From time to time these Super Mud Pluggers are available in radial as well as the normal cross-ply versions.

You must remember, however, that when purchasing a set of five directional tyres like the Super Mud Pluggers or Michelin XCL, you will have to decide which side of the vehicle the spare will be fitted for. I favour the nearside for a right-hand drive vehicle, as if you are going to damage a tyre, it is usually a front nearside wheel striking a rock in a rut out of view of the driver's eye.

I'd suggest that if you really are going to catch the off-roading bug on a regular basis using your main vehicle, your best option is to purchase a spare set of five rims and have a set of more aggressive off-road tyres fitted to them. If you are running a Land Rover, changing all the wheels won't take too long using a high lift jack with a bit of practice.

If you purchase a spare set of five off-road tyres, have them ready fitted and balanced on a set of grey steel modular rims. These rims are very strong and, I feel, look better on the vehicle than white eight spokes.

Remember that both modular and eight-spoke steel rims are made of solid steel rather than shaped steel like a standard Land Rover/Dunlop rim. It is therefore important not only to tighten the nuts after lowering the tyre to the ground, but to re-check the torque a few miles later as there is no 'sprung action' of the concave stud hold. Always use a torque wrench to check tightness of nuts.

Right Gearing

Sometimes when you change the tyre size, you can affect the gearing of the vehicle. For example, you could purchase a 90 which comes fitted as standard with a set of 205x16 tyres. After reading this series you may decide to go for a set of larger 7.50x16 or 235x85x16 tyres. Great, lots of ground clearance now. But why is the speedo reading incorrectly? And you find that fifth gear only gets used on a level road with a following wind!

As regards the speedo inaccuracy, simply obtain from your Land Rover dealer a 110 part numbered speedo cable drive unit which replaces the original one on the transfer case output shaft.

As to the over gearing problem, again your Land Rover dealer can change the three gears in the transfer case to match those in a 110 which, of course, comes standard on 7.50x16 tyres. My V8 90 had 'no go' at all when I changed to the larger tyres but having changed the transfer gears, it's back to that brilliant machine!

As regards tyre pressures, having spoken to several tyre manufacturers and importers, use the same pressures off-road as on road. Only reduce the pressures if you have soft ground to cross. Lowering the pressure to 15/18 psi will, of course, give the tyres a larger, longer and wider footprint, giving slightly better flotation. What you must remember, however, is that when back on the tarmac you must re-inflate to the correct pressures to become legal and to save damage to sidewalls through over flexing. The other thing to remember is, of course, when you lower the pressure, the diffs get closer to the ground!

Index [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

(c)Goodwinch Limited 2006