tyres

I had heard that the mines were using them because they perform well on harsh surfaces. I have been using them for some years with very satisfactory results.

Cheers,

Kevin

tyres was doing some homework for future tyres 17 inch for my px ranger,have mickey thompson apz3 at the moment ,blew one on the gibb,not readily availble in kununarra or broome but available in pt hedland i like the mickeys but too expensive,in melbourne 375 to 450 dollars each,at the wandin 4wd show back in febuarary could get them for 350 each

Hi Stephen

I am running 697's at the moment - LT with a 117LR on a 2014 Prado towing a Kimberley Karavan. They have done 30,000km and are about 50% life assuming one is prepared to run then to the very end of life. I find that considerations of forthcoming trips( road severity and duration) end up with tyres being changed for safety sake when they still have reasonable life.

The real question. The current set of 697's cost $250/tyre fitted and balanced. Your comment on the Toyo's being $80/tyre peaked my interest. I am in Perth and haven't seen Toyo's cheaper than what I paid for the 697's.

What Toyo's did you buy and if you don't mind me asking what did you pay for them?

All the best

John

Hi John

As mentioned on another recent post regarding tyres, I have had previously 3 sets of the Bridgestone tyres.

1 set of the 694's in LT construction and 2 sets of the new style 697's , again in LT construction. Our Prado is only ever used when we go bush and sets in the carport all other times, so in tyre reality has around a 90 percent dirt life on 10 percent bitumen life.

Tyres rotated every 5000 or after every trip and because they spend all their life in the bush as such, I would replace them when they dropped below the 50 percent tread life, giving us the best possible safety and protection when in the bush. The 697's were a fantastic tyre, would rate them 100 percent with the exception of the way they wear. The cheapest price I could buy them was $320 per tyre f&b.

Last year before heading bush, my third set of 697's was under the 50% , so knowing the tracks I was going to be travelling, set out to buy another set and was set on going for my 4th of Bridgestones.

Ringing a couple of dealers, the first one said why do I want the 697's?
I gave him my answer and he said I was paying a premium just for the name and said that he had a better tyre and a lot cheaper, and just as good, if not better.

Given the details, it then got me searching and then then bit the bullet and purchased the then new Toyo Open Country A/T 2 LT for $240 per tyre f&b.
The tyres as the same standard size as the 697's....265/65R17LT, but with a higher load rating of 120R.

So far they have travelled just over 10,000 kms, are just as quiet on the bitumen, great on dirt , no chipping and best of all, wearing better. So with all those facts, you can see why I am very happy with the new Toyo's and time will be the final test, but even if the only wear the same as the Bridgestone, I am still miles in front with the price variation.

I have since replaced the crap BFG's on my camper that were so badly chipped, it was beyond a joke with Toyo's, being 16" have an even higher load rating of 121R and they were $435 for the pair f&b.

Like I have said, time will be the final test, but based on all my facts, will give full praise to the new Open Country A/T2's.



Cheers



Stephen

Hi Stephen

Many thanks for your comprehensive reply. Much appreciated. After reading your response I recalled your previous post on the subject. Memory retention obviously inversely proportional to age in my case.

I will be interested to see how you rate your Toyo's after you have done a few more kms. When I looked at the tread pattern on the AT2's my first reaction was that they were likely to be noisy. So it's useful to hear you say that they are not. We live in Perth so the Nullabor is often crossed as the quick way to or from SE Australia. Hence my interest in low tyre noise on the bitumen and the 697's have proven to be quiet.

I ran Toyo tyres on my high performance cars and was always impressed with their performance and quality. So hopefully the same applies to the AT2's. At $240 the Toyo's appear to be very good value. When I purchased the 697's the bargain price of $250 ( compared to what was usual at around $340) had a big influence on my decision to buy them. I haven't been disappointed to date. However they will be replaced within the next year so I will definitely have a close look at the Toyo's.

Cheers

John

Hi John again.....lol

Like you I thought that the A/T2 would have to be noisier on the bitumen with their slightly more aggressive tread pattern, but how surprised I was.

If you did not know that I had changed tyres, I could hear no difference in noise level what so ever and is just as quiet and smooth handling as the previous 697's.

But to be very honest, it was the price alone that made me go to the Toyo's, as $80 per tyre is just too much variation. The sales guy said that you are paying for a premium price just for their name and with the introduction of the new A/T2, they were just walking out the door and he was finding it hard to keep up with stock.

So far they have been on the Oodnadatta, Birdsville and Strezelecki Tracks as well as a few real Flinders Ranges four wheel drive tracks and not a mark on them, so yes, time will be the biggest test of all.

Based on how they are going do far, I am happy to promote a great product at a great price. And no I am not sponsored by Toyo, just a very happy customer.



Cheers




Stephen

The relative price between Toyo AT2s and Dueller 697LTs must depend on size and your location. I looked at both last September and in 265/70/16 the 697s were $215 ea at Bob Jane Fyshwick and the best price I could find for the AT2s was $280 at Tyrepower in Queanbeyan. (Just checked 697s now $249 at BJ in either 265/65/17 or 265/70/16, Tyrepower don't give a price online for the Toyos)

I have changed from Bridgestone 697s to Toyo AT2 as well on my cruiser ute. The reason I changed was I had to get new rear tyres when I got to Alice Springs on a Saturday morning.
When I rang up and enquired he (the tyre man) told me he had a couple of 697's
265-70-16, but of course when I got there he didn't have any.

I had been looking at the AT2's for a while and asked if he had some of those. He did and they were $345 f&b.

I only got 32,000k out of the Bridgestone 697's which I thought was a little sparse, but in their defence i was fully loaded to the max and towing a 3t van for most of that.

I have 13,500k on AT2's at the moment and have lost 4mm of tread according to my tyre depth gauge.

I guess time will tell, and if I can get 40,000 out of them I will be happy.
I also found they are very quiet on the bitumen.

Cheers

Hi Warren

I agree with your comments on tyre pricing. It appears similar to some dark art form. I just did a quick search on current prices of Toyo tyres here in Perth. See below.

It appears that the 265/65R17LT price that Stephen paid in SA is almost identical to the advertised cost here in Perth. The LR of the tyres is not shown and may influence the listed prices somewhat.

Cheers

John

AT2
235/75R15 $199
31x10.5R15 $209
225/75R16 $219
245/70R16 $219
245/75R16 $239
255/70R16 $229
265/70R16 $239
265/75R16 $239
285/75R16 $279
225/70R17 $239
245/65R17 $269
265/65R17 $239
275/65R17 $269
285/65R17 $279
285/70R17 $309
35x12.5R17 $399
285/60R18 $299
285/65R18 $349

These are all light truck construction made in Japan

TOYO MT
265/75R16 $270
285/75R16 $300
305/70R16 $360
315/75R16 $350
265/70R17 $340

Stephen I am interested in your Toyo AT2's. I think we may have discussed this before, but I am happy with mine too.

They seem to be wearing well and are quite and a good tread pattern for an AT.

My only concern is that they are only 2 ply. Have you experienced anything that worries you about the sidewall toughness?

Hi Tony

My only real content was when we did the Arden Hills 4 x 4 Track Drive back in March.

There were some very serious large, sharp rocks the size of a soccer balls and bigger. I did expect to get tyre damage and to my surprise, the tyres survived without any damage, more than I can can for my alloy rims.

They did suffer with a couple a deep scratches that I though would have cut the sidewalls of the tyres. So after that real test, I was more than impressed with the way the tyres handled those conditions.


Cheers


Stephen

You may find that a large percentage of mine vehicles are hire vehicles these days so the supplier is responsible for services and tyres etc some are not even serviced on site they are taken to the local town. Where I work a fitter wasn't even allowed to change a flat tyre on a ute it gets taken off site on a flat bed not sure if that has changed or not but amazingly it's ok to change a 3mtr tall haul truck tyre go figure.

Dean, they also probably use Bridgestones on their Tonka toys hence the tie up with the light vehicle tyres. One vendor for all.