A/T Tyre Advice

Had 3 sets of Yokohama Geolander AT, 265/70/17,310 Thousand on the Speedo,no punctures,they suit me for off road, beach ,highway,not noisy even when they become worn.

Hi

Is there any reason why you have gone away from the standard tyre size?

You can still get almost all brands in the standard sizing.

Do not overlook the new Toyo Open Country A/T in LT construction and a far better tyre than the Bridgestone 697's as well as a lot cheaper.



Cheers



Stephen

Donlogan .

Any of the brands you mentioned will be fine as well as the Toyo mentioned
All the name brand tyres are much the same these days .
Go with the best value .

Cheers

I had BFG KOs in 265/70-17 on a 120 Prado and was very happy with them, though they did chip a bit. Had 3 sets while I had the car.

Now using the same size in KO2s on my BT50. I'm just as happy, maybe a bit more because these later tyres don't seem to chip.

I estimate my useage is 50/50 highway and dirt. Depending on the condition of the dirt, I run them pretty soft, which would accentuate any sidewall issues. I've never had sidewall damage in 10 years, except once on the camper (same tyre) which cut the corner going around a tree and got staked.

I don't know what they're talking about re weak sidewalls - as far as I am concerned that is BS. I find wear is average with what I do, about 60k with a 5 tyre rotation, NEVER had a balancing problem and conversely to what you've heard, excellent off-road performance, both on formed dirt roads and fire trails and alpine tracks.

Theres been a few AT tyre threads lately... have a scroll through and check em out.

You've listed many brands in your initial post. There are many good tyres out there which will certainly suit your needs.

The Toyo's are certainly very popular at the moment.

You mentioned the Mickey P3's. IMHO, they are a wicked tyre with lots of life but theres many AT tyres which will do 100K per set. Sure they are 8 or 10 ply thickness (they could be more, forget) but as I've been told by many people who live and work in the Cape - if you're going to stake a tyre, you're going to stake a tyre! A tyre with a Light Truck rating, same deal - if you're going to stake a tyre, you're going to stake a tyre! Think of the things that bust into tyres, they go along way into the tyre whether thats in the centre or the sidewall etc

My last set of Geolanders ATs (the 2012 models, not the earlier ones) did 110K and could have done more. I found them to be very good alround tyre, awesome in sand.

Hope this helps

Any reason why you are wanting to change from the Bridgestones?

Just interested thats all!

Cheers Gazza

When I purchased my Prado in 2007 you could not buy light truck tyres to fit it in 265/65/17,went to the 265/70/17 gives slight better ground clearance & to me looks better filling up the guards,they are 10 ply,I run them at 30psi,when not loaded & 36 loaded,Bob Jane always tells me I am running them to low,300 thousand out of 3 sets,no wheel alinement, I must be doing something right, rotate them with the spare every 10 th kys, get lucky some times, with not having to get them balanced on the rotation, I have had BFG,Bribgestones,Coopers,on previous vehicles,the Yokohama’s have had the least road noise out of them all ,good mileage ,not noisy,balance up good,so far puncture free, this is why I have stuck with them.

Everyone's got opinions and favourites re tyres based on experiences and where they go or have been.

Maybe try a different angle. I have a number of sets of tyres but my tyres of choice, for cross country 4Wding, are Goodyear Wrangler MTRs. Why?

Because I get a repair or replacement warranty for 4 years and it works.

If you get a puncture and it can't be legally repaired i.e. in sidewall, they replace the tyre pro rata plus fitting and balancing - No Arguements.

I have had them for about 6 years and so far have received over $4,000 in benefit from Goodyear and I still have six almost new tyres on my vehicle.

Are they any good you may ask? Yes with thicker sidewalls and Kevlar belting they are far more resist to punctures than my other sets being Mud KO's and AT KM2s. I save the BFGs for regular off roading etc and use the Wranglers for cross country work. On a recent trip doing cross country work in mulga country and I was lead vehicle, I got two slow leaks whereas those following in my wheel tracks wrecked tyres or got up to three punctures each.

Wranglers are excellent value for money - they are a robust tyre and the insurance makes them top of the heap in my opinion.

PS. You can only get the warranty from a Beaurepaires store.

es

Firstly, I'll put my hard hat on now, because I expect a lot of people will jump on me. The designers of the car have a lot more experience than I do, and I bet everyone else on this forum. They decided that they would specify a certain size and type of tyre (or shock absorber, or spring rate or...). People buy the vehicle and then go out and undo what the original designer had put a lot of thought into. Yes - I can hear you screaming now, and you may have a point or two as well.

Firstly, it is always a compromise what they specify for tyres. Basically there are highway tyres and there are off-roaders (muddies etc). There is a fair bit of grey in between as well. People tend to go for fatter tyres "because they bag out better when the pressure is dropped". WRONG! When tyre pressure is dropped the bagging tends to be along the tread rather than across it. And this is exactly what you want. In sand or snow, you don't want to be bulldozing a track a foot wide if you can get the same contact area with a narrower tyre. You are after flotation and if you are pushing less sand aside, you will go further. Another reason not to go too wide is that you are exposing the sidewalls more to damage when you drop the pressures. Years ago, I had the first model Cortina and my friends all had VW's. In the snow, the Cortina killed them. A VW with wintertread tyres would climb a tree, but in deep snow, the wheels used to sag down until they they ran out of road to grip. Then the VW just sat on the snow - dead. My Cortina had Michelin tyres on it. The tread was less than 100 mm wide and they were very baggy, but it used to leave tracks in the snow about 2" (50 mm) deep. The tread contacted the road surface over about 16" (40 mm). Both cars were of similar weight. It went a lot further in deep snow that the VW's ever could.

Secondly, regarding staking a tyre, some of the AT tyres have 3 plies in the sidewalls. The highway tyres certainly have only two, and maybe even a single layer of reinforcement in the sidewalls. These tyres will have less internal friction and therefore will run cooler and use less fuel. So there are advantages to having an AT tyre on your 4WD, particularly if you frequently travel on gravel or stony roads. The Hankook AT RF-10 has 3 plies on the sidewall, and also a heavy rubber skin which (hopefully) will increase resistance to staking. Some of the other brands also have the 3 ply sidewalls and heavier rubber on the sidewalls.
Increasing the diameter will give you more ground clearance, but it also effectively makes for taller gearing. This can sometimes have advantages, but the original designers have put a lot of thought into choosing the gearing, and you run the risk of stuffing things up - particularly if you have automatic transmission.
So I'll now run for cover as every gets steamed up and throws things at me. There are consequences for changing the original design concept of a vehicle. By all means modify or adapt your vehicle to suit your needs, but try to look deeply into the effect of any such change before you jump.

I will just put this info in here, because I can :)
Quite a few OKA owners are fitting Michelin XML 325/85R16s to their vehicles on 9"rims. That is a pretty big tyre.
I hear that they are not very nice on the black top, but that they out perform anything in the bush.
They have a max. load capacity of 5075 lbs (that is well over 2 tonns per tyre) at 65psi and are designed for low pressure operations.
They are all steel construction and have a SINGLE ply sidewall.
This is the same tyre that the Australian Military uses on its 8X8 APCs.
I covet a set........ :)

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

Just this week, I've replaced the original, very ordinary Dunlop AT-1's(265.70R16) on our 79 series Landcruiser, with Toyo AT II's 265.75R16's. I don't think the sky will fall in because I've gone up one tyre size, and I know from past experience that the Toyo's should wear well.

On an 80 series wagon we had, we ran BFG AT's in 265.75R16, and never had a major drama with them. In over 200K clicks, only had 1 flat, but none of them lasted more then 35K, the tread would chip away until they were worn out. I believe this fault may have been rectified in later offerings?

Bob

To the OP:

Mate, I don’t know where you got your pricing from but I bought Hankook 265/65/17 rf10 Dynapros for $210 @ last year. My BFGs were $330/350 a few years back. That’s a bit more than $157 difference for 5. I really like the bfgs, particularly for the puncture resistance over three sets (maybe I’ve been lucky?) but after talking to my supplier, opted for the Hankook this time. Certainly look a decent tyre but I haven’t really put them through much work yet.

You can experiment for years but the only answer bf goodrich A/T there expensive but you get what you pay for.