tyres once and for all

SECTION 1

1) 2 x sets Kuhmos, old pattern now, but similar in looks to Duellers
2) yes, quite good on highways, 'easy' dirt roads & sand
3) no in tough, rocky roads & cross country got quite a few punctures
4) as above
5) yes, about 60 K from 5 tyres
6) not bad value for money - cheaper than the big brand name tyres. IMHO would suit 90 % of travellers

SECTION 2

1) Toyo Opats, a 10 ply AT style tyre, on the more aggresive side to most AT's, with very upright walls
2) yes
3) good puncture resistance (10 ply helps) . Letting tyre pressures down & dropping speed helps HEAPS
4) as above
5) Relatively OK re distance but dirt rds & highways are only some of my travel. Gibbers & cross country with heavy vehicles KILLS tyres.
I bought these as a similar to Cooper tyre, but cheaper. That seems to be what they are, but haven't had Cooper yet for the real test
6) Letting tyre pressures down & dropping speed helps HEAPS

Next tyre most likely Cooper ST-C. the C meaning anti Chip on rocky roads.

Cheers

Well Mr Diamond I am only new to 4WDing but here goes

(1) Car came with near bald wranglers which still saw me 10K+ Now run BFG's AT
(2) BFG's are good so far in the wet and dry roads. Wranglers never saw wet roads but good on dry roads.
(3) BFG's are great off road(Extremely happy) Wranglers were on their last legs but didn't fail me once
(4) Have never had a puncture with either set of tyres but tried to get a flat with the Wranglers and couldn't puncture them even at Landcruiser MT Park.
(5)No comment ;-{
(6)I personally think if you try hard enough you can wreck any tyre on the market but mostly it is bad luck getting a flat tyre.

Sparkie(IE not Y) ;-)

Hi Diamond

(1) Have used bridgestone 604, good year wrangler, now coopers ST
(2) 604, great on sand and offroad, bad in the wet
Good year great on bitumen, bad in wet
Coopers so far excellent all round, happy with performance in the wet, offroad and on road
(3) Happy with the 604's and coopers offroad
(4) only 1 puncture in the good year's
(5) good ks in all. Coopers only 10k so far

hope that helps

Crazie

Hi Diamond,

I'll bite (love talking tyres!).

Vehicle is 2004 Prado 120 series 3.0l Turbo-diesel with stock suspension. Toyota Bullbar and Duel Battery system installed (bit more weight in the front than stock).

(1)Cooper A/T in 265/70R17. Now have 25,000km on the clock.
(2)Great on bitumen, quiet and grip ok in wet or dry - no probs
(3)Not bad off road - have had one serious sidewall cut from rocks which cost $70 to repair. No evidence of cutting or chipping in the tread after some pretty sharp rocky gravel. grip seems adequate on gravel and rocks and they dig a bit in the sand.
(4)No punctures experienced. have been through Flinders twice and Whyalla scrub. Just the one cut to sidewall already mentioned.
(5)At 25,000km they look one third worn so expect to get 60,000 no prob.
(6)Fairly expensive at $260 each but with 17 inch rims on the prado they are still a bit rare. Am looking to replace with something better for off-road as these wear out. Maybe a Goodyear MTR or the new Cooper STT (provided they come in my size!)

Hope this thread becomes a bit of a resource for people on the lookout!

Cheers
Muddy

G'day Jim

Being an old bushie(as you might know) I have only recently gone the 'modern' way and fitted some flash fat tyres. In the past I relied mainly on Dunlop Roadgripper(Telecom tyres) 750x16's to see me through. Had me fair share of punctures via stakes and so on and the tread used to last about 40,000km. Most of the time however I picked up seconds around the traps when I needed them and they served me well. In the old days I used to run Jeep Service tyres and some othe brands of crossplies. Over the years I have had Kumho, BFG' AT's, Armstrong Rhinos, Bridgestone DD's, BFG Mudders, Dick Cepek Mudders, Hankooks, Firestones and a host of others I can't recall. I can't really tell if one was better than the other as I swapped my fourbies over that often. I had a bad run with BFG AT's but they were 825's and I only had 750 tubes in them. Also the rims may have been too narrow.

When I updated to a 94 GQ recently it came with Kelly Safari AWR's which seem to be about half worn and I have clicked up 15,000km with them since then. They are now on the Cruiser and seem indestructable. I have shod the GQ with Cooper STT's and apart from some concerns with cracking in between the lugs I don't have an issue with them. They perform extremely well in the desert and on the beach. In clay on the Strzelecki they did gum up very fast but the mud was like glue. Haven't taken them in wet mud though(doesnt rain here very often). Apart from being a tad noisy on the bitumen I am happy with them and have clicked up 5000km. I will be able to report back in June when we have completed our 8 week WA trip how they fared over all types of terrain. Have had no punctures with the Coopers or Kellys so far and have been in on some extreme tracks.

(1) Currently on Bridgstone Desert Duellars.
(2) Can be a little noisy, good on dry and suprisingly good in the wet. But still a little slippery.
(3) They exceeded expectations off road, including sand, mud, gravel, rocks. Very happy off road.
(4) They are pretty old and brittle now and (touch wood) still no punctures.
(5) They were on the vehicle when I bought it and are still going well. The inside LF tyre has been chewed out a little due to a faulty suspension part, all other are wearing very well. I've done about 30k on them myself. I reckon they've got another 6 months or so in them.
(6) I find tyre pressure need to be very high on the DD's for on road use otherwise the vehicle tends to float around a bit epsecially on the highway loaded up. They have handled low pressure very well, been as low as 10psi fully load on the beach for many k's.

My two bits for what it is worth.
Have tried Dessert Duellers and would not go anywhere near them again (but that was several years ago, maybe different now), was a BFG A/T's fan until they put on the "Bead Protector", and at lowish pressure in mud and sand kept getting slow leaks as sand and mud got caught in the bead, and have trouble keeping the newer BFG balanced, last set was Kelly MSR's, upto 70k now (and probably should be replaced), but all over the AT in mud and clay.
As for punctures, my experience is it is more about pressure and luck than brands, seems you can pick up a nail anywhere, and put a stone thru a harder tyre easier than a softer tyre.
Am tossing up Coopers next, but at 25-30% more than the Kelly's I'll need a 100,000k guarantee, not the 80 to make it cost effective!!!

Gday all, I have BFG Mud Terrain 32x12.5x15 on my Patrol. So far have completed 30 000 klms on them and am happy with the wear considering what they cop. I have taken them on a touring trip of 16000klms including hwy driving, The Tanami Track, Gibb River Road and lots of other tracks. Through the trip we got two punctures and both were in between the tread which is a fair amount of real estate. Other than this it has been doing normal driving and weekend mud and off road work. I am very happy with on road performance in the wet and dry and also very happy with it in the bush. The only complaints would be the noise on hwy(obviously) and the amount of room for stones to get in and cause punctures when touring. The questioon would I get them again, absolutely!

Hi Diamond
I am currently on my 2nd set of BFG ATs on my GQ ute and so happy with them I just fitted same to our GU Wagon
First set on the GQ got 80k which includes a trip up the cape every year and had only 2 punctures in 80k
Great offroad tyre if you lower pressures when required
Only downside is a little slippery in the wet when towing my work trailer (tandem)
But up here in Townsville it never rains anyway LOL
Cheers Poppy

IT wont matter dude, you will still get 239028034892089423098203948 different answers!!!
Kumho
BFG
Bridgestone
Goodyear
Simex.

All good all bad...

Let me start at the beginning. I have now had 33 different 4wd's and in those years have just about had most of the main tyre brands. Here are my conclusions of which some will now be obselete as manufacturers have change compounds and patterns in those years but kept the same name. I average about 120 000 km's a year (normally 2 sets of tyres) of which about 40,000 km's are offroad or high speed corrugated dirt roads.

Olympic Busharangers - Noisy, wander on the road, slippery in wet and uneven wear pattern, cheap

Yokohama Super Digger - Quiet, stick like glue in the wet, expensive, soft compound, wear out in under 40,000 k's

Bridgestone Desert Duellers - Quiet, harder compound than Yokohama, averaged about 60,000 km's, watch out in the wet for the last 20,000 km's they get pretty slippery

Silverstone M/T's - Good wear patterns, cheap, ongoing balance problems

Kelly Safari's - Quiet, uneven wear pattern but still got about 60,000 km's out of them, small sizes O.K. but 33 x 12.5's wandered all over the road, cheap.

Goodyear Wranglers - Wear funny and only about 30,000 km's, balance problems

BF Goodrich All Terrains - Excellent value for money, good wear patterns, long life 60 - 80,000 km's, quiet, good in the wet

BFG Mud Terrains - This was my previous set of tyres, as above, new patterns very quiet for a mud tyre, would buy these again.

Cooper S/T - This is my current set of tyres, very comparible to BFG's but a little bit cheaper, good all round tyres and excellent value for money

Also had some cheaper impoted brands that I can't remember the names of but wouldn't go near any of them again.

Of all of the miles I have done I have never had a flat tyre but I always renew my tyres when they are about 75% worn out. I have 9000 acres of mountain goat country bordering 50,000 hectares of state forest near Monto in Qld and my tyres get a workout which is why I renew them before they get too low.

My next set of tyres will either be BFG Mud Terrains or Cooper M/T's. I don't doubt there may be better tyres for individual purposes but for a good balance between highway, high speed dirt, off road, wet road, long life, even wear and value for money I don't think you can beat either of these brands. Hey, but thats just my opinion!!!

Have a great day,

Brett
Nissan Patrol Wagon/Toyota Landcruiser Ute (at the moment)

For something different I am using Dunlop GRANDTREK AT2's on my 80 series and have found them to be a reasonable tyre on and off road.

Grip well in the wet on road and ok on some of the rougher tracks around Avoca, as long as I let the pressure down to about 22 psi. Following a 100 series with Coopers.

The wear seems to be better than the set of Coopers on my friends truck.

Have not tried them in the mud but they are an all terrain so dont expect them to be like a muddie.

For the price I am happy with them.

Tony N.

Though this is a yank site. may throw a bit more light on the neverending discussion on TYRES.
for what its worth!
try this