Those of you who have been following my debacle over the alloy wheels on the Supercharged will know that they became damaged when going into some very mild off road conditions, and after writing to Landrover with no luck, I wrote to evo magazine, not long after that, Landrover re-assessed my problem and I had a replacement set of alloys fitted. I was happier.

That was 2 months ago.

This weekend I took the Supercharged up to Scotland for a Grouse shooting foray. The journey was awesome, it just eats the miles and is so comfortable. Then, following 3 Range Rover P38's, 2 Range Rover L322's (one of which is the Supercharged version) and a Discovery 2 we all trek up into the highlands and low gear our way up, up and up some more.

The car is awesomely capable off road. It's like a mountain goat. In low range with a selection of Terrain Response programmes used depending on what we were traversing, we got there with ease. As I was the only Sport there, there was lots of interest in seeing if it could hack it with the big boys... Well it did. We all made it with ease, and why shouldn't we? We are afterall driving the King of Offroaders.

Apart from one thing. The embarassment factor of now having 4 totally wrecked alloy wheels again!!!

2 months old and they're ruined. And I mean F@@@ed. I checked all the other vehicles, as we all drove the exact same routes, and they were all unmarked, even the FFRR Supercharged on it's 20" rims was fine, but the ultra low profile tyres on the Sport SC offer too little defense and ground clearance for the alloy wheels themselves to prevent them being damaged by absolutely everything taller than a blade of grass.

The FFRR SC has 255/50/R20 tyres, so they are not as wide but have deeper sidewalls than the 275/45/R20s on my car. Both of these are standard sizes for the respective cars you should know. I have not modified anything on mine, nor had th owner of the FFRR SC.

How pathetic is it that each and every time a SC Sport goes off road, the alloys are more than likely to be ruined, leaving the owner with either a bill for refurbishment or replacement.

I was under the impression that this was the "Best 4X4XFar". It's a Landrover. That's what they are designed to do, where they are designed to go. But this just shows that the SC on it's standard wheels and tyres is totally flawed offroad.

I have written to Landrover once again and await their comment. If I feel their reply is unsatisfactory I shall be writing to a lot more people, predominantly in the national press. I will build my own web site to illustrate the damage, the off road conditions and let people make up their own mind. And of course, I shall be telling you lot, the world's largest single community of Range Rover Sport owners, how it goes.

So, I face a turning point here, I love the car as it does the 2 jobs I require of it, motorway munching and off road prowess. However, I can't afford to keep a car that costs me a set of alloys each time I use it. So what's the asnwer? Who knows? Having 2 sets of wheels is NOT the answer, who has the time, energy and patience to swap 4 wheels each weekend? Plus, where the hell do you store them?

I'll post some pics in the week to show you what I mean, but the damage to the wheels is in my mind, irreparable.

Watch this space

A VERY unhappy and completely astounded man. L319 D4 HSE

1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF

1982 Series 3 SWB

Last edited by RRUK on Wed Aug 30 2006 8:50am. Edited 2 times in total

thats awful to hear RRUK - as a forthcoming owner I am keen to understand the formal stance of LR as I will definetely be taking my RRS offroad. I am interested to see the pics

Kaine

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RRUK - bummer. I know you don't want a second set of wheels & tyres but it really is the only way to go. I'm about to get a 2nd set of 19's which I'm putting MTR's on. I have bought a trolley jack and changing over will take 30 mins. BTW standard 19's will do the job with the Conti's or similar. 2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
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You must be gutted RRUK after all the trouble you had getting the replacements.
Hope you get somewhere with your latest crusade.
I use a second set on my D3, been used 4 times now and not a mark on them, bet if I were to leave my standard wheels on though they would be well scratched, sods law

I'd be interested to know what you expect Landrover to say ? Perhaps "Sorry Sir, but it appears you learn't nothing from your first experience of damaging this design of wheels, running this size of tyres, and went and caused the same damage in the same way. But no problem, here are another few sets for you to keep using / damaging - and please now stop threatening us".

The RRS is designed to look good and to achieve sales, form has occassonally taken precedence over function. Their 20 inch low profile tyres is definitely one example. So dont expect bloody miracles. If you are going to tool your vehicle offroad, get some wheels and tyres designed for that job. If you want sexy looking wheels and tyres designed for the road, don't whinge when they get scratched offroad. Its like hill walking in high heels. RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
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Last edited by Smarticus on Sun Aug 20 2006 11:00pm. Edited 3 times in total

Thats bad news RRUK! Not again..!!!???

Apart from the usual excuse of the sidewall being not high enough and all that... are the wheels actually strong?

These wheels are made for the sport and obviously they should be able to take offroad punishment. Maybe.. just maybe the wheels are of inferior quality? Whatever alloy they are using surely there are standards? Is there anyway you could get professional help (for the wheels!) to verify if the material/alloy used is suitable and able to withstand 4x4 type of driving? I would assume there are standards (BS/ASTM/JIS etc.) for the construction of such wheels?

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Is the RRS not a LR the go anywhere vehicle? You spend £60k plus for a 4x4 when you take it off road where it is meant to be designed for you end up getting wheel damage!

Wheel damage on a set of wheels that you got with the car not knowing that if you take this car off road with these wheel maybe get damaged!


What is that all about that is not right in my books i don't know what you lot think but I'm sure most of you will agree with me on this. Why buy it if you can't use it when you get it home?

I don't want to pay £53k for a off road car then when i want to go off road i have to pay £700for a new set of wheels just to go through a muddy field with


This is bang out of order and this is why i will not take my car off road knowing my wheels will get



I know i chat a load of ............. but this has p***** me right off now and another forum member to pretty much mug another member off when he is telling others what has happened to his second set of wheels!


WTF is that all about?? RRS TDV6 Gone but still around
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This is dreadful.

It will be another difficult discussion with LR, but having pictures and the backing of this forum will help greatly. The spacing may be different, but one solution could be for LR to fit RR wheels. At best, however, they may suggest 19" wheels - which wouldn't be acceptable.

Best of luck.

You can't have your cake and eat it, too. Get a set of 19" HSE wheels fitted with Wranglers MT/Rs, that seems to be the only decent, true offroad setup for the Sport currently, if you have Brembo brakes (if you didn't, you'd have the option of going down to 18" and several more tyres to choose from, which is what I am in the market for right now.) 19" 5V-spoke rims are abundant and cheap on eBay from people upgrading to larger sizes, and at least you can get the Goodyears easily in Europe, not so here in the US. Then make friends with a local tyre shop - possibly the one that sells you the Wranglers - and ask them to store your 19"ers in their garage. When it's time to go offroad, drive down to the shop and let them do the switch, it should take them no more than 15/20 minutes and it's well worth paying them a few bucks for labor over doing it yourself and storing the spare donuts in your garage. If offroading is really a weekly "thing" for you, forget the 20". Don't waste any more money fixing them, get rid of them and stick to the 19" permanently.

You are lucky you did not get a flat with those low profile rubbers, let alone a few scratches on the rims. 

Very Annoyed wrote:

I have bought a trolley jack and changing over will take 30 mins. BTW standard 19's will do the job with the Conti's or similar.

30 mins? You is good... I have a jack and all the tools of the trade (well, no air tools yet), but those heavy f***ers take me a good 45 minute to 1 hour to switch on my own. And by the time I am done I need a shower, new clothes and a nap, since the whole switcheroo also makes me very cranky. I could not handle it if I had to do it weekly. 

appreciating peoples comments on using dedicated wheels for offroad, I think RRUK's point when comparing the RR wheels is very valid - why should the RRS wheels be so different - if this is the case then LR should advise owners of the potential damage that can be caused to the RRS 20" alloys when taken offroad

Just my thoughts

Kaine

I second that Kaine RRS TDV6 Gone but still around
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Smarticus,

Thanks for your kind words of support.

Until I have a reply from Landrover I am not going to assume or predict what their reply to be. I am not silly enough to deliberately damage my £60,000 vehicle by galavanting across the countryside in some sort of slap dash fashion.

The point to my arguement is that the vehicle is designed to go offroad, no matter what model and what size wheels and tyres it is shod with. Had it been a Jaguar X type and I had taken it offroad I of course would have been a silly man. You would not expect it to cope well at all.

I'm not a 'showboater'. I don't ponce about in my car to look good. I buy these cars for their REAL purpose, and that's my point. If the materials they are built with and designed with cannot cope then that is a problem, not just for me, but for all owners.

Bobby,

You know, I reckon these wheels are pretty soft, they do seem very easily marked, but how to prove that!? L319 D4 HSE

1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF

1982 Series 3 SWB

umbertob wrote:

30 mins? You is good... I have a jack and all the tools of the trade (well, no air tools yet), but those heavy f***ers take me a good 45 minute to 1 hour to switch on my own. And by the time I am done I need a shower, new clothes and a nap, since the whole switcheroo also makes me very cranky. I could not handle it if I had to do it weekly.

It takes me 45mins working flat out WITH air tools (swapping 20" for 20")!

I can see some sort of competition here  RRS 4.2 S/C. Zermatt. Tints. Stormers. 150+ paint defects, wonkey bonnet, scratches, detached doorseal. suspension faults. To sum it up, a �60k pile of cr4p!