Finally got a set of the AT2's installed and here are some pics and observations.

Ended up going with the 255/60-18 size as I could not find the 255/55-18 locally. Size wise this tire (tyre?) is a bit wider and taller than the original spec Conti UHP that came with the vehicle and were in its last stages of usefulness. I checked the sizing change in this site:

http://www.tyresave.co.uk/tyresize.html


Although the site's calculator indicates that the new tires are 24mm taller I could not detect and discernible difference in the speed shown by the speedometer vs the old tires even when measured against a GPS so that was good to find out. If anything the original tires were showing 1/2 to 1 MPH less on the speedo than the GPS indicated at 60 MPH's.

The AT2's:


Since these are M + S rated tires the noise level increased. How much? Just a bit from being whisper quiet to just quiet at a steady speed. One thing I noticed is that while decelerating to a stop there is more sound and or harmonics felt in the car. Again not a bother but it's there. I also rode a bit with the old tires listening to some music on the radio (Queen, of course) and drove the same road later with the same song and I needed to increase the volume on the radio 2-3 notches to drown out the somewhat increased tire noise. Had the wife drive it after installing the new tires without letting her now of the new tires (is her vehicle after all) and she did not noticed the change. Conclusion? These tires are quiet enough. They ride very well on surface roads and so far I have not noticed any rubbing although forum member "sro" also has these tires and he reports some rubbing at extreme wheels angles while going off road and over obstacles, so keep that in mind.

LR2 looks like this with new tires:


Old tires:


New tires:


and more important of all here is a shot of the new tires' clearance by the rear shock absorber:

Click image to enlarge

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

Hi there - not sure if this thread was carried forward or not. In any event I would like to know whether Rainmaster1 was able to test the tyres at the Landrover Experience day (Biltmore Mansion, NC) and if there are any pics available and lastly what is his assessment of the tyres, clearances, spacer requirements if any) etc. I have 18"rims and in about 6 months need to replace the tyres with an All Terrain type. Any help / information would be most appreciated.

Here is a link to my report on the LR driving experience at the Biltmore:

http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic13086.htm

I am happy with tires. The "mud" performance is not the same as a dedicated mostly "mud" tire. What I mean by that is that they did well (not great) in real wet/ muddy conditions but you will experience a lot of wheel spin and rocking the LR2 back and forth to get going in places. You will also loose about 5% to 10% fuel economy with these tires (down to 19.5 from 21 mpg's on my 3.2 petrol I6 engine). I bumped the pressures about 2psi to 34psi and I can live with the compromise of ride quality and MPG's.

The tires have about 6K miles and after their first re balancing they have a bit of a shaking of the steering wheel so they will have to go back for a another try, not bad but is there at 70-80kph. They look like they are going to last forever and performance in wet surface roads is very good to excellent. In dry gravel roads I feel like I am driving a tractor, they have so much "bite" that I can only see getting stuck due to operator error but not due to the tires. We got very little snow so far so I can't say how they would do there yet. I needed no spacers to run these tires and have not experience any clearance issues with them.

Seems to me that with the LR2's incredible AWD system the need for a more "aggressive" tire is a bit of an overkill but I live in a rural mountain area and I get the benefit of them more than if I needed to drive on the highway most of the time. I am able to explore dirt roads that I would not have considered before when the LR2 had the OEM Conti's. For mostly highway use I would go with a different tire altogether.

Thank you for the response - informative to say the least. Well from your comments it seems this is the way to go and I am looking forward to, as we say in SA, "gravel travel"rather than tarred highways. A tyre made for sand roads with a bit of mud on occassion seems right. Glad to hear about the lack of chaffing which was a concern but it seems all is ok and now I just need to buy 5 of them. Will have to speak to SWAMBO (she who always must be obeyed) to arrange the finance. Thank you once again.

Hi there, I have been thinking about changing the tyre size to 255/60 R18 and buying 5 but was told to check whether the 'wheel well' in the boot would take this size tyre in terms of its diameter and height. Was this a consideration for you? On our roads I would be hesitant to buy 4 road wheels with the spare wheel being of a different size. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi Rainmaster1,

When do you plan on going up to do the course at Biltmore? I got a voucher from my dealer down here in FL and was considering stopping and doing the course on my next trip to Virginia. I'm very curious to know how it goes in your LR2. I won't have all-terrains on when I run it but I'm still curious to know what your thoughts on the LR2's off-road abilities are.

edit: I just realized your original post was from last year  2013 LR2 HSE LUX: 2.0L I4; Barolo Black, Ebony Windsor Leather; Navigation, Satellite Radio, Cold Weather Pack, Piano Black Trim.

PumpkinZA wrote:

Hi there, I have been thinking about changing the tyre size to 255/60 R18 and buying 5 but was told to check whether the 'wheel well' in the boot would take this size tyre in terms of its diameter and height. Was this a consideration for you? On our roads I would be hesitant to buy 4 road wheels with the spare wheel being of a different size. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks

kuaka wrote:

Hi Rainmaster1,

When do you plan on going up to do the course at Biltmore? I got a voucher from my dealer down here in FL and was considering stopping and doing the course on my next trip to Virginia. I'm very curious to know how it goes in your LR2. I won't have all-terrains on when I run it but I'm still curious to know what your thoughts on the LR2's off-road abilities are.

edit: I just realized your original post was from last year

Just had 5 x General Grabber AT (not AT2) fitted. Looks similar to Rainmaster1's set up. Minor issue is that the spare wheel does not allow the load bin cover to lie flush with the rear load sill. About 2 - 3mm too high. Small price to pay but will be making some adjustments in due course.

Next (17/18th April) is the 15 mm Lift (front and back - (Poly - "something'" spacers) which will 'deform'to fit the suspension turrets.

I expect to have many photos and full installation instructions with the help of 'JJJ"who engineered the spacers.

I have just ordered a set of 255/60/18's and looking at the discussions around the "Spare wheel" it looks like these will fit the circumference of the void for the spare but will sit proud and prevent the boot lining from sitting flush...

SO my question is as follows:

If I get a spare which has the same circumference (give or take a mm) sized at 235/70/17 (I have a 17" spare) the width will be less allowing the boot lining to sit flush but also have the same rolling circumference as the 4 wheels used day to day fitted to the car?

I used an online calculator which returned the following with the spare being 1.2mm in overal circumference less than the new 255/60/18's - Have I got this right or am I missing something???



SPARE 235/70/18 WHEELS 255/60/18
Diameter 760.8mm 763.2mm
Circumference 2390.1mm 2397.7mm

Ride height gain 0mm 1.2mm
Arch gap loss 0mm 1.2mm

is that too complicated a question to answer?

PumpkinZA wrote:

Just had 5 x General Grabber AT (not AT2) fitted. Looks similar to Rainmaster1's set up. Minor issue is that the spare wheel does not allow the load bin cover to lie flush with the rear load sill. About 2 - 3mm too high. Small price to pay but will be making some adjustments in due course.

Next (17/18th April) is the 15 mm Lift (front and back - (Poly - "something'" spacers) which will 'deform'to fit the suspension turrets.

I expect to have many photos and full installation instructions with the help of 'JJJ"who engineered the spacers.

As long as the rolling circumference is close (i would consider 1.2mm close!) there should be no issue. Many awd cars come with space saver spares which is effectively what you are doing.

nice one - I'll go with the 245/65/18 then - I can get a winter one for £6.99!

I managed to get an ebay Evoque alloy to match my existing set of 4 for only £20 as the bloke wanted space in his garage! at the moment my spare would be useless as it's made to fit my old 17's!!!

It fits flush and all!

Also I stood it up against the four fitted wheels and the rolling circumference is exact!

Therefore I decree the largest spare can be an 18" Evoque alloy fitted with 235/65/18!