Happiness is a set of Steel Wheels and Falken AT3WA All-Terrain Tyres
Tyre Review: Falken A/T AT3WA on our Land Rover Defender L663
The Luxury of Buying and Owning Cars
The Luxury of buying and owning cars frequently results in forming lists of desires, impulses, and adaptations. It's that urge we've all felt at some point as petrol/motor heads to modify what our family members might refer to as 'pride and joy'. And while we might not always agree with their choice of words, we can't deny that we all, at some point, have wanted to make our vehicles a little more 'us'.
From interior accessories to more 'noticeable' exhaust systems, we've all had similar desires when it comes to modifying and adapting our vehicles. Here at Driven, for our own car, a Land Rover Defender 110 Hardtop, the impulses and urges are much the same, with the addition of one desire less common than most - to take our vehicle to places that most others can't go. And it's this desire in particular that has led me to embark on the start of a journey of subtle tweaks and modifications. The first item on the list - wheels and tyres.
New Wheels and Tyres
New wheels and tyres are often high on the modification wish list. Changing the wheels and tyres on any car is a significant and frequently relatively expensive decision, hence the standard phrase 'wheel upgrade'. A close friend of mine decided to 'upgrade' the wheels on his exceptionally lovely Porsche 911 GT3 a few years ago. His upgrade of choice was a set of BBS E88 wheels. They're stunning and suitably paired with the crème da la crème of track day tyres, but his simple wheel and tyre upgrade cost him the best part of £6,000 once shipped and installed.
I, too, previously fell into the world of unnecessarily expensive wheels with a set of iconic Volk Racing TE37 wheels on my very own BMW Z3M Coupé. The wheels were a frequent talking point on the car, but came at the expense of needing to be itemised individually on my car's insurance policy as they were, according to the insurer, "just as desirable to be stolen as the car itself".
With our Defender, though, there is surprising simplicity and associated cost structure when it comes to upgrading the wheels and tyres.
Downgrading to Steel Wheels
I'm a massive fan of the L663 Land Rover Defender; it's ultimately why we at Driven decided to buy one as our in-house vehicle. It's smart, practical, and fills a void inside my own childish mind: the desire to go off-road and get muddy. We purchased the Defender as an ex-demonstrator from a reputable Land Rover dealership in Droitwich. Being an ex-demo meant we had no input on specifications, options or trim. It was a case of 'what you see, is what you get'. And, for the most part, what we saw and what we got was all we needed. An L663 Defender 110 Hardtop finished in Fuji White with a contrasting black roof. Fortunately, some handy options had been ticked by the dealer for some added off-road capability, but there was one thing I desired to remove from the outset, the shiny alloy wheels.
When the new Defender was launched in 2020, opinions on the latest model's styling were divided. However, for the commercial hardtop variant exclusively, one feature was celebrated unanimously by the comment sections of the internet: The optional steel wheels.
Steel Wheels: Basic Trim or Desirable Option?
Steel wheels on almost any other vehicle in the world would be identified as 'basic trim'; in the case of the new Defender, the same would be true. But thanks to the hardtop's design purpose, plain white steel wheels on a vehicle designed to be utilitarian and rugged immediately added appeal. But as is often the way with opinions on the internet vs real-life consumer action - the number of people that opted for the steel wheels was shamefully low, meaning that they're rarely seen on the road. There may be a few reasons for this, such as the inexpensive alloy wheels looking a little smarter and more car-like. Personally, though, I think the steel wheels on the L663 Defender are the best-looking option available. With the addition of some suitably chunkier rubber, aesthetically, they look 100 times better than the alternative alloys.
I managed to find a set of original Defender steel wheels on eBay for just £300.00. The set had been removed from a commercial Defender and replaced with alloy wheels to surprise-surprise make the vehicle look more like a posh car. I snapped up the wheels and got to work on choosing a set of tyres.
Choosing Falken Wildpeak AT3WA All-Terrain Tyres
I decided to consult Falken, a brand responsible for producing performance tyres in motorsport, off-roading, and everyday use for decades. Following some insightful discussions and expert advice from Falken UK, I settled on a set of Falken Wildpeak AT3WA all-terrain tyres.
The standard tyres on the 18-inch Defender steel wheels are 255/70/18. Despite 43 different size options, the Falken AT3WA isn't available in an exact size match for the steel wheels; however, the wheels and, crucially, the wheel arches can accommodate 275/65/18, which, thanks to a broader profile, aid with the aesthetic appeal by filling the arches and widening the stance.
The Balance of On-Road and Off-Road Use
Now, the curious reader might wonder why, with my off-roading ambitions, I didn't just go for an all-out off-road tyre instead of an all-terrain. Well, the answer to that is simple. I want to use my rugged wheel and tyre combination for daily use without the requirement to swap over endlessly between motorway commutes and off-road adventures. The Falken Wildpeak AT3WA offers a superb mix of capabilities for use on both the tarmac and beyond.
Before fitting, the tyres are likely to cost around £170-180 each, depending on your retailer, which positions the AT3WA in a very competitive market. The AT3WA is a tyre designed to go anywhere at any time. It's proudly marketed with the certification that grants the ability to drive on tarmac, grass, mud, ice and snow. There will be better tyres for snow grip specifically; in the same way, there will be tyres engineered for purposefully gripping through deep mud. However, each speciality will likely compromise performance elsewhere, such as wet grip and performance in dry heat or ice. Dedicated off-road rubber is often noisy, too, with rumbles and whirs commonplace when rolling down the road. The Falken AT3WA manages to do everything well without any apparent drawbacks. The tyres have only been fitted in June, and we're soon to be hitting mid-summer here in the UK, so tests for cold, wet and icy conditions will need to wait another 6 months, but in the meantime, I've been able to appease my muddy desires and see how the tyres transform the driving experience on and off-road.
Prior to the new wheels and tyres, I was rolling around on the standard equipment offered by Land Rover on the Defender. The 110 was fitted with some all-season road tyres from a reputable brand and did everything very brilliantly for the most part. I attempted a few off-road adventures, but given the road-focused tyre set-up, I opted to avoid anything too challenging. Despite some very clever electrical aids on the Defender, including low grip launch and individual settings for driving through mud, I got stuck once on the road tyres. I managed to free myself not thanks to the electrical features built into the car but instead thanks to a bit of good old-fashioned packing with straw, sticks and branches.
Falken Wildpeak A/T AT3WA Off-Road Performance
For my maiden voyage off-road with the Falkens fitted, I opted for a local greenlane. The lane offers a great variety of dry, loose gravel, muddy and grassy ruts, and some very wet and smelly bogs, which I'm 99.9% certain would have been the point I'd have been stuck and calling a friend for assistance if I were still running the old road tyres. With the Falkens, nothing could phase the Defender.
The Falken Wildpeak AT3WA is engineered with an optimised zig-zag tread pattern and shoulder groves that offer multiple grip angles in various conditions. The tyre's claw and grip can be felt through even very soft and wet mud, rewarding the reassurance of traction. The tread is also designed to aid with self-cleaning, meaning the risk of mud slicks is vastly reduced by mud being thrown from the tyres with centrifugal force.
The tread blocks are rigid, long, and wide, allowing for a wider grip spread. This helps with grip to get you moving and bringing the vehicle to a stop under braking on all surfaces. The tread spreads from the primary contact point onto the sidewalls, which helps grip and protect the sidewall from protruding rocks that would quickly deflate the road tyres previously fitted to the car.
Falken is so sure of the AT3WA's capabilities that a 5-year warranty is offered as standard. The tyre's strapline is 'Engineered for any adventure, at any time, and in any weather,' after just a couple of weeks of use, it's already quite clear why the brand sticks to this statement.
With my new rubber and exceptionally cool-looking downgraded steel wheels, I could finally appease my inner child by firing through a collection of muddy trenches and extremely smelly sulphuric bogs. I remember being told on a Land Rover off-roading course a decade or so ago that getting spots of mud on the roof of a car is an achievement worth celebrating. Following my antics through the mud, I think I should be worthy of a trophy, with every inch of the Defenders' bodywork now better described as being consistently brown.
Further on from the muddy ruts were dryer, bumpy tracks covered with loose gravel. With my all-season road tyres, the Defender would have skated around at anything more than a crawling pace; however, with the Falkens, I could have been convinced that I was driving on a newly paved road. The tread pattern displaces anything loose and firmly grips the hard standing, giving me confidence for accelerating, cornering, and stopping.
My only limitation with my greenlaning was down to the commercial Defenders fixed ride height. Being the hardtop version of the 110, there is no adjustable air suspension, meaning the deep ruts and steep inclines can result in the vehicle's underside hitting the ground. Impressively, though, even when the underside of the Defender was dragging through the mud, the tyre performance enabled the car to pull through, leaving behind a very impressive centre rut from the rear differential that had ploughed its way through the mud.
Falken Wildpeak A/T AT3WA On-Road Performance
Like most others worldwide, whilst our Land Rover Defender is engineered to be exceptional off-road, most of its use will be on perfectly smooth tarmac. The same can be said for the Falken Wildpeaks, too. With such a radical difference in tread pattern and tyre size, I was equally apprehensive about my first long drive on the road as I was in the mud. Within minutes of my first road drive, I realised I needn't have had any concerns at all.
The Falken Wildpeak AT3WA road performance is superb. The grip level is consistent and reassuring, and the overall sound is as low as it was on my all-season road tyres fitted previously. There is a slightly more audible rumble when coming to a stop, but it would be unfair to describe the sound as anything more than barely noticeable. Occasionally, cornering grip on tight country lanes or roundabouts is a little looser than a dedicated road tyre, but it is to be expected given the taller tread pattern, and it doesn't feel unsettling. The straight-line stopping power is impressive, and dynamic cornering is equally rewarding.
One other unexpected positive following the tyre swap is comfort. Thanks partly to the taller and wider tyre profile, the Defender's overall ride quality is smoother and slightly more comfortable than the previously fitted all-season road tyre.
We will continue to run our Defender with the Falken AT3WA tyres for the foreseeable future. We will re-cap with a secondary review in the winter months in slightly more challenging conditions.
Tyre Review: Falken A/T AT3WA on our Land Rover Defender L663
For road drivers wishing to enhance the ability and capability of their 4x4, the Falken A/T AT3WA is going to be tough to beat in terms of value and broad performance. The white lettering on the sidewalls is optional at the time of fitting, as each tyre has white lettering on one side and black on the other. I opted for white writing out because I think it adds to the rugged look of the set-up and works in tandem with the black-and-white colour scheme.
Words: John Marcar
Pictures: Henry Faulkner-Smith
Special thanks: Elan PR & ProTyre Autocare