Mike,

how did you finish up with the wheels, I'm looking at doing the same thing, currently have 19's

have you done the simpson desert in yours?

I ended up just putting good at tyres on, Yokohama Geolander A/TS and they have been exceptionally good. Thirty five thousand kms so far and hardly look worn.
I have been way out into the Simpson on a day trip as I was on my own and didn't have enough fuel for a full crossing. I crossed all the biggest dunes on the eastern side out of Birdsville. Sand is not really a problem, rutted clay pans and mud will be more an issue I reckon due to clearance. One of the other forumites recently did a full crossing and wrote an excellent report. Cheers.

thanks, can't find the simpson crossing article you suggested, any chance of a link to it?

Rvg's post in the All Terrain tyres thread by cutch. Sounds like he had a blast.

I had 19' on my TD4, after replacing 3 tyres and a buckled rim, I have managed to locate 16" alloys with 255/65R A/T's which seem to do the trick with very little road noise around town.
they look good too!
anyone interested call Chris at Dynamic wheels in Rowville

This is where a forum like this is so valuable. The comments & feedback led me to talk to the local tyre dealers before I ordered a new FL2. Consequently, I'm ordering the new vehicle with 17" alloys and All Terrain tyres, which is exactly what I currently have on my current Toyota. There are many more options with 17" and so competition leads to much better prices, availability etc. The drawback was a longer waiting period (3 months) but at no extra cost. Since I'm already used to the road-noise of A/T tyres, it won't be a problem but the increase in confidence off-road will be significant.

My next set of tyres will be upsized to 245/65/17 Geolander AT/S. The slightly larger diameter will give better off road ability and still be legal. I've still got a long time to wait on the current tyres though, they are wearing too well. My fingers are crossed that the bigger tyres don't rub anywhere. Has anyone else tried it yet? Mike

just got back from 6 days on the beach and in the dunes from Campbell Rocks through to Robe and my new rims and tyres where great, the only problem I had was clearance, but I still got through many areas where others got stuck.

need a lift kit!!

SteveL - Getting stuck on your belly is something I worried about with the Fl2. The Toyota Hilux I've got has gone belly down a couple of times and it rides a further 20mm above the FL2. Deflating tyres a bit further is useless once you're belly down of course. It is for this reason that I was very impressed with the (yet to be released) 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee with it's new electronically adjustable ride height. Down low for road work, normal for soft-roading and up extra high for rock hopping and deep sand work. Nice technology and if it works well, I hope LR ad it to the FL2?

My other car is a Jeep Grand crd and it's a capable 4wd that's for sure. I also saw what the new 2011 Grand can do and was mighty impressed. Really they are only copying the Disco 3 though. It has adjustable ride height and the terrain response dial. I think the Disco only goes up 2 or 3 inches though and automatically comes down again if you hit a certain speed. Did I hear right that the Jeep can go up 10 inches?
My Fl2 has been all the same places as my Jeep and occasionally scrapes it's belly. I would kill for adjustable air suspension on it especially because it doesn't have a fixed axle diff poking down in the middle. That way the on road ride and handling would remain how it is but you could climb over rocks at low speed and not chew the cvs out too much because of the increase angle of the drive shafts. It would be the equivalent of 37 inch tyres if you could jack it up 3-4 inches due to no fixed axles. Mike

Mikehzz. The spec sheet says an extra 4.5 inches or 10.5cm on the MY2011 Grand Cherokee which is a huge amount when you really need it. It would be very nice at times. Unfortunately, the Yanks just don't get it yet when it comes to fuel efficiency and diesel motors/torque. They are still pumping out fuel guzzlers. Otherwise, I might have delayed the FL2 purchase until I'd at least had a drive - alas, not to be!

My Jeep has a great motor. The diesel Grands are built in Austria and have Mercedes engines. Mine is a 5 cylinder donk that goes in the Vito vans and ML 270 and gets around the same figures as the FL2. I average in the 9 l/ 100km with 400nm of torque. I wouldn't be interested in a petrol one for the reasons you mentioned.