New Defender News

[brickpaul65]

I love my defender, I was just posting the tires I went with etc. because there is not really a vehicle specific thread in which to do so. Granted this is not super active forum in general, but even the typical land rover forums are not much help. I just like this forum and most people are civil. I ignore fanboy/hater stuff because I genuinely like pretty much all vehicles.

Paul

 

[JackW]

I went with the cooper st maxx. Great fit!

Does the 265/70R18 clear without scuffing anywhere? That's just a shade under 33" tall (32.87) - looks like a great choice and a very recent addition to the 18" Cooper tire sizes.
I like tall and skinny tires and will be trying to decide between BFG and Cooper tires to replace the Goodyears that came on my P300 D110 so I'll be interested in your opinions.
I've had both BFG and Coopers on my previous Land Rovers and found the Coopers wore a little faster than the BFG's.

 

[brickpaul65]

Does the 265/70R18 clear without scuffing anywhere? That's just a shade under 33" tall (32.87) - looks like a great choice and a very recent addition to the 18" Cooper tire sizes.
I like tall and skinny tires and will be trying to decide between BFG and Cooper tires to replace the Goodyears that came on my P300 D110 so I'll be interested in your opinions.
I've had both BFG and Coopers on my previous Land Rovers and found the Coopers wore a little faster than the BFG's.

View attachment 680764

They seem to fit really well on the 18" steel wheels. I have not noticed any rubbing. I will do another couple of runs at full lock (L/R) and drive/reverse just to check again. I appears my spare wheel has a defect though. I am getting it checked. Discount Tire was not able to get it to balance (road force value of 65 to 68) with multiple tires - the other wheels are all in balance spec and range from 11lbs to low 20's.

I ran these tires on my LR3 and liked them. I will probably go play on a few easy trails at Windrock soon. Hopefully next weekend. I am running 35 psi in the front and 38 in the rear. I need to rechalk them just to see how they are doing at those pressures. The 48 PSI I started at was high. I would not minding finding some information on what pressures most people are running (unladen on E load ratings).

 

[JackW]

Thanks - good to hear. I am planning to step up from the 255/70 to 265/70 when I upgrade from the stock Goodyear "off road" tires. I went with the 18" gray alloys because they are a little lighter and I liked the look. It was a tossup though - the white steelies do look good but wrestling a flat tire change when you are 69 years old makes you want to go lighter if possible.

 

[brickpaul65]

Thanks - good to hear. I am planning to step up from the 255/70 to 265/70 when I upgrade from the stock Goodyear "off road" tires. I went with the 18" gray alloys because they are a little lighter and I liked the look. It was a tossup though - the white steelies do look good but wrestling a flat tire change when you are 69 years old makes you want to go lighter if possible.

I think your defender looks great! I wanted the steel wheels because I thought it was a nice throwback and I went with Tasman Blue with a White roof....so they work for me aesthetically. I like the white with your wheel choice and I love the hood decal, I did not get it because it would look off to me on my color combo. Your choice of the full white with the fender flares is nice

 

[JackW]

Tasman blue with a white roof was my second choice (since Land Rover won't paint one G4 Orange) and I would have gotten the white steel wheels if I had gone that route. I've already installed the rock sliders and have the winch kit and rear tow loops waiting for me to get time to install them. There are three white four cylinder 110's in our local Land Rover club.

 

[brickpaul65]

Tasman blue with a white roof was my second choice (since Land Rover won't paint one G4 Orange) and I would have gotten the white steel wheels if I had gone that route. I've already installed the rock sliders and have the winch kit and rear tow loops waiting for me to get time to install them. There are three white four cylinder 110's in our local Land Rover club.

View attachment 680818

I have the rear tow loops now. I am planning on Lucky sliders, the front skid plate, and the fender flares. Then. Winch at some point in the future should wrap it up until someone releases full under armor like the tactical rover set I had for the LR3.

Did you go with the Lucky8 or OEM winch kit?

 

[JackW]

I'm using the OEM winch mount - I bought the Warn winch from Four Wheel Parts for around $1900. I'm doing some upgrades to my Defender 90 right now and will install the winch when they are complete.
I installed the Lucky 8 rock sliders - a friend has a two post lift and that made that job a whole lot easier.



I'm installing a heavy duty front differential and axles in the D-90 and then plan to put the VNT Turbo and bigger intercooler on the engine. After that, a new rear main oil seal, clutch and the Roamerdrive get installed and I'll be done with that for a while.
I've had these parts sitting on the shelf for a while and want to get them on the truck.

I already have a list of upgrades for the new 110 - better tires, onboard air, dual batteries, winch and a small Baja Designs light bar on the front. Matzker in Germany is making some very cool underbody protection for the 110 but its really expensive.
Since I have the D-90 and a Series IIA for real off road work I won't need to do much more to the 110.

 

[umbertob]

Matzker in Germany is making some very cool underbody protection for the 110 but its really expensive.

It's vaporware... Pictures on their web site is all they "offer" for the new Defender. As far as I know, they have not sold a single piece of that underbody protection, and they've had those pictures and prices up for at least a year. They are supposedly waiting for TÜV approvals. I am starting to wonder if they are even for real.

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

View attachment 680887



I already have a list of upgrades for the new 110 - better tires, onboard air, dual batteries, winch and a small Baja Designs light bar on the front. Matzker in Germany is making some very cool underbody protection for the 110 but its really expensive.
Since I have the D-90 and a Series IIA for real off road work I won't need to do much more to the 110.

Jack, your truck looks fantastic. The sliders really do add to it, but the snorkel and hood decal on the fuji white looks very sharp too.

Quick question - for On Board Air, are you planning on using JLR's accessory, or going with a different style? I love that JLR offers one as an option, but I wondered about the usability as from what I can tell, it's mounting point might put the manifolds in a spot that is hard to get at when you have a fridge or a drawer unit back there. Have you done any thinking on what direction you'll go in?

 

[JackW]

Quick question - for On Board Air, are you planning on using JLR's accessory, or going with a different style? I love that JLR offers one as an option, but I wondered about the usability as from what I can tell, it's mounting point might put the manifolds in a spot that is hard to get at when you have a fridge or a drawer unit back there. Have you done any thinking on what direction you'll go in?

Since mine doesn't have the MHEV system there is a lot of space under the floor once you pull out the foam insert. I'm going to build a system using Viair components - probably the newish 425C compressor and a 1 gallon air tank all mounted under the floor along with a second battery and a Redarc isolator system.

This guy has done a really good job and my system will look a lot like what he has done. Once I have the box and floor built I may have some differences but it will be similar. I know I can build something more useful for less than Land Rover charges for their accessory compressor.

P300 rear storage and dual battery - Land Rover Forums - Land Rover Enthusiast Forum

2020 Defender - P300 rear storage and dual battery - In the process of building out the rear of my new defender and thought I'd share some photos. Hopefully they will help others out. I was a little disappointed with the rear storage space in the new defender compared to my LR4, so I had to get...

landroverforums.com

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

Thanks @JackW that's helpful info as that was what I was thinking would be a better solution than the accessory. Great example in that link you shared of a slick setup. I am finding that as much as I love building trucks for adventures (I've spent months on my current rig), my time is more limited these days so being able to check a box and get an installed factory option sure is appealing, but I agree with you that by the looks of things, a better system would come in cheaper than the accessory.

 

[JackW]

I've been adding improvements to my Defender 90 for over 16 years and still have a list of things to do. Its a short list now but still a list.
I'm going to try to keep the list shorter on the new 110 since I don't expect to try to take it on the terrain I'm willing to tackle in the D-90.
I'll probably use the camping trailer more behind the 110 - the D-90 is setup for more rugged adventure travel where a trailer would be a problem.



For a temporary simple solution to the dual battery issue I'm using a 500W Bluetti power station plugged into the 110. I'm running my Engel fridge off the power station which acts as a battery bank and charge controller.
The fridge should easily run overnight off the power bank which will be charged back up when the vehicle is running - chreaper than a dual battery setup..

 

[Carson G]

New Defender on 37’s.

 

[Carson G]