As soon as you go slightly off road in them, they are SO easily marked. The tyres offer no rim protection and because of the low profile and the faces of the alloys being so proud, they get scratched very easily. (I guess this is why the LRE swap them out for 19"s)

Look at these photos. The first one was taken at the weekend after some mild offroad use, you can see from the depth of the mud on the tyres and alloys how deep the ruts were.

Now study the scratches on the three wheels I just took pictures of. These happen because you never know what's IN the mud, small stones etc just scrape against the surface. I had 4 perfect alloys last week, now each one is marked again. PISSED OFF does not cover it somehow.

As a comparison, look at the picture of my Father's P38 RR on standard size wheels and how his tyre sidewalls have taken the brunt of the work, leaving the alloys unscathed.

Time to invest in some 19" standard wheels for the winter next year maybe? There IS a market for all those unwanted HSE wheels!

Pic1:



Pics of marked wheels:



Note the rusty mudflap fixings in this one too!





 
06MY FFRR Vogue TD6, JE Stage 1 Tune, Chrome Tubes, Full Privacy, Full Fat, Full On.

Last edited by RRUK on Mon Jan 30 2006 3:41pm. Edited 1 time in total

It's a pity you can't get clip on plastic wheel trims to protect the alloys when going off road. Matt
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RRS ownership for 1 yr, then D3 for 2 yrs. Then cut back to old bangers and working my way back up through two Peugeots in 6 months. Now got Saab 9-5 2.3t and enjoying the performance!

I wonder if you could use the plastic centre piece from those clip on snow spikes that are an alternative to snow chains on big wheels. If you know what I mean? MY08 RRS TDV8 HSE, Stornoway Grey, Ebony and Zabrano, sunroof, hybrid tv, premium ICE, rear E diff, privacy glass, side steps, mud flaps, S/Grey mirror covers, Venture shield,tasmods, smoked indicators, Larini sports exhaust, etc, etc.

I can hear the P*ss -Taking now from the other members of the shoot, they already call them 'girly wheels', if they were protected by some sort of 'nappy' I'd never live it down.

A set of 19" wheels as spares is not a bad idea actually. 
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Get some sheets of laminate, cut to size and voila! You can have clear plastic or any colour you choose - I'm sure no one will take the mick.  RRS 2.7 TDV6 HSE Zambezi silver,Alpaca.
On Order - LRX expected 2010
DO NOT CLICK HERE!

Sticky back plastic eh?

In all seriousness having seen what the VentureTape protection does, it would be nice to have the entire car coated in it, including the wheels, the car would then not sustain any scratches or marks and after 5 years or so you could peel it off and have a brand new car underneath. Super. 
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No offense but those scratches are really annoying to say the least.Do uou think that the wheels are easily scratched due to their material (i.e if you use the car as a normal road car) or just when off roading? RRS S/C,Bonatti Grey,Ebony Interior,Lined Oak Finish, Rear Lock Dif, DVD,Sunroof,ACC

Well, I kerbed one of the alloys not long after I got the car (first time on any car I had done this...typical) and it certainly made a fine mess of it.

I would say that ANY large rimmed alloy wheels are going to be susceptible to damage on the road from kerbs, potholes, stones etc. Parking such a big car presents these types of issues.

Off road it is definitely a problem, in fact, I may pen a letter to Landrover telling them how disappointed I am in the design on this area of the car, it is after all an off road vehicle.

The main problem with them is that the faces of the spokes are the proudest part of the car as far as contact with the road, they protrude so far out and have such a large surface area they are bound to get marked by something.

I don't think the 19" wheels are the same in this respect.

I guess Landrover did not think this one through. However Tim in Scotland did find out that when he went on the Landrover Experience, they actually swap out the larger wheels, offically because the 20" tyres are road biased, unofficially cos it does SO much damage to the alloys I suspect.

Right, time to write a letter I feel. 
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In fact, on my LRE - the car was a 4.4HSE (and therefore had 19s as standard) but they'd actually taken those off and swapped them for 18s! The instructor said that the large-diameter wheels just don't last very long at all on cars that are constantly being driven over challenging ground... and they simply can't afford to keep refurbing or replacing the bigger wheels. Who can blame them? 

I'm selling Disco3 17" new alloys and tyres. Don't know if they fit RRS but maybe? Cooper STs and STTs are the off road tyres for these wheels.
PM me if interested.
BP

The 19s aren't much better than the 20s. I have yet to venture on a real off-road excursion, yet a couple of soft "encounters" with a curb recently left the outer edge of my "stock" 19" front right rim with a couple of nasty scuff marks, and the sidewall of the tyre itself has a major tear/crack as a result. Although it does not leak air, it certainly looks like it may blow up any second... I am switching it with the full size spare asap. A smaller tyre with a higher sidewall would have probably just bounced off the curb and surely would have protected the rim a heck of a lot better. I think that instructor is right, for challenging offroading this car really needs 17 or 18"ers, tops. 

what a nightmare ... I was planning to do some light offroading - now I will seriously think twice...it's going to be way too much hassle for me to change back and froth to 18" or 19" wheels everytime you want to go offroad and then back on the 20"s for road use ? Range Rover Sport TdV6HSE Bonatti Grey 20" FE Stormer wheels, Privacy Glass, Mats, Boot Mat, black badges, SC grille and vents

For light offroading the stock 19" and 20" should be adequate, although the scuff marks on the rims will likely be an issue regardless. 

I hate to dissapoint but my D3 has 19" and have marked more than yours. The offroad days I have done created no damage, but the first days shooting this season saw Sussex flints attack I've left mine until I sell when I might have the repaired.

Rape stubble is ok for the wheels!

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b177/Deako/pigs005.jpg