Jamie,

The cost of staying with tubes is less, but I also have to store about 8 tubes inside the landy somewhere which takes up quite a lot of space (and they get damaged over time unless you are really careful). And tubes are becoming more expensive as less peopel use them. So looking at going tubeless.

LR tubeless rims seem to be about the same price, so going for the Wolf ones may be worthwhile, they do give you an extra inch of width as well(!) and I have put a large dent in one of mine previously, but who knows if the Wolf's would do any better in the situation below. So all gristle to the mill at this stage - I have to save up for the (damn, bloody, %$££&!) rear axle.

Andrew,

I have bought all my XZY's from Vaas. They are great ;-)

I already have all the tyres so will probably just get the wheels. Even though I have done 50,000km on them, they hardly look worn (some of the edges are wearing really quickly due I presume to the high speed cornering I am now capable of (new engine, gearbox, transfer box, intercooler etc).

What PSI do you run them on?

http://www.lon-cap.com/a/uploadedIma...obatics....jpg

some info on wolf rims from LR4x4.com

And some more

It would seem that it doesn't really make much difference by changing the wheel studs... they're the same length as the ones on disk braked axles anyway??

Hi Darrin,

I have stuck with XZY's over 100k miles and they're pretty much bombproof in my experience but I intend to change to BFG A/T's next year when my rebuild gets under way due to the XZY's being too narrow and stiff in dunes or soft sand and my needing frequent dragging out. Also a bit dodgy on damp tarmac if you are prone to fast driving on bends...due to hard compound and lack of flex...

Pressures

Road 28/35 unladen, laden 40 psi in rear
Piste - drop to around 20/30
Soft sand 15/18 Max 40 mph
Very soft 12/15

All figures are -ish. Doesn't seem critical off road, the tyre has large reserves of strength if you get it wrong.

Cheers for now,

Andrew.

Land Rover Tubeless Rims
 

Hi,

Hopefully this helps you guys. I have spent the past year traveling from London to South Africa in a Land Rover 110 fitted with tubed Goodyear G90'S on standard LR steel rims. We managed to get over 20 punctures with this set up, entirely due to tubes (good and bad quality) scuffling and tearing and also weakening due to heat.

What is incredible is that after covering over 90 000km's these tyres had hardly worn at all. Goodyear subsequently sponsored 5 new ones.

These were fitted in South Africa onto the same standard rims WITHOUT the tubes, as they clearly state TUBELESS on the sidewall. I have traveled back to Tanzania on these tyres and now use the vehicle on bad roads throughout Northern Tanzania and haven't had a puncture in over 30 000km

As long as the rims have a good smooth surface around the valve holes, the seal should be fine. Often older rims rust from the inside or paint build up around the valve hole causes a leak.

Hope that's of use to someone.

Matt Covarr

Wolf Rims
 

Worth remembering if you're tracking down secondhand Wolf/130 rims or indeed ordering brand new ones, is that they come in both tubed and tubeless variety.
Identifying which is which is easy. The wheels are stamped with either 'Tubed' or 'Tubeless'.

The extra width and weight is marginal. It's a no brainer. Go with Tubeless Wolfs!

Kev

XZY tyres need to be rotated front to rear and left to right or they wear badly on one edge at the front. If your tyres start squealing on turns it definitely time to swap them.

Andrew.

We are running BFG AT 245/16 Tubeless on our Discovery with steelwheels off a discovery Comercial as the stud spacings on the wolf do not match. the steel wheels so far are fine and tubeless. But for our trip I wouldnt have bothered changing and sticked with the alloys.

Also a vote for wolf tubeless
 

I had 4 on my 110 Defender - std wheel studs but no drama, and running 265 BFG M/Ts - only bought them 'cause the original wheels were absolutely knackered and could hardly be balanced. Have to say they were built like brick s********s and also looked great as Darrin has noted! Well impressed with the BFGs as well so have them on 105 series rims on my troopy now. However I did have a very bad experience with an African tyre fitter and alloy rims on a 105 cruiser!

I have been wondering why Toyota still go with split rims (on basic vehicles) but Landrover for years have only fitted one piece rims? I am well aware of certain advantages splits have - particularly with very stiff sidewalls, but have always wondered why the two manufacturers had a different idea...? Or maybe "the flying ring factor" got out of hand in Solihull?

Gil