New tire questions

[Leslie]

I ran Dunlop Radial Rover RTs for the last 5 years (235x85R16) but have just replaced them with RVXT in a 255x85R16 size.
RT's are not really good for quick stops on wet or slightly snow covered roads. I get off the pavement pretty frequently, but the ground I travel will not tax the RVXT remotely. Fire roads, wet swails, general dry woods conditions. The grooving in the RVXT is very large and should shed well, but the tire has much more siping and will no doubt be a safer pavement tire.

Sounds like the usual case of a compromise..... what's good on pavement isn't as good offroad, and what's good offroad, isn't ideal on pavement.


Gotta weigh your needs....

[Blueboy]

the ground I travel will not tax the RVXT remotely. Fire roads, wet swails, general dry woods conditions

or any A/T tire for that matter.

Leslie hit the nail on the head - "Gotta weigh your needs...."

if there is any wet, even slightly muddy roads in the picture, even the Dunlop R/T is on the border of being ok for me.

tires really are a personal choice - having an aggressive mud tire primarily for use on pavement is a poor choice, yet, having basically a "Summer" tread tire on a Rover seems equally unwize.

no matter what, there will be a compromise of some kind.


Jaime

[Rosie]

I just had the tire taken off my spare rim.
It has a tube in it!!!!!!!!!
Now what?
The rim is 6" bead to bead.

[SafeAirOne]

I just had the tire taken off my spare rim.
It has a tube in it!!!!!!!!!
Now what?

Rosie, my apologies--I probably jinx'ed you by bringing up the possibility of tube type rims a few posts back.

You have 2 choices:

Stick with the tube-type rims and have a very limited choice of bias-ply tires (you can't, or at least SHOULDN'T use radials with tubes).

OR

Change to tubeless rims. I changed from tube-type rims to the 16" NATO steel rims and now enjoy a virtually limitless selection of tires (though I usually just get the cheapest suitable tires from my local "TireWarehouse"). I'd be willing to bet that any 15" tire you were interested in installing is also available in 16"

I don't see any 15" wheels listed by or host at http://roversnorth.com/store/pc-216-...gs-wheels.aspx

...but I imagine there must be someone around with a bunch of spare 15" rims they'd be willing to part with. Ask around or post a "wanted to buy" ad on LRX.com

[Leslie]

Just because, when at the time it had bias-ply w/ tubes installed on it, doesn't mean that it's not suitable for a tubeless radial. You know.... even a lot of the rims at the shop that I would have expected to be for tubes, have been fine w/o tubes... ask your tire place (assuming not WallyWorld) to have a look at the wheels... I'll suspect that they'll say that they'd be fine w/ radials w/o tubes, if you so desire. A good shop can tell you....

[SafeAirOne]

Just because, when at the time it had bias-ply w/ tubes installed on it, doesn't mean that it's not suitable for a tubeless radial.

That is true--It all depends on the rim--I just had a look at my old ones that had tubes in them--the hole for the valve stem is round (not oblong like many tube-type rims), so a tubeless valve stem could probably be fitted. I now wonder if there is a difference between rims with tubes and without, as far as Rovers go.

I wonder why there would be a tube in there if it were not necessary?... Of course, the way Rosie describes it, these tires may have been on there since the dawn of time, an era when tube tires were the norm.

As Leslie says, a dedicated tire shop should be able to tell you if the condition of the rim precludes the use of tubeless tires. A spot to pay particular attention to is the inside of the rim around the valve stem hole. When you have tubes, water gets into the inside of the rim through the valve stem hole. Not much gets in, and it doesn't generally get too far in there, but it often rusts out the inside of the rim around the valve stem hole. Some of mine were flaking off around the inner circumference of the valve stem holes to the extent that a tubeless valve stem wouldn't be able to seal properly any more.


Of course Rosie just had the spare done. I wonder if the other 4 (or 5) tires have tubes. It should be easy to tell just by looking at the valve stem areas...

[Terrys]

Stick with the tube-type rims and have a very limited choice of bias-ply tires (you can't, or at least SHOULDN'T use radials with tubes).

Why Not? Use a radial tube. Many people put tubes on wheels when they expect to air down for sand, or when any offroading where lateral thrust might lead to popping a bead.

[SafeAirOne]

Why Not? Use a radial tube. Many people put tubes on wheels when they expect to air down for sand, or when any offroading where lateral thrust might lead to popping a bead.

The airing-down of the tubed tires for hard-core off-roading was actually in my original post; Unfortunately, I edited it out to keep it (relatively) short and simple. Same with the "tubes with radial tires" explanation--If you do any driving at speed for any length of time, the steel belts do a lot of flexing, building up a decent amount of heat which will damage normal inner tubes. There are radial tubes available that should handle the heat, but my personal experience has been that the local tire shops generally don't stock them (at least the ones I used to go to).

Either way, having run tube tires for several years, I personally recommend that Rosie figure out if her rims are tubeless-tire compatible or get rims that are. Just the ability to fix a nail puncture in 4 minutes in your driveway (as opposed to 2 hours at a tire shop for a tube tire) makes it worth it in my opinion.

[Jim-ME]

I would like to go back several posts. Which 15" Land Rover wheels require tubes? I fully expect that the spare in Rosie's post had a flat at one time and it was tubed as a fix. Hence spare?
Jim

[Rosie]

I just found out that the tires on my Rover are not tubed.
Just the spare was tubed!
What a relief!!
The tire guy said that he can fit the radials to the rims I have!!
Cool!!! Now back to figuring out which tire.
Sure do appreciate all the info!
Who would ever know that serious off roaders use tubed tires!!!

[SafeAirOne]

I just found out that the tires on my Rover are not tubed.

Well. That's that, then. Glad to hear it!

I fully expect that the spare in Rosie's post had a flat at one time and it was tubed as a fix.

You're probably right--Seems like an awful lot of trouble--I wonder what would have caused someone to put a tube in to fix a flat...A hole in the sidewall?...Leaky rim?...

I now wonder why my 109 had tubes all around--It had the original english tires on it from when it was imported from the UK in 1998. Examining the rims, it would seem that tubeless valve stems could have been fitted, had it not been for the flaky rust around the inside of the valve stem holes.

[yorker]

That is true--It all depends on the rim--I just had a look at my old ones that had tubes in them--the hole for the valve stem is round (not oblong like many tube-type rims), so a tubeless valve stem could probably be fitted. I now wonder if there is a difference between rims with tubes and without, as far as Rovers go.

I wonder why there would be a tube in there if it were not necessary?... Of course, the way Rosie describes it, these tires may have been on there since the dawn of time, an era when tube tires were the norm.

Some of the 16" riveted center type rims leak air at the rivets when you put a tubeless tire on them with a tubeless valve stem inserted in them, they often lack the safety bead seat also vs the tubeless rims.

they 15" rims rover made had welded centers that would not leak and IIRC some of them even had safety bead seats.

this is an endless topic on the English boards- apparently their insurance companies will fail to pay in an accident if you have tubed tires on tubeless rims or vice versa. I've never heard of that appening here in the USA ...yet.

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=26544&pid=266147&st=0&#entry266147

There are also 2 types of Wolf rims, tubeless= ANR4583 tube type= ANR5593.

To confuse matters even more rims can be rated for different capacities, this is another perpetual debate on the UK boards:

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=23080&st=20

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/4wd-overland-tech/land-rover-wheel-weight-load-33196

Obviously this doesn't matter much if you have an 88" but if you have a heavily laden 109 or something like that it may.

Most tire shops today won't know the difference between tubless rims and tube type, heck most won't even stock radial tubes or bias ply tires.

If your 15" rims have held air sofar without tubes then go get a set of 235-75-15s in a nice tread with lots of siping, preferably a M+S rated tire and I am sure you'll be happy with the results, both summer and winter. Tires are one area where a lot of technology changes have occured in the last 30 years and their proformance on road is a lot better than it used to be. You'll notice a BIG difference over your old G-78 15s or whatever is on it now.

[SafeAirOne]

Some of the 16" riveted center type rims leak air at the rivets when you put a tubeless tire on them

Ahh...That must be it--My original wheel centers definitely were the riveted variety...

[Triumph]

Can you "Downgrade" from 18" to 16" wheels?

I have an '02 Disco II SE that was born with 18" wheels. Due to cost and availability, I would like to know if anyone has traded down to 16" Disco Rims and if there are any problems with hubs or brakes.

Thanks,

Ben
St. Louis

[Rineheitzgabot]

I have an '02 Disco II SE that was born with 18" wheels. Due to cost and availability, I would like to know if anyone has traded down to 16" Disco Rims and if there are any problems with hubs or brakes.

Thanks,

Ben
St. Louis

I have done this exact thing you are asking on my '02 SE7. The 18's came off, and the 16's went on; no problem.

The annoying thing I have always found with the original LR rims is how tight the tolerances are, around the cutouts in the rim, and the lug bosses. I mean, I literally had to use a dead-blow sledge on the tire to get the rims off. Now that I am done bitching about that...

No problems man. I did it, because I was tired of dropping a grand on 18-inch tires. I like the looks of the hurricanes I took off better, but the 16's are more practical for me.

Actually, I think it rides better. Hope this helps.