Just installed Cooper S/T Maxx tires on 18" BMW wheels

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jwest

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I'm personally quite comfortable that they are more than strong enough (chances are 4.6IS weight x German margin of safety > LR4 weight x British/Indian margin of safety),

Not sure why you mention "Indian" or hardly even British seeing as the entire development and production time was during Ford ownership. Hence some stuff great and some stuff ****.

Personally, I wouldn't consider for a moment these other wheels not intended at all for off road abuses or heavier weights. I am all for alternatives but not corner cutting ones. For example there are also a couple awesome wheels at Mudtech but they are even more expensive than the Compos which are very well built.

Good luck with it.
 

BikePilot

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Cool!
Shows what a bit of research and ingenuity can yield!
Makes me wonder what other non Rover OEM wheels might work as well...

Cheers for posting

No problem! There are many bmw wheels of the right hub and bolt spacing. With BMW wheels the trick is finding something likely to clear the calipers and with the right offset. If you find other options post up!
 
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donb

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Looks great! I think getting a cover made or modifying the BMW one with a LR logo wouldn't be tough to do.

Thanks for the writeup.
 

jwest

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No problem! There are many bmw wheels of the right hub and bolt spacing. With BMW wheels the trick is finding something likely to clear the calipers and with the right offset. If you find other options post up!

All BMW wheels are used on vehicles that weigh significantly less than an lr4.

You should probably not be pushing the idea to use wheels that are not shown to have load ratings required by our vehicles.

Using them yourself is one thing but advocating the idea is ill advised.
 

ryanjl

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I've had some downtime today and have begun a little bit more research.

I found this forum,

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-and-4-a/193567-bmw-x5-wheel-load-ratings-2.html

which lead me to this forum,

https://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=246988

where someone is selling 19" BMW X5 rims that are rated at 950kg each (equivalent to around 2100 lbs); some are 975kg each (equivalent to around 2150).

I believe the LR4 19" wheels are rated at 2300lbs. Not sure if the 20" wheels are the same or different.

There are several posters on the first forum who claim to have been running 17" BMW wheels on their diesel D4's for a long while without issue, but no consensus on the load rating.

I'll keep digging around as I have more time. Was the load rating not stamped on the Style 99 wheels?
 

jwest

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I've had some downtime today and have begun a little bit more research.

I found this forum,

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-and-4-a/193567-bmw-x5-wheel-load-ratings-2.html

which lead me to this forum,

https://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=246988

where someone is selling 19" BMW X5 rims that are rated at 950kg each (equivalent to around 2100 lbs); some are 975kg each (equivalent to around 2150).

I believe the LR4 19" wheels are rated at 2300lbs. Not sure if the 20" wheels are the same or different.

There are several posters on the first forum who claim to have been running 17" BMW wheels on their diesel D4's for a long while without issue, but no consensus on the load rating.

I'll keep digging around as I have more time. Was the load rating not stamped on the Style 99 wheels?

So the bmw wheels are barely rated to static load many lr3/4 builds end up at when loaded.... static, while parked, not even during dynamic loading. Sounds great.

Why am I posting in the lr4 forum? So new lr4 people will stop for a moment to consider the weak approach to this wheel issue bmw choices represent.

Might as well stick to 20" wheels with XL tires. The ones on Mudtech are badass and so are the compos. This bmw and/or other aftermarket crap wheel obsession speaks volumes on ones approach to backcountry trips.
 

ryanjl

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The weight ratings I found and posted were for entirely different 19" BMW wheels, not the Style 99 wheels OP is using. Every wheel is different, but the Style 99 wheels appear to have a lot more material in them than a lot of other BMW wheels.

By your logic, jwest, the stock Land Rover wheels are only rated at a few hundred pounds total more than a loaded LR4.

Further, it stands to reason that the highest loads a wheel faces are not the static or slow-moving variety you describe, but rather a bump at high speeds. If logic rules, putting larger rubber around the wheel should attenuate that force somewhat. That's just armchair stress analysis, though, and it would still be good to know the weight rating for the Style 99 wheels.

What Land Rover requires is somewhat nebulous, however. The load rating on the stock tires that come on the 20" wheels is only around 2,200 pounds. I'm not looking it up, but I'm guessing the load rating on the tires that come with the 22" wheels is even less. A poster on the thread in the first forum I linked above claimed that Land Rover has a minimum load rating requirement of 860kg. Not that I'd rely on that, but I'm curious if that's true.
 
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jwest

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-this is why i really like the path of choosing higher rated wheels like the compos and those sold by mudtech rather than going backwards by even the smallest %. I wouldn't attribute "more metal" in any wheel to inherent strength considering that forged wheels have less material while being much stronger.

I am likely going to try the 17" raid wheels on mudtech seeing as I've already done the 17" brake size conversion. The factory 17's I have were sourced specifically for winter tires being only 7" wide yet ideal for that application whereas these "raid" wheels are 8" wide and suited to something like a 285/75-17 34" tire.

This 33-34"size seriously transforms the capability in higher articulations and well as all running clearances such as approach, breakover, departure and dramatic reduction in high centering.
 

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