Joanne Gets a British Makeover.
In April 2011, I decided that my 2010 LR4 with HD needed more rugged tires. I started looking online at possible tires for the 19 inch wheels that came with my vehicle. I quickly found that my choices were limited/non-existent.
My Land Rover service representative told me I would be fine doing my off-roading in my stock Contis, but I was determined to get some knobby tires. Puneet, my guru and fellow LR4 owner, had found out on an LR forum that Compomotive, in England, had an 18 inch wheel “PD 1880” that was made for the Green Oval Experience in Australia (www.greenovalexperience.com), especially for the LR4. He had already ordered a set for his own rig.
I went to www.compomotives.com and initiated contact with the sales department via the website. I worked with Barry and got immediate responses and pictures to all my questions via email. They keep Anthracite grey in stock, and other color options are available such as silver, white, gold (how would that look!?), and satin black (my choice). This wheel does not work with Brembo calipers. It will take your alloy wheel lug nut and your branded LR center caps.
These photos are British D4’s with the Anthracite Grey wheels, courtesy of Compomotive.
Barry provided a list of tires that would work with wheels.
For touring and medium off-road work:
- General Grabber AT2 255/60R18
- Continental CrossContact AT 255/60R18
- Yokohama Geolander AT/S 265/60R18
- Cooper ATR 265/60R18
- Goodyear Silent Armor 265/60R18
For more serious off-road (but will need light plastic cutting):
- BFG AT 265/65R18
- Cooper Zeon LTZ 285/60R18
For very serious off-road (will need more modification):
- Maxxis Bighorn 275/65R18
- Hankook MT 275/65R18
I brought this information to my North Scottsdale Land Rover service representative and he came back with the following options that they could do at LR North Scottsdale: Pirellis or BF Goodrich. I was not eager to do anything drastic to my vehicle still under warranty. My final choice was a BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A 31.6 inch 265/65-18 (up 1.6 inches from my stock Continental 255/55-19 tires.)
It cost me 230 British pounds by PayPal to ship by FedEx in 5 days and 175 pounds per wheel for a total of five wheels. The exchange rate really hurts. I paid another 40 dollars in customs charges which FedEx billed later.
At that time everyone in England and the US were excited by the Royal wedding, but I was miffed that since everyone was off for the festivities and then Easter which followed the next weekend, my order did not complete and ship to me until 4 weeks later!
The tires arrived in two shipments over two days to my house. They came nicely packaged in double walled cardboard boxes. I delivered wheels to the dealer and they put the tires and wheels on and changed my center caps to a black Land Rover logo. When I came to pick up my LR4, my rep had parked in the high clearance level and all passersby were admiring my “new” rig with the knobby tires.
I tried to save money and did not initially install the tire sensors in the new wheels, but after a few weeks, the daily warning signals of low tire pressure got old and I had four tire sensors added so I could drive on the 101 with confidence. I store the Contis in the garage and plan to change the tires back when I need to drive on asphalt for long distances during “off-season” periods. The service representative at NSLR tells me there is no calibration on the vehicles computer to compensate for the larger tire size.
Last weekend, I took my rig to Broken Arrow in Sedona (pictures) and we did just fine (with Koly spotting me). We also looked really great doing it.
