The Rover-Landers of BC

Hi,

So my disco came with over sized 265 tires.. the stock (my spare) is 235

ive noticed the front tires hit the molding when doing sharp turns, and thers only about 2" of clearence on the back tires, looks like it could easily rub the frame if 4x4 or loaded with ppl and supplies..

so .. my question is..

should i sell my 265's (85% + tread, almost brand new) and pick up some 235's.. -> ive been recommended to do this "as smaller tires will give better mileage" and i wont have to worry about any rubbing issues.

or should i just do a 2" body lift.. -> its gonna take me some time to raise the cash to go this route.

Hi Yuppa,
Yes 265's are a little big even with a lift. I'm sure someone on the board will give you the max tyre size with a modest (say 2") lift.

I'm not sure you will get what you would expect from selling used tyres, even when nearly new they don't fetch good money. I basic suspension lift would be the same price as a new set of 235's. A smaller tyre wont get you better milage unless you go to a road-bias tyre.

But after saying all that, 265's are probably too big for your wheel arches and full steering turn.

cheers,
Andy

What's the width of your 265 tires? Are they 265/75R16? There are quite a few of us running larger than 235 tires, but you generally do need to do a suspension lift, at least modestly, perhaps some trimming here or there, and likely adjust the steering stops. For example, I'm running 255/85R16 tires on my Discovery II which are a full 33" height. I do, however, have a 2" lift.

Providing you don't go more than 2-3" max, this can be accomplished as easily as adding aluminum pucks under the spring plates, but you do have to either purchase longer rear shocks, or lower the rear shock mounts. Or, if you prefer actual extended springs, they are about $600 for a set of 4, but you will also need 4 longer shocks, so budget another $400 for that. I've gone to the longer springs (and heavier duty) fro Rovertym in the front due to additional weight of a winch I put on my truck, but before that I had spacers all the way around and it worked extremely well. I still have original soft-ride springs in the rear and 2" spacers.

One thing to be careful of when purchasing longer springs is that you don't go heavy duty unless you really are carrying the additional load. The more heavy duty your springs are, the less easily they'll articulate for off-road and you lose the supple ride your Land Rover is famous for.

cheers, Dave

thanks for the input!!

current tires are : P265 / 70R16 111S M+S

i was looking at the plastic molding on the front, thats what the tires rub on for heavy turns.. if i remove that molding tho, the aluminum edge seems pretty sharp so im hesitant to remove them..

if I have to get new shocks for a body lift.. yeah, then im definately not ready for that for a while.

right now im just gathering the cash to let rover tech do a full inspection, after that i'll deal with new tires or a lift.

If you're taking it to RoverTech, Don can lay out all the options for you and the correct way to proceed — he's tried most of it on his own trucks.

cheers, Dave

Yes Don seems like a great fellow, he emailed me some awesome advised that helped me a lot in deciding what rover to get.

Im definately bringing him my business.

A body lift will not require extended shocks but a suspension lift will.

OK, so..

from the sounds of it, a normal 2" body lift would be the same price, or even cheaper then new tires..

I know someone selling a rover lift kit for 180 bux..

on a side note, i want to remove the sway bar i hear it causes undue stress on certain parts.. whats you guys feelings on that?

A little undue stress on the passengers under fast cornering as they hang on thinking its going to flip?

Body lift = body to frame spacers. your bumpers will now have a 1-2" gap from the body, unless you take the time to fabricate some brackets to relocate them upwards again.

Suspension lift = Springs, Shocks, and/or spring spacers.

Sway bars in my experience aren't putting stress on any of the Land Rover components. Andrew is right, it'll likely put more stress on your passengers.

There are some Discoveries, especially on DiscoWeb, where the swaybars have been removed, but until you get into a really high level of off-roading and are really in tune with the mechanicals of your truck, I wouldn't recommend it at all. Mine are disconnected but I'm working on a quick disconnect system, so as soon as that project is done the front one will be going back on again.

Dave

Disco 1 or Disco 2??

1995 disco 1

Righty-o then.

A body lift or spring lift will NOT fix the interference, so don't waste your time. You only run into height interference above 32" diameter. It is a front to rear interference problem for the most part and possibly width and trimming is required. It WILL interfere under articulation. Trimming is free. With a 265/70/16, that should be all that is needed.

The largest tire that will fit with no changes is 254/70/16 or 225/75/16.

Here is my general guide...
http://members.shaw.ca/jbarge/tires.html
Note that you MUST test your OWN vehicle as there is a lot of variation from one truck to the next.....

edit: 265/70/16 will be basically the same size as 31x10.5R15 on my page, which is a fairly common fittment is other parts of the world.

Why not just adjust the steering stops, that should fix the rubbing, lock to lock.

Cheers
Andrew

Thats a handy chart Red 90

Do you have one like that for each LR model ???

Would be good to have them saved in the Tech. Articles tab section

ANDYD wrote:Do you have one like that for each LR model ???

No. It is something I put together 10 years ago when I owned a Disco as there was very little information around.

thats some great info!
thanks for posting that - so from what I understand, a 2" lift might help a little, but my current size tires will still scrape.. trimming is probably the best option

I agree with the trimming, it’s easy with Aluminum body panels and it won’t take much, just the lower rear corner of the rear wheel arches.

As far as the “bump stops” go yup you can adjust them, but be warned they are often a real PIA if heavily corroded and may snap off. :x

Personally I’m just aware of the rub and stop turning the steering wheel...I’m not too corroded. :D