Goodbye Wranglers...hello Terra Grapplers.

[BrianP]

Longish time listener and first time caller...

After much searching on the forum, I managed to pull the trigger on new tires for my '03 D2. In about a week I'll be rolling on new Nitto Terra Grapplers. If it weren't for the LRO forums, I wouldn't have even known to consider Nitto and probably would have just gone with a new set of Synchrones or Scorpions from dealer.

So, thanks to all for all the great info. I've been looking for an LR forum and don't know why it took so long to find LRO.

[Funrover]

Welcome man!!!! Glad this site could help....Let us kow how the tires do..pics if possible!!

[keptin]

x2, welcome! Post some pics of your rover (and some trail action pics if you have any) in the 'show it off' section....are you planning on getting tires that are bigger than stock to get a small lift?

[BrianP]

Thanks for the welcome! I'll take some pics, but it's an absolutely vanilla SE7. Nothing y'all haven't seen before.

I went with the original 255/55/18, kept it simple, not having to worry about changing the rolling diameter. Saw too many posts about fender trimming

That being said, the idea of lifting it a couple of inches, putting on 16's with a little more rubber keeps eating away at me. Not really practical since most of my miles are on the highway with some gravel roads and truck path kind of stuff. Last summer I sniffed around some old logging roads on Mt. Washington on Vancouver Island. Hope to do some more of that this summer.

[RageRover]

Thats cool. how much for those tires? Just curious.

[keptin]

Originally Posted by BrianP

I'll take some pics, but it's an absolutely vanilla SE7. Nothing y'all haven't seen before.

Hey, every rover is special Perhaps you could take some with a beautiful background or something....could make pics interesting, then you wouldnt have to have it modified.

[BrianP]

Originally Posted by RageRover

Thats cool. how much for those tires? Just curious.

$310 CDN per tire installed and balanced. I can't remember if it included GST or not.

[Jeffrey]

So, why did you go with 18" wheels? You drastically reduced your choices for good off road tires. If you had kept the 16's, you could have had BFG A/T's or many others. Not to say the Nittos are not good, but the BFG's are certainly a standard of excellence. And, you lost an inch of sidewall height, sort of a backwards direction to go with an off road vehicle.

[BrianP]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey

So, why did you go with 18" wheels? You drastically reduced your choices for good off road tires. If you had kept the 16's, you could have had BFG A/T's or many others. Not to say the Nittos are not good, but the BFG's are certainly a standard of excellence. And, you lost an inch of sidewall height, sort of a backwards direction to go with an off road vehicle.

I didn't reduce anything, it's a small step forward with better rubber than stock. I started with 18's and kept the 18's. I never had 16's. If I were buying new wheels, I would have gone with 16's and BFG A/T's.

Now... I've read conflicting things on the forum as to whether there's a 16" wheel that fits the '03-'04 D2s. Between that, changing the rolling diameter (which affects ATC as I was told by the dealer), maybe lifting, fender clearance and the like, I decided that switching to 16's is going to take more dollars, thought and time than I've got right now. Definitely something I want to do down the road.

[Jeffrey]

So, you started with 18"er's. That explains it.

However, availability of good off road tires in 18" is so limited it's pathetic. I have a new RR Sport with 19's, and I got a spare set of 18" wheels for it just to open up more possibilities. There are Nitto Terra Grapplers, that's about it.

[BrianP]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey

So, you started with 18"er's. That explains it.

However, availability of good off road tires in 18" is so limited it's pathetic. I have a new RR Sport with 19's, and I got a spare set of 18" wheels for it just to open up more possibilities. There are Nitto Terra Grapplers, that's about it.

Very limited. The only A/T's I could find were the Toyo Open Country which I couldn't find in stock or remotely readily available and the Terra Grapplers. Believe me...I'm having 16" wheel envy. I gotta get schooled on what 16's would be good for the D2.

[Rovin4life]

you can get goodyear mtr in England. expensive to import.

Saw one today with the Nittos, not bad tread on them. Although if the michelin xpc hasthree ply then not sure about serious offroading of the nittos.

[BrianP]

They're on! They look great, much more aggressive looking than the wranglers.

After ~20Km of city driving, I already feel a difference. Much smoother and quieter over expansion joints and the like. Had one hard stop and had much more traction than the old tires (which had very little tread left). So now I have a dirty D2 with shiny black tires. Ridiculous. Gotta wash it today over lunch.

I'll be putting on about 700Km over this weekend on the highway and will report back with more.

As for pics...sorry... in the middle of a move and my camera is boxed up. Somewhere. It'll be a bit before I get that done.