Challenger - new tyres - gibb river road

Hi Cookie,

I had my Challenger for nearly a year now and before buying it I actually considered switching the tyres for somthing a bit more adapted for off-road work. I asked ARB and Opposite Lock what they thought and they both told me that the tyres fitted to the car are usually the most suitable for it as long as you don't go to extrem places. They advised me to keep them on cause I would not get any real benefit from switching money wise and to see how I found them. That's what I did and kept the standard Geolander on. Now I haven't got too many occasions to take the Challenger offroad between finishing the house and the arrival of the baby. Anyhow, I managed to do some beach driving a few times and had found the Geolander were OK. I found that 18psi even in soft sand was still allright: I did not have wheel spin, didn't get the "sinking feeling" you get once you start to dig in, and let very shallow tracks behind me. In fact the only time I found it hard was when I was driving into deep tracks dug out by someone else cause I did not have the same wheel space and my wheels had to push some more sand on the sides. The fact I went OK with 18psi tells me also that I still have some margin to reduce the pressure further for even softer sand so I am happy with that.
In mud or rugged terrain I will not expect them to work as good so it is probably right to get something more adapted to those for the Gibb River Road. But that's just my impression by looking at them and I may well be wrong (well I hope so cause that means I won't have to change mine then).
I think some of the other Challenger owner on the forum got some of the tyres you are looking at so it will be interesting to see what they say.
Also did you try your local 4wd shop? They might be able to tell you what will be better for that particular car and trip.
Good luck,

Sly.

Fitted up a set of 33" with a 2" lift to a mates not long ago . Running the MTR's best al terrain tyre in the market today

A mate off another forum has a challenger fitted with Goodyear MTRs and he is full of praise for them. I think he posts here occaisionally and might see this topic.

Cookie,
You will find that theGibb River Road whenyou plan to go will be no problem with any tyre with decent tread as it has become almost a highway with standard vehicles crossing all the time .I went across last year(fourth time) and averaged 80km./hr without doing anything stupid.Going up to Mitchell Falls or Kalumbaru is a different story.

Gibb River road conditions depend on where/when the graders have been. Often really seriously corrugated........... need to pay good attention to your tyres and wnything you decide to tow. The numbers wrecks along the road (cleaned up annualy) attest the the road conditions and inexperieced drivers who think 4x4 = bullet prooof. Most std tyres should be OK if looked after.

Regards

Local

Like all good myths about how hard things are, there is an element of truth and lots of embelishment. I have not done the GRR but have done lots of corrugated, rough, sharp rocky and gibber roads. My summary is as follows

Lots of people run too hard (high pressure) and too fast. Anyone who doesn't beleive this, ask at Oodnadatta Pink Roadhouse and Arkaroola resort servo. 90% failures due to too hard and too fast according to the guys who have to fix em.

My rules

Any reasonable quality tyre these days is up to the job except probably low profile if-

1. No more than 50% worn
2. Inflated to no more than about 28psi ( for typical 4wd tyres) -consult manufacturer for minimum pressure for your tyre, as some differ.
3.You drive conservatively. 1/2 the speed is 1/4 the impact!!!

Cheers

We have done about 6000k on Yoko AT's and are happy. Haven't given them huge curry but they are good in the mud and over rough limestone. Sing a bit round the city and travel well on the highway.

Cheers,
Camper

I did the GRR on the Geo rubber and got 7 flats. I found them far too soft for the trip. Since completing the trip & speaking to others, I found the road was particularly bad at the time but I would certainly go tougher rubber. By the time we got to El Questro, the spare was completely ripped & it cost me $360- for one Kelly HT the same size as the others (& that was 2-3 years ago). Basically they said if I didn't like it I could walk to Kunnunurra & chose an alternative. When we did get to Kunnunurra we could have bought 3 All Terrains for that price but at a different size. The first thing I did when I got back is ditch what was left of the rubber for Bridgestone 693's 31x10.5x15 and 70,000ks later, they are still going strong. Although I haven't done GRR or similar since, I still get some pretty decent trips in & they have given me no trouble at all.
p.s. The pic below does not show the 693's. the Mud Mongrels get used for.....? well mud.

Spent a bit over a week on the Gibb River road 4 years ago in my 91 Jackaroo, Tyres were 8 ply Goodyear AT's.

I had no problems, although I noticed lots of vehicles with damaged tyres (only flat on the bottom !). The graders hadn't got as far as the Durack River (from the East) and the road was corrugated and rocky, with occasional patches of bulldust.

Why I have responded, and am curious about, is the matter of tyre pressures. I have an open mind about the correct way to approach this, and am aware that the majority of opinion seems to support lowering tyre pressures when travelling in such conditions.

When I travelled the GRR, I was unaware of the majority opinion, and chose to do the trip on overinflated tyres (50kpa rear, 48 kpa front), as I reasoned (wrongly ?) that with radial tyres, the majority of damage that I have seen happens to tyre sidewalls, and that if I overinflated, then there would be less chance of the (relatively) softer sidewalls on the tyres coming into contact with nasty, sharp, gibbers capable of knocking a hole in my tyres, than if I underinflated, lowering the profile of the tyres (as I do in sand). Several people I spoke to about this thought I was mad, BUT I travelled the Gibb River road, Cape LeVeque, Roper "Highway", and the Oodnadatta track on the same principles (and trip), and the only punctures I had (2) were in Adelaide.

While travelling the GRR, I passed a couple of Toyotas whose drivers had reckoned I was wrong, but they had the flats, not me.

BTW the vehicle was pretty well loaded (back seats removed) and full up to the window line.

There was also a young bloke with a Sandman panel van who had to rebuild his wheel bearings on the trip, but had no other problems, except having to repack them after the Pentecost crossing.

Wotya reckon ? Just lucky, or some sense in my thinking. ?

You can get the best tyres in the world that money can buy, but you can't tell what is under the bull dust.

Have Cooper ATs. Not one puncture caused by a rock or alike, but by nails and screws between the tread blocks! Things drop off vehicles on these roads and you may drive over it.

It all comes down to tyre pressure and driving technique. We drove part of the Roper Hwy. We were passed by a Cruiser that ended up doing 4 tyres (their first 10 km into it) before they got to Booraloola. We were towing a van and had no problems

Sometimes it is just pure luck.................

I carry 2 spares as well as a Safety Seal repair kit and compressor. If need be I carry a spare (used) casing which saves a few hundred dollars in these outback garages.

Wizard
Prado TD
Gold Coast