Which is the best tyre

Hi, doe's anybody have any experience with the 750x16 original pattern tyre being better than the 205x16 tyre in an off road situation.?

Which is the best tyre?

Round tyres tend to perform the best.

I heard that square wheels were better as every quarter of of turn you get positive grip if you can stand the bumpy ride the engine noise in the landy diesel .

750 would have more ground clearance than a 205.

Hedgy said:

Hi, doe's anybody have any experience with the 750x16 original pattern tyre being better than the 205x16 tyre in an off road situation.?

Click to expand...

7.50x16 is a better tyre on an old landrover than metric sizes, all in all. Off road ability will depend on tread pattern almost as much as size.
Lot of people don't use 750x16s now because they tend to be more expensive.

The 235/85 is closer to a 7.50 in size, the 205 or 210 are more like a 7.00. What rims do you have, if its the SWB 5J then I'm not sure a 7.50 will fit, its more usual on the later / LWB 5.5J.
Grip is about tread pattern, rubber composition, tyre contruction and typre pressure. In some terrain old type crossplys work well, they are very hard and stiff and terrible on tarmac but stand up well on sharp rocks. Often the best tread for off-road is just too noisy on the road.- I would always look up the dB levels on cross country tyres as you would soon get fed up if the tyres are great off road but hellishly noisy on it.

rob1miles said:

The 235/85 is closer to a 7.50 in size,

Click to expand...

It is similar in diameter, it is very much wider.

I still have the standard rims, years ago i put good year M/S which were great on the road, but rubbish on muddy fields as I found out the day on a winters day trying to catch my mates sheep he had to tow me out with his Range Rover, all the farmers stuck to the original tyres that came with the Series 3 they never got stuck.

Hedgy said:

I still have the standard rims, years ago i put good year M/S which were great on the road, but rubbish on muddy fields as I found out the day on a winters day trying to catch my mates sheep he had to tow me out with his Range Rover, all the farmers stuck to the original tyres that came with the Series 3 they never got stuck.

Click to expand...

I used 7.50x16 military bar grips on my Series, and 7.50x16 Fedima Maxima on my Ninety. No worries.
Remoulds are fine on a Series, due to the low road speed.

If its original pattern tyres I think it was Avon ranger in 750.16. I can't remember the make/model of the 205.16 range rover tyre but the land rover tyre was cross ply. I have driven both over the years and think they are very different their original form.

I would choose the radial over cross ply these days as I think you will get a generally better quality tyre, better performance on and off road unless you really need a little extra ground clearance the 750 offers.

I don't know what tyres were on the options list for series but the mod used Goodyear xtra grip which was cross ply and later Michelin xcl. Both these had very good off road performance and were available in the 750 size.

The biggest problem may actually getting hold of original pattern tyres now? If originality isn't a big problem I would choose Michelin xzl but there's plenty of others.

TD5130 said:

If its original pattern tyres I think it was Avon ranger in 750.16. I can't remember the make/model of the 205.16 range rover tyre but the land rover tyre was cross ply. I have driven both over the years and think they are very different their original form.

I would choose the radial over cross ply these days as I think you will get a generally better quality tyre, better performance on and off road unless you really need a little extra ground clearance the 750 offers.

I don't know what tyres were on the options list for series but the mod used Goodyear xtra grip which was cross ply and later Michelin xcl. Both these had very good off road performance and were available in the 750 size.

The biggest problem may actually getting hold of original pattern tyres now? If originality isn't a big problem I would choose Michelin xzl but there's plenty of others.

Click to expand...

Avon Ranger are a good tyre, but not cheap. The Michelins are good too, but even more expensive, and they don't have a very aggressive tread for heavy off roading.

The ranger was of course fitted to the series and I doubt you'd be able to get them now.

On the other hand the up to date rangemaster are radial and have a higher load rating which suits the 3.5t defenders.

If you were looking for originality the above may look better?

TD5130 said:

The ranger was of course fitted to the series and I doubt you'd be able to get them now.

On the other hand the up to date rangemaster are radial and have a higher load rating which suits the 3.5t defenders.

If you were looking for originality the above may look better?

Click to expand...

I never worried too much about appearance, although maybe some do now, with Series getting a bit collectable.
Not heard that having too high a load rating will be a problem. I agree that Radials are probably better all round for today's roads, but as a matter of interest, my Series 2a was a much nicer ride on Crossply tyres.
As you also comment, getting these older types of tyres just isn't easy nowadays.

I have General Grabbers 235/85x16's ... they work great both on and off road.

TD5130 said:

I don't know what tyres were on the options list for series but the mod used Goodyear xtra grip which was cross ply and later Michelin xcl. Both these had very good off road performance and were available in the 750 size.

Click to expand...

The Goodyear xtra grip is now available from deestone and is available as 7.50. It works very well off road and not bad on the road at series speeds but does tend to rumble a bit.

I have BFG All-Terrain, I've been really impressed with them on the road and on wet grass, I suspect they would clog in deep mud.

horses for courses you need a tyre that matches the terrain knobblys for mud ats for rock,, you have to decide which terrain you mostly drive or have a second set

rob1miles said:

I have BFG All-Terrain, I've been really impressed with them on the road and on wet grass, I suspect they would clog in deep mud.

Click to expand...

They definitely clog in mud, I have them on the 110. But they are a great all rounder rather than having a differant set for each terrain.

However if you are worried about looking period correct then they are not suitable for a series vehicle as they look like a modern tyre. For a period land rover/off road tyre you are really limited to the:
Avon traction mileage - still made but only available from specialist vintage tyre companies
Goodgear xtra traction - now the deestone xtra traction
general Super all grip - unsure if still available haven't, seen any for a while
Michelin zxl - modern tyre but available in 750 and have a period look.

If you are not going to fit a 750 and move to a modern tyre size you may as well also move to a modern tread pattern as well as you have already lost a lot of the period look. At that point you have a lot more choice open to you and you need to consider your usage more carefully to choose a suitable tyre.

Make sure you get nice narrow ones.
Not only do they out perform fat ones they really offend the balloon brigade.

Bobsticle said:

Make sure you get nice narrow ones.
Not only do they out perform fat ones they really offend the balloon brigade.

Click to expand...

Am I right in thinking that wider tyres affect the turning circle ? They certainly did when I tried putting some on my Series One 107" . I now have XZLs with wheel spacers and the turning circle is much better .