New tyres

That just seems a lot of hassle though. I'm not worried about road noise (I can just turn the stereo up louder!) KM's from the tyres a little. That's why I'm looking at alternatives. I read all of the magazine articles, but sometimes find that whoever pays the most for advertising gets the best result ... no surely they wouldn't do that!

Paul

Thanks. I'll let you know if I track down a user of Motorway's. Apparently a lot of taxi's and truckies us them......not so many 4WD's though

G'day Ben,

Just to clarify something you said there which I think has been shown to be a misconception......you used the term "bag out". A lot of blokes think that the big advantage they achieve in sand from letting their tyres down, comes from this so-called "bagging" effect. They believe (wrongly) that letting tyres down causes the sidewalls to bag-out, thus adding to the size of the footprint the tyre makes on the sand. However, tests have shown that the enlarged footprint is actually due to the tyre "print" elongating, rather than widening to any massive extent.

Indeed, if the sidewalls DO flatten out very much it makes them VERY susceptible to sidewall punctures; the sidewalls (even the 3 ply rated ones) are no where near as tough as the tread section of the tyre and they were not designed to run with sidewalls touching the ground.

Soooo, I guess the upshot of that, is that if you can get a tyre that WON'T bag out to the sides as much as some others, maybe they would be better suited to sand driving.

Roachie is spot on.
From exp I have found this to be the case.
AT.s are probably the best bet.

Thanks for the advice. I'm beginning to see that A/T's seem to be a good compromise.

Muzzgit
I agree with what you say. On bitumen the big lug tyres are noisy, wear faster, and don't handle (cornering and braking) as well in either wet or dry conditions. In addition, a 3 inch lift might look impressive but again you get poorer stabilty for what sounds like is going to be the majority of your driving. A way around this is to use the money you save on the lift to buy a set of four rims and fit some 33" tyres for off road use. This will give you a 2" lift, plus the aggressive rubber. The downside is transporting and changing 4 wheels when you do your infrequent off road forays.

So M/T are no good in sand? You would be the first person to tell me that. I have been asking this for a long time and no-one has been able to tell me this. This would definitely sway me to A/T.
I'll check my insurance. I think I'm right though. I checked a lot of these things before handing over any money to them!!!

The last thing you really want in sand is something that will dig holes..

HT's are the best for sand work.

For the little klms you appear to do in mud etc, AT's would be by far the best for you.

Having them clog up with sand is not a problem, unlike mud. Slicks would be good on sand. You don't need so much traction on sand, you need to sit on top of sand and roll along. Traction will dig holes and get you bogged.

Buying a second set of rims gives you an excuse to get a garage air compressor and rattle gun/air tools as well.
Well that what I told my missus.

John D