I am contemplating fitting a set of 255-60-20 113 H Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure tyres, as fitted to the new Defender. see below:

https://www.goodyear.eu/en_gb/consumer/tir...04457.html

I'd use these, on a separate set of rims in the winter months, for the added grip in off road use. keeping my other set of rims and Pirelli Verdre All Season tyres for summer use.

Due to Covid, I didn't go off road as much as usual last winter, the Verdre's were better than expected even in mud, helped no doubt by the SDV8's locking rear diff. but I did have a couple of very tense moments and who doesn't love to see a stranded FFRR in a field.

I like the fact that these tyres are H rated (130mph) and LR deem that good for use of the new Defender. The extra 1/2 inch of sidewall should not cause any rubbing issues. The speedo will very slightly under read, but that's not a concern to me.

Size comparison here:

https://tiresize.com/tyre-size-calculator/

Any thoughts, good or bad?

You cannot spec tyres of a lower speed or load rating on your car than specified by the manufacturer, it’s illegal, MOT failure and will void your insurance, proceed with caution.

The 113 load rating is higher than the required 110 and AT tyres inc the ones in the oe size 255 55 20 (GG AT3 & Goodyear Duratrac) are H rated or below.

As the size is different, I would always check with my insurers before buying and make sure it was logged on my records.

“It’s illegal will fail an MOT and void your insurance” - I believe that this is a widely held motoring myth. I’ve had, and know of many examples where this has not happened including an incident when I had T rated winter tyres fitted to a Jag XJR. The police and 2 insurance companies inspected the car, I got paid and the tyres were never mentioned.
Has anyone got any 1st hand experience of having a problem with this?
The only bloke I’ve met who claimed his insurance wouldn’t pay out because he had the “wrong” tyres fitted forgot to mention that he got prosecuted for 2 baldy tyres and no MOT in the same incident.
I’d be happy to be proved wrong but unless the lower speed rating could be shown to have contributed to an incident, how can it be used to avoid payment?
Why would tyres be different to any other replacement parts? You don’t need to fit LR brake parts?

It's certainly not illegal to do so in Australia although certain criteria still have to be met. That size and load rating on that vehicle meet our requirements but every country has their own rules.

Load rating is I believe checked at an MOT test. Which makes sense.

ur20v wrote:

You cannot spec tyres of a lower speed or load rating on your car than specified by the manufacturer, it’s illegal, MOT failure and will void your insurance, proceed with caution.

LT wrote:

Any thoughts, good or bad?

Yes, mud is a very much a consideration but on road manners are most important, as although I’ll typically venture off road at least once a week, it accounts for far less than 0.1% of my annual mileage, which pre Covid was c.25k miles pa.

I like the fact that LR fit them as oe on the new Defender and the additional 1/2 inch of sidewall.

On my Discovery’s I fitted Pirelli ATR’s which were a wonderful all round tyre for my requirements. I’m still pondering their replacement, the AT Plus, but I’m not that keen to fit a wider tyre.

My L322's current tyres are the AT+ in 275/55R20 for more sidewall. I have absolutely no complaints about their road manners but would really prefer 255/60R19 for the same sidewall height but overall only 1" larger than standard. However the only tyre in this size that would suit my usage is the General AT3 but no-one imports this size here. Your tyre is available here but is very expensive and mostly out of stock so not a good option. Hence at this point my next set will be either the AT+ again or Falken AT3W in the same size which has mostly good reports, although their LI 117 could be unnecessarily harsh.