. They have plenty of little grooves for snow and ice so again I'll be expecting good things of them this winter. Now I've read some mixed reviews and one thing I'll say is that my Toyo's are made in Japan. There are others out there and the bad reviews seem to go with the ones not made in Japan.

Just to add my tuppence to the great 18"/16" debate, I'm running Koni shocks all round and the roads I drive on are real bad but the 18"/Koni combination gave an unacceptably harsh ride. If I hadn't gotten caught with two irreparable punctures and the subsequent new 18" tyres that entailed I'd have thrown off the 18's much earlier.

tony2 said:

Thanks Datatek and Dopey for your replies.
Update.........

Have decided to go for the new 16" rims which I have discovered are Land Rover Typhoon, so just need to decide what tyre make and size.
Choices are:-
1. Michelin Latitude Cross in 245/70x16 or 255/65x16.
2. Toyo Open Country AT in 245/70x16 or 255/65x16.
3. Struggling to find General Grabber AT in stock anywhere in these sizes.
4. Cooper Discoverer AT in 245/70x16.
Which tyre would you Guys recommend and would there be any problems with the 245/70x16 legally or physically?
I would really appreciate your views on this one.

Thanks......

Click to expand...

Toyo ATs, in the narrow size if you plan to do a fair bit of off-roading. Narrower tyre means more grip in mud but the wheel will be a little more exposed to rock damage.

Many thanks SpudH and StuckAgainSteve for your replies.

2 votes for the Toyo's is good enough for me and as you say they are cheaper and more readily available than the GG AT.
Shopping time me thinks !!!

My boss has just replaced his 16" tyres on his P38. He had 225/75/16 BFGoodrich A/T KO's, which are renowned for being the best A/T tread pattern around.

Problem is, the BFG's are very expensive, so he looked at other options. The General Grabber AT2's are basically the same tread pattern and very sought after, but AFAIK are no longer being brought into the country so finding some in stock, in the right size, is a problem. There's another thread on here where this was argued at length as someone did find some, but the General's A/T tyre is now the UHP, apparently.

In the end my boss went for Event ML698 tyres (ML698 | Event Tyres), another copy of the BFG A/T tread pattern. They are a brand new tyre, not a remould. He went for a 235/70/16 size and they fit fine and look good. I think a 255/65/16 will also fit and is 20mm wider, but a slightly narrow tyre can be better in mud. He paid £330 for four, fitted - bargain.

Hope that helps!

Thanks MikeV8SE, very useful info.

Tyres are a minefield and can be a big gamble with your hard earned.
A few years back I learned the hard way and received an unnecessary dent in my wallet. I was after new tyres for a Mitsibushi VR4 Estate and chose Avon ZZ3 high performance tyres. After 3000 miles it sounded like the front wheel bearings were shagged and the inner shoulders were wearing rapidly, tracking rechecked and all was spot on. 5000 miles and they were toast !!!
A local small tyre outfit recommended a budget tyre (cant remember the name) that was made by Pirreli and they were brilliant. No noise, no strange wear,gripped like a Scotsman on a Tenner and lasted 18,000 miles which was good for that car.
Moral of the story.....do some homework and dont rush in.

Hence my concern with tyres for the P38, dont want to get burned again !!
I'm hearing good things about the new General Grabber AT's but they are proving difficult to source at the moment. This quote looks interesting:-

"Truly a wolf in sheep’s clothing! The brand new General Grabber AT All-TERRAIN tyre for superb on and off road performance. The latest Complex and technical design delivers astonishing off-road performance with outstanding on-road safety and noise reduction. On test Landrover Owner Magazine wrote ‘Off-Road performance is on a par with the acclaimed AT2, but On-Road is significantly better’. Landrover Monthly wrote of their test ‘ The Genral Grabber’s self-cleaning properties were very apparent during our testing as the grooves remained clear of debris under all manner on conditions. The astonishing grip that these tyres exert was demonstrated when we stopped a Discovery 4, with four people on board on a 32 degree incline on wet rock and the vehicle just sat there without slipping…. I have to say it was all very impressive’"

The search goes on.

My local dealers all say General and Toyo At's are on back order and wont be available for the next few weeks.

Many thanks to all for the info thus far.....Chees.