Offroad driving

No performance difference between alloy and steel for off-road, only issue is alloys damage more easily. As for tyres, the BFG All Terrains are very good, cheaper option is the General Grabber AT2, I would go for a 225/70/16 or something like.

Is a 225/70R16 made?

I've been using 225/75R16 for years and it is a good replacement for

Steel wheels are repairable if dented - alloys not so easily.

Dent a steel and you can take a big hammer to it and undent it. Chip a lump of an alloy and it's specialist repair or scrap time.

Width, I think it depends on how deep the soft terrain you are driving on is and what is under neath it. Narrow tyres are supposed to dig in better and thus cut through the goop to a solid traction providing surface underneath, obviously if the goop is too deep the you'll just dig in and get stuck. Wider are, in theory, less likely to dig in so there is a tendancy to "float" better over the goop and not get stuck. Wide may well be better at climbing over rocks or loose stoney surfaces as you'll have more points of contact across the tyre width, well it's a theory...

On or around Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:12:24 +0100, Dougal enlightened us thusly:

And wider are useless (or should I say more useless) on wet grass.

Almost anything short of 2" spikes are useless on wet grass, may as well be on ice!

Going narrower on wet grass is the digging in thing I should imagine. With a blocky enough tread you can dig the grass out of the way to the soil below. Doesn't do the grass much good though...