TYRES - STAKED SIDEWALLS

Maybe look at the size of the rims, a wider rim will lessen the exposed part of the side wall. Or go back to split rims for desert trips where you may encounter this type of problem.

In some cased , the side wall can be repaired . Then run them as your spare. At least they dont go to waste

yeah...as someone has already said...i staked one thru the side a few yrs back....when i went to get another from tyre dealers in Pt Augusta all asked what pressure was i running....afetr 3 asked me the same i got one to test presure......50psi and tyres were only 2 weeks old?....too high they said. Picked up 2nd hand one to get me back home

when i got back to adeliade i took it round to tyre mart and queried them over presure and they came back with reply ....they can take 60 max!!!

not good enough i said and gave them the staked tyre.....they sent it off and back it came repaired....been on car for two n half yrs since and replaced last week as it was bald...well almost...no charge for tyre repair either

( tyre dealers up pt augusta said the tyre MAY have rolled over the sun hardend bit of salt bush if pressures were around 30-35)....but i know 50 psi was way too high

Between a rock and a hard place.....
LOW pressures will expose more sidewall to the obstacles you encounter. The tyre bulges out with a lot of sidewall exposed at the bottom. Likewise wider rims expose MORE sidewall and therefore are not a good idea.

HIGHER pressures on dirt will nearly always REDUCE the chances of tyre damage from rocks etc.- whether that would help with the "little burnt spikes is anyone's guess...
Radials have always been strong in the tread, weak in the sidewall- the old cross plies had much stronger sidewalls. There used to be radial tyres available which had stronger sidewalls- don't know if there's still such tyres???
Good luck Willie

Hi Willie this might be a real long shot but a long long time ago I saw a tv show (I think it was towards 2000) maybe , anyway they were testing these strange rubber tyre things on a land crusier going over sand dunes and driving over nails and spikes , they are kind of hard to explain but they looked like an old wagon wheel but made from steel with thick half loops of rubber running around the outside for the tyre ?? strange I know but they could drive over any kind of spike and no prob as there was no air in them and they were still kind of light as there was no side wall at all. they were testing them for cars that work in mines .
yes not ver practical for on road but no more punctures.

If there is a solution, the military probably has investigated it. Any present or ex-military transport drivers on line?

The only alternative I can think of is to have the much thicker side walls that the old cross plys had. These did not bulge much. Commercial tyres. But that may not go well with sand.

Heres one,

Mount a dozer blade to the front of your rig, that way it will do the track so that when we come through it wont damage our tyres either. ;)

Just a thought...

Oh well got to go and have another sedative

Cheers

Best advice is to stay on designated tracks instead of cross country driving to make new ones.
This is what gives 4wdrivers a bad name.
Unless of course, you had a legitimate reason for going off the designated tracks.

How about a Kevlar cover/sock?....they can be bullet-proof

Willie - have done the same thing. 2 tyres in about 5 minutes and I was only on forestry tracks - just bad luck with bloody sharp objects. So I can sympathise. But back to your question there's a guy from WA who's on this site now and then who does heaps of off the beaten track driving as part of his work. Buggered if I can recall his name. Anyway he swears by rag (cross ply) tyres. But I guess you then have to live with their other issues for the long bitumen stretches in between the real stuff!

I don't know if you can get them for cars/fourbies, but there's a run flat-type tyre for off-road motorbikes. It consists of a high density foam inner core that is mounted inside the tyre around the rim. When the tyre is inflated, the foam is far enough away from the tyre so that there is an air-space between the two, and the tyre operates as per normal. When deflated, the tyre rests on the inner foam core, thus keeping the shape of the tyre and allowing you to run along at a reduced speed. Obviously, there are some drawbacks (harsh ride when deflated, reduced speed in the event of a puncture, less bagging-out of the tyre when dropping pressures for sand driving, etc), but in emergency situations it could ge a godsend. I bet that lady who got herslef stuck out on the WA coast with 5 flat tyres on her RAV4 would have loved to have this system....

get a set of motorway monoform tyres they have several tread patterns & a monoform tyre is a new tyre moulded from bead to bead so the tyre wall is almost twice as thick .not fool proof but alot better than a standard tyre & about 1/2 the price

Speaking to an outback WA tyre dealer who recomended a 12 ply Olympic Highmiler (from memory) as a good cross country tyre. Basically for light trucks. With a closed tread pattern it resisted staking very well & has a tough sidewall.
A mining exploration crew we spoke to were getting up to 15 flats per day so sourced a solid tyre with a soft core. (No more flats) Only rated for slow speeds but they ran a standard set when back on the tar. Sorry that was 10 year ago so don't know the name of them .
For a thick side wall on a commonly available trye you can't go past an MTR.
Cheers Craig.............

Willie, I was a field manager for mineral exploration crews (up to 6 landcruisers at a time) running in spinifex country in the northern goldfields of WA. The only way to go was to use crossply tyres on split rims and carry lots of spares (tubes, patches, tyres etc).

Anyone rolling up to a job with radials (especially road grippers) would be turned around and sent back home as it was a total waste of everyones time. The Hi-Milers handle like s@%t, chip on rocks and certainly still stake, but they last way longer than anything else. My record was 10 flats in one day in the old timber line areas north of Menzies.

There may be a better option for tyres these days, but 10 years ago crossply was the only way to go. My advice to you, is to completely ignore all advice - unless it comes from someone who actually currently earns their livng 4WD'ing in the area you want to traverse on a daily basis. Handling and grip is purely academic if your are sitting on four flat and irreperable tyres in the middle of nowhere.

Also, we used to take our radiators out every night if necessary to blow them out. Doesn't matter what you put in front of them, seeds will get in. Get rid of your airconditioner and wing mirrors too for spinifex and bush bashing.

This is probably an extreme example, but we worked on the theory that it was cheaper to trash Landcruisers than hire six helicopters with pilots. And no, we could not stick to tracks as there weren't any.

Hope this helps.

there is only one option I'm afraid Willie and that is to stay on the tracks and off the burnt out sections. It's a common problem and this truly is the only answer.
I've opted for Goodyear Wrangler MTR's which have a sidewall thickness of 16mm as opposed to the 12mm of the competition. Haven't staked 'em yet other than a particularly nasty trek along the old Callawa Track in Great Sandy Desert but still staked them (as did everyone in the group).
You don't need chains in the desert and I'm sure you wouldn't really use 'em anyway.

Hi Willie,

I lead a lot of club trips into desert country, and happily say that we very rarely get punctures. My suggestions:

#1 Run low pressures - allows the tyre to "give" instead of being staked. I use 24psi on any dirt road and 18-20psi in desert country.
#2 Keep weight to a minimum
#3 Don't speed on outback roads
#4 Goodyear MTR have the best sidewalls and puncture resistance of any radial tyre. My own opinion is that Coopers are a good tyre but sidewalls are a bit thin.

Now if you stake a tyre, then do a simple plug repair with it still on the vehicle. Just put air back in, find the leak and follow the kits instructions - you may need several plugs. Once plugged, these tyres rarely leak - get it formally repaired when back in civilisation. I personally would only put a tube into a tubeless tyre if its an emergency.

After running split rims for 15 years, and having gone tubeless for the past 9 years, I am now a strong tubeless convert. They give much less trouble, wear better and are safer when punctured because of gradual deflation. They are also much easier to repair because you can simply plug them.

Cheers
Phil