Hi there.
I finally have managed to get myself a Landrover ('94 Disco) after several years of trying to get one.
When I bought it, I have to admit that I know next to nothing about cars (though give me a set of instructions and I'll have a go at anything), so I got the AA to take a look at it. A few niggly things came up including the fact that one of the rear tyres had a crack in the wall, and the front two had very little tread left (just under 2mm). I changed both back tyres immediately ('cause you're supposed to change them in pairs, right?), but had to wait until this month before I could replace the front ones.
Now when I took the Disco into the nearest tyre place to replace the back ones, I read the tyre size and asked the guy to change them. When I came to pay he said that I'd got the size wrong - the ones he'd replaced were 235/70R16. Fine, no probs. I just thought I'd read it wrong.
When I took my Disco in to get the front tyres changed, I asked for a pair of 235/70R16. I had to make a call on the mobile and when he came back he had the bill, all was complete, but he told me I'd got the size wrong. I was in a huge rush at the time and didn't think anything more of it until this morning.
Checking, I find that I've got 235/70R16's on the back, and 205/80R16's on the front...which explains why I kept on getting the size wrong (I'd read it from the front when getting the rear changed and vice versa).
Now I know that this is going to make my axles rotate at different speeds, which (while unlocked) the centre diff will take care of (and I'll need to reverse a bit to undo the tension after locking the diff).
Is this normal to have two different sized tyres? I'm still wondering how two garages, the previous owner and the AA bloke that did the report all missed it...
I've also got two different makers of tyres (Avon Rangers on the front and General Ameri550 AS on the back). Is that OK, as I've seen discussion in several places giving conflicting advice?
Huge thanks for your help.
Cheers, Aled.