Choosing tires is something that can be a pleasure if you know what it is you want to do. A new set of shoes for your Land Rover can completely change its personality. You can change it from a mild mannered highway cruiser to an off-road bruiser.
Tires fall into one of three major categories:
On-road tires, which are primariy suited to travel on paved road and the occasional dirt or gravel road. Your Discovery or Range Rover comes stock with this kind of tire. Doing any signigicant off-roading with these tires is a recipe for disaster.Combination tires, which offer a compromise between being competent off-road, and reasonable on the road. Some tires in this category are closer to one end ofthe spectrum than the other. These tires are generally louder on the road than the highway tires, and may offer less grip, particularly in the wet.Off-road tires are what you want if you are going to use your land rover for its true purpose. These tires require that you live with some significant compromises including a lot more noise than your stock tires, and sometimes the handling of your car can change quite a bit.
How do you choose?
If you are planning to take the occasional trip into the forest then you may be able to keep your stock tires. However, you MUST be prepared to get yourself unstuck, be prepared to have more punctures, and be prepared to be ridiculed heavily by all your buddies who fit more proper off-road tires. If you will be venturing off the highway regularly, then you should fit at LEAST compromise tires. They will keep you going in terrain that would stop lesser tires. They offer more open tread patterns to shed mud and snow. They have tougher sidewalls to resist thorns, and have better beads to stay locked onto the rim when you take air out of them for better off-road traction.If you intend to be a trail leader off road, do rockcrawling, or you just want the very best in offroad capability, fitting a dedicated off-road tire is your answer. These tires will let you go places other might need tractiion control devices to go. They have THICK sidewalls that can assist you when you air down since the sidewalls ALSO have tread on them. They allow you to run a VERY low tire pressures for maximum traction
Some suggestions
If you intend to fit highway tires, there are many that should fit your needs. Land Rover fits Michelin tires from the factory on Range Rovers and Discoverys, and while expensive they are excellent tires in everything from the dry, to rain, to light snow. Pirelli also make a line called Scorpion that are quite good.BFG All-Terrain TA KO BFG Trac Edge If you are looking into a compromise tire, BFGoodrich and Dunlop make some of the best. The BFGoodrich All Terrain TA is legendary as a compromise tire, and has a very thick sidewall. They also make one of the best compromise tires at any price in the Trac-Edge tire. This tire has a very open outside tread to shed even deep mud and snow, while the inner treads are more like a all-terrain tire that grips the road VERY well, and is good in snow and sand. Dunlop’s Radial Rover RT is quite similar but may not be as strong on the sidewall.If you are looking for a true offroad tire, the BFGoodrich Mud Terrain has been one of the best in this category for many years. It offers a tread that self clean well in all but the worst mud, and it onroad manners are BFG Mud Terrain TAgood enough to cruise comfortably at 80 mph, albeit loudly. If you want the very best off-road performance at any price, I suggest you look into the Super Swamper line of tires by Interco Tires. While these tires are heavy, and demand a strict adherance to proper tire pressure (check at least twice a week), there is simply nothing better when you go off-road. Make no mistake, these tires are LOUD, and WILL affect the highway ability of your truck. A new option in this arena is the new Goodyear MT/R tire. It is much like the BFG Mud Terrain, but according to owners, sheds mud far better, and is stickier so it works better for rock-crawling. It also offers tread onto the sidewall, unlike the BFG, which helps when aired down. The tire is too new to have data on longevity, but using its predecessor as an example, it should be useful into the 40-50k mile range.Whichever tire you choose, be sure to understand how to properly inflate AND deflate them. If you need help in this regard, you can consult the tire sidewall, the tire Airing Down.