My car currently has 18" HSE wheels, with Maxxis Marauder tyres. I find the ride comfort over typical potholed b roads rather harsh.

Is this typical for 18" wheels, and if so will it improve with 16" wheels?

Im looking at getting a set of winter tyres anyway, and was considering getting them on some black steels (16") to help improve things. Hopefully they won't look too bad once there is some wheel trims on???

hi
I have the standard 17s and normal road comfort is lovely but pot holes are a bloody great bang! I had a ride in range rover sport the other day and it felt very similar to be honest.

Hi Matty. I have 17's - 2 sets with GY Wranglers for summer and Avon Ranger Ice for winter. The winter tyres are noticeably softer. It is a shock in the spring to go back to the Wranglers!
I cannot speak for the Maxxis' but several on here think the 18's in general give a good ride. What I do know is that if you rode the same roads in a 4WD pickup of any Japanese brand you would be glad to get back in your Freelander! (SWMBO thinks our Freelander gives the best ride of any car we have had!) NB. The extra set of 17's cost me £250 off ebay with some part-worn tyres fitted. Much better value (and prettier) than a set of steels.
Bob 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

08 FL2 TD4 SE Manual in Rimini Red (Now Gone)

Potholes will give a rough ride in any car, the Freelander handles pretty well considering the state of the UKs roads.

I've got 19s on and overall the journey is smooth, sometimes feels a bit harsh but nothing to cause any discomfort. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

Ok thanks, ill stick with me 18's then, hopefully the maxis tyres maybe contributing to it a bit

Coming from a Mazda MX5 I think ride comfort on the Freely on19" wheels is great! SD4 HSE Lux Orkney Grey,Full size spare tyre,Ugly kid glass.

You think a Freelander is harsh try driving an Evoque. Dealer lent me one a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't wait to get back in the Freelander even though sometimes it also feels a little harsh to me it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the Evoque.

I wonder if you are driving too slowly ?

Seriously, I have to travel down a farm road several times a week, occassionally I come across other cars attempting the same road, and they slow down to a couple of miles an hour. At this speed the FL wallows and becomes uncomfortable, at 25mph she is much less fussed and skims the ruts.

Then again I can think of a certain unadopted road that at 25mph is violent.

Can't think of a normal tarmaced road that is uncomfortable in the FL, pot holes or not, speed bumps are not that much of an issue compared to SWMBO's Nissan Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

DaveBee wrote:

You think a Freelander is harsh try driving an Evoque. Dealer lent me one a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't wait to get back in the Freelander even though sometimes it also feels a little harsh to me it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the Evoque.

Ditto. My '93 Classic on heavy duty springs is comfier than the Evoque they lent me a while back! * GONE. GS TD4 Manual MY2013. Orkney Grey with privacy, cold and clearview packs, armrests (a must!) and a spoiler.
* 2011 4.4 TDV8 Full Fat. Amazing piece of kit.
* GONE.2012 RR Sport HSE SDV6 Orkney Grey. Rocket ship. 33mpg.
* Range Rover Classic '93 200Tdi Factory fit
* 1949 80" in family since 1975

Davebee can you remember the size of the wheel on the Evoque.i have 19" Evoque wheels on my freelander and fined them ok

How do you get your Freelander to stick to the ceiling like that?!

Aussie glue

I had the same thoughts when I wanted to equip my FL2 with winter tyres. I ended up buying new 16" alloys for £280 and new Kumho winter tyres. The ride is improved over the standard 17"s and I wanted as high a profile as possible due to the state of the roads where I live (and the off-road use mine gets too).

I think you basically get a better ride the more sidewall height you have, but of course you lose out on looks and steering precision as the flip side of the coin. It's a compromise, as with most things in life.

If I was running 20"s the tyres would be shredded and the rims would all be shaped like a 50p piece

I have 17s on my XS with Goodyear EfficientGrip and to me the ride is sublime…compared to anything else I've driven (for comfort/noise). Can't see how you would need to go to smaller wheels than 17. Having said that, I haven't driven on 16s, so maybe that's even better-but I think that the 16s look a bit on the small side and the car definitely looks its best with 17-19s on it.

I didn't "need" to go down to 16" but the rims were a good price, the tyres were a better price than equivalent rolling radius 17" versions and as I say, I live where there are bad roads and subject it to quite a lot of off-road use.

I agree with the looks aspect of the larger wheel combinations but the practicality of rubber-band tyres and consequent rim damage puts me off. I am also no road burner so I couldn't care less about sidewall flex, etc. I know many people with just road use that have duffed a number of rims when running low profile tyres (sub 50% aspect ratio) which also reinforced my thought process.