225/75s on DII/Rover P38 16" wheels?

[rico_vancouver]

Hi all,

Sorry for yet another tire question, but I upgraded my '97 DI to an '04 DII, and now have the 18" Hurricanes with beautiful, new all-season, 55-series performance tires (that would be synonymous with crappy off-roading IMHO).

I was lucky enough to find a guy who sold me his 16" alloys from his P38 Range Rover for $200, and now I'm looking to put some fishing tires on them. Fishing tires = drive 3 hours on the freeway, 45 minutes of logging road, then another 45 minutes of 1st gear, low range crawling to get to the lake.

Big tires, I don't need - I've never had too much issue with clearance... it's usually mud that is what slows me down. I've also never bought into the "wide tires float" - I don't think my Disco has ever floated on anything. So I'd love to put a minimally narrower tire like a 225/75 on these rims - but the specs for pretty much all these tires show that the max. rim width is 7". I like the idea of an 8-ply tire instead of riding on rock-solid 10-ply sidewalls.

Has anyone else put this size on their 16" alloys (which I believe are 8" wide)? Is it a risk, or just plain stupid? Maybe tire shops won't even mount them if they are outside the recommended rim widths?

Rich

 

[LamaKockLee]

I have a set of toyo m55's in a LT225/75-16 mounted on a spare set of factory alloys on a '00 d2. When the tire and wheel are by themselves, it doesn't look bad. When you mount the assembly onto the car, the look funny. Funny being that there isn't much sidewall bulge. Drives fine. I have the m55's studded and run them in the snow/winter season. Works great in the snow. I think the ones I got are 8 ply rated and the newer ones have a different ply rating for the same size.

Again, it will work but you lack sidewall bulge.. which in turn means you are more likely to scuff your rims on rocks/curbs.. or whatever you hit when you drive.

 

[KyleT]

why not just run the factory size?

 

[rico_vancouver]

have you tried finding a mud-terrain in 255/65 16's?

 

[Slappy]

opcorn:

Steve

 

[mtnrovin]

245/75-16 will look the best and give you a million choices in tires. Not wide or big. Don't have an answer on the 225's but 235/85's seem to be ok width wise.

 

[KyleT]

I run 235/85's on d2 wheels....

bfg makes the M/T in 255/70R16... close enough to stock..... my d2 came with that size wrangler rts's on it when i bought it.

 

[LamaKockLee]

Hey kyle.. what tires are you running in the 235/85?

 

[JohnB]

I'm running that size on my D2 an they handle fine although they are studded snow tires. I to was not sure if they would fit the 8" rims but they did. I like skinny snow tires just for the fact that less tire means less tire to push through the snow or ice(physics 101).

Run Em

 

[KyleT]

Hey kyle.. what tires are you running in the 235/85?

trXus m/t's

 

[scottagnew101]

I'm running that size on my D2 an they handle fine although they are studded snow tires. I to was not sure if they would fit the 8" rims but they did. I like skinny snow tires just for the fact that less tire means less tire to push through the snow or ice(physics 101).

Run Em

The fact is that wider tires will actually help keep you ontop of the snow. Wide displacement. Ie snow shoes.

 

[MUSKYMAN]

The fact is that wider tires will actually help keep you ontop of the snow. Wide displacement. Ie snow shoes.

skinny is better for a snow tire that is intended for street use.

I have 225 75 16 winterforce snows on my wifes DD and they work perfect on the 16 x 8 DII rims with no issues. pretty much the same height as the stock 18's but much more narrow.

 

[LamaKockLee]

Thanks kyle.. How do you like the tires?


I think also the idea behind skinnier tires for snow use is to put more contact pressure down. Same weight on smaller footprint = more pressure. What you want is the opposite of the snowshoe affect. Especially with studded tires. You want more pressure to push the studs into the ice.

 

[JohnB]

The fact is that wider tires will actually help keep you ontop of the snow. Wide displacement. Ie snow shoes.

Some reading for you on winter tires.
http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=126&currentpage=121

 

[JohnB]

skinny is better for a snow tire that is intended for street use.

I have 225 75 16 winterforce snows on my wifes DD and they work perfect on the 16 x 8 DII rims with no issues. pretty much the same height as the stock 18's but much more narrow.

X2
Same winterforce tires. Great deal and handle great on pavement and snow packed roads.

 

[scottagnew101]

Some reading for you on winter tires.
http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=126&currentpage=121

Ok i was wrong on 1/2 of the problem. What about off-road. And nothing about that is physics 101.... probably not even physics at all.

 

[KyleT]

Thanks kyle.. How do you like the tires?

quote]

I like them alot, they arent toooo loud and definatly not loud for a solid mud tire (they are not much louder than the crappy goodyear rts's that are on my spare set of rims. i daily drive the trxus. will prob get them again. only complaint is that one of them doesnt like to stay balanced. it isnt too bad but it gets annoying on 14+ hr drives (fort worth TX to durango CO multimple times.) vibrates the back of the car a little. Didnt snow when I was up there this winter but had no problems on the snow pack around the ski mountain resort.... but that isnt saying much.... 2wd civics were not having issues....

 

[Ho]

The fact is that wider tires will actually help keep you ontop of the snow. Wide displacement. Ie snow shoes.

width or length? or both?

I like skinny snow tires just for the fact that less tire means less tire to push through the snow or ice(physics 101).

Run Em

please elaborate on that. I don't quite understand. please explain in "physics 101" terms, because I understand physics.

Ok i was wrong on 1/2 of the problem. What about off-road. And nothing about that is physics 101.... probably not even physics at all.

I don't know, John B says it's physics 101.