Sep1Written by:Dave
9/1/2007 8:35 PM 
My first outing with the club was at Babylons Toren. As we arrived , full of keen anticipation for a days fun I said to my co pilot , Judy , HKK... Hier Kom n Ding. Why she said . I told her to look at the suspensions and tyres on the vehicles - nearly all had raised suspensions and aggressive looking tyres. My Disco was sales room standard with tar road capable Synchrones on the wheels . At the end of the day I knew I had two choices - upgrade the vehicles offroad capability or forget about further club outings - if you wnt to play with the boys get the right toys. So for the next outing at Klein Tafelberg I was ready with a full OME suspension , Khumo 265/75 R16's and ARB Bull Bar. The added suspenssion articulation and clearance made a dramatic difference as did the tyres . The main downside of the tyres is that the gearing has been stretched by about 15% - not a problem off road (low range masks the gearing change ) but in heavy traffic a great deal of effort goes into compensating for the increased legs in first gear , particularly with the dead zone of the TD5 at low revs. The tyres are superb in mud . In muddy conditions where other vehicle are slipping and sliding my Disco simply grabs chunks of Africa and moves ahead , very often without the traction control system coming into operation. Additional noise on tar is not excessive and on gravel roads corrugations simply disappear.Tags: