Member Since: 01 Jan 2005
Location: Northumberland
Posts: 655
D4 20" tyre weakness
Just had a very expensive drive in the D4. Was driving at about 15mph - but fully loaded with 7 people and 2 dogs - down a narrow icey tarmac lane in The Lakes this morning when I clipped this stone at the edge of the road which had been "hiding" in the snow.
This punctured both front and rear tyres. Quite a problem that presents particularly as mobile reception was pants and one of my passengers was almost lame following an accident in the ice earlier in the week. LR assistance would not bring a spare wheel out to me and said they would recover me to a dealer on a flat bed. I doubted that would be possible along the lane we were on (towards Stang End Farm) so I rang Lakeland Landrover instead. They agreed to bring me a spare D4 wheel and to order in 2 new 20" Pirelli's - and their parts van just happened to be at the tyre distributor at that moment and picked them up straight away. And £500 later it is all sorted. So lessons from this include :
Anyone with 20" wheels needs to treat them with great care as the side walls on the Pirelli's are about as strong as toilet tissue.
Ideally with these wheels you should carry 2 spares.
Lakeland Landrover are a very helpful, professional and reasonable dealership. They charged £195 plus VAT for each Pirelli which is way less than listed by the main tyre distributors. Top marks to them.
PS - Does anyone fancy swapping their 19" alloys for my 20's ?Disco 4 TDV6HSE
Defender 200TDi CSW
RR Evoque
Last edited by Smarticus on 30th Dec 2009 6:29 pm. Edited 4 times in total
30th Dec 2009 5:22 pm
ronp
Member Since: 29 Nov 2006
Location: North Yorkshire
Posts: 15214
Sorry to hear that smarticus and £500 for 2 x tyres
If you do venture off road, I reckon the best bet would be for you to run with Cooper LTZ's.
Deep AT/Sport tread with reinforced sidewalls.
And only around £150 per corner.
My 285/50/20 give a fraction more sidewall height than a 255/55/19.
There is also a 275/45/20 in case you have clearance issues.I was a normal heterosexual chap, but in these new woke awakenings I now identify as a Wardrobe.
30th Dec 2009 5:30 pm
Smarticus
Member Since: 01 Jan 2005
Location: Northumberland
Posts: 655
Thanks Ron - but I was on road. See photo showing space saver fitted but still another flat to deal with.
OK, strictly speaking I was probably about 3 inches off the road edge - but that was all that was needed. The £500 included the "recovery" charge - which I didn't think was too bad given their man had to get a D4 wheel off their demo and spend over an hour driving to me and back. He even brought a trolley jack to save using the rather feeble scissor jack supplied by LR.
I did think LRA should have covered the cost of the man from Lakeland bringing me a wheel - as it saved them a much bigger cost of sending a recovery vehicle from 45 miles away - but they said they couldn't instruct the local LR dealer to come and get me. Seems mad - but them's the rules apparently !Disco 4 TDV6HSE
Defender 200TDi CSW
RR Evoque
30th Dec 2009 5:37 pm
NJF
Member Since: 05 Oct 2007
Location: Gone
Posts: 2466
Sorry to hear of your trouble, Smarticus.
I think that LR have got it the wrong way round. Better to offer the cars in 17" or 18" standard rims with no-cost option upgrades to 20" than to offer 20" standard rims with no-cost optional downgrades to 19" or lower. (I know, it depends on D4, RRS model what the standard rim is, and the brake calipers on some models are too big for anything less than the 19" LR design alloys). The fact is, ride and (for the vast majority) customer satisfaction will be better riding on the smaller rims.
I'm still unhappy that the 19" MY10 RRS rim I want (on my current order) is limited to the design I don't want.
30th Dec 2009 5:48 pm
al cope
Member Since: 08 Nov 2005
Location: Oldbury, WM
Posts: 10297
if that rock cut the sidewall, I'm not sure a road tyre of any size would have faired any better, so dont see the need for a warning just aimed at running 20's, I guess the warning should be - road tyres = stay on the road
AlVolvo XC90 B5 Plus Dark
Gone - MY18 D5 HSE - Corris on 22's with Black Pack
Now gone - MY16 D4 SE Tech, Loire Blue, Almond Leather, Privacy, plus some other goodies.
Old - MY12 D4 SDV6 XS Auto - Ipanema Sand with Almond Leather - Plus other niceties, and D4.com sticker
Older - D3 TDV6 XS Auto - Lugano Teal with Almond Leather, 20" Stormers, Shiny Tailpipes, DVD/TV - and obligatory D3 sticker
Ancient - D3 TDV6 S - Tonga with Ebony, 20" Stormers, satnav & DVD
30th Dec 2009 6:09 pm
Smarticus
Member Since: 01 Jan 2005
Location: Northumberland
Posts: 655
I think it was maybe more a pinch flat than a cut (so my use of the word gash was probably inaccurate). The warning is that 20" pirelli tyres are very delicate. I reckon that even a half respectable pot hole would pose a serious trashing risk to one of these tyres. And there are plenty of nearly bottomless pot holes around after the recent freeze thaw season and reduced highway maintenance budgets.Disco 4 TDV6HSE
Defender 200TDi CSW
RR Evoque
30th Dec 2009 6:27 pm
al cope
Member Since: 08 Nov 2005
Location: Oldbury, WM
Posts: 10297
The FFRR has been running with 255/50x20's for something like 5 years now, and the RRS with 275/45 and 295/45x 20's for over 4 years, using Pirelli and Michelin. I wonder how many tyres they've trashed?
I just think you were very unlucky to have this happen.
AlVolvo XC90 B5 Plus Dark
Gone - MY18 D5 HSE - Corris on 22's with Black Pack
Now gone - MY16 D4 SE Tech, Loire Blue, Almond Leather, Privacy, plus some other goodies.
Old - MY12 D4 SDV6 XS Auto - Ipanema Sand with Almond Leather - Plus other niceties, and D4.com sticker
Older - D3 TDV6 XS Auto - Lugano Teal with Almond Leather, 20" Stormers, Shiny Tailpipes, DVD/TV - and obligatory D3 sticker
Ancient - D3 TDV6 S - Tonga with Ebony, 20" Stormers, satnav & DVD
30th Dec 2009 6:36 pm
DigitalJunior
Member Since: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Cumbria
Posts: 4398
Sorry to hear of your issues but an alternative dealer might not have been so helpful.
Lakeland Land Rover are one of the best family run LR dealers in the country IMHO SOLD - 23my Range Rover Sport D300 Dynamic SE
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