Best tyres for gibber and off road travel?

Laura,
"Gibber" is the sharp rocky stuff you'll find on outback roads like Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks, and a lot of the roads in western queensland. They can make tyres look like minced meat, especially when you travel too fast at high pressures. The sharp rocks can cut thru tyres and cause blowouts.

"They can make tyres look like minced meat,"

They certainly cut my Cooper STs up really badly, used Firestone RMTs last year in similar conditions with no problems at all.

He started the perv ....hahahahah...we need a pix so you can switch off !
Splitz will carry tubed tyres that are more suited to true off track conditions. However such tyres aren't usually very comfortable on the tar. And usually there's a lot of tar to get into the bush, so a compromise tyre is often used. And therein lies the rub. You can't get a tyre that does one well, they are compromises. Hence the "discussions" about which compromise is best.
If you're doing deserts, you need floatation and puncture resistance etc
Mud ? Grip and self cleaning etc .
Tar...not noisy and steer well etc etc

Laura

Aren't you travelling on gibber on your big trip? If so, if you don't know what it is now, you soon will.

& do yourself a favour, don't fit Cooper STs!

i always thought that gibber was an actua road...hehehehehehe.....silly me....will soon find out...leaving in 12wks!!!!LOL thatnks for teacing me something new .....again....

Laura

Laura,

I reckon you were thinking of Gibb River Rd in the Kimberley - maybe it should be renamed Gibber River Rd :-)))

yeah!! see im not that stupid as people may think!!! LOL !!!

Thats prob what i was thinking....Prob where they got the name from?????

Laura

yeah i agree about looking, but destroyed coopers last year in 7000km of rough, had done 30K prior and hardly worn.
i realy think the split rim is probably the best for rough, look at most station and mining vehicals.
if could drop cruiser at start of bush i would love to just run cross plys, tough as nails but dangerous on bitchumin.

how do you know?

Going on your rig pic's, i'd say there made for swimin cheer's GREENDOG

I use them. They are used for rock crawling and a lot of military vechicles use
them, including those in Iraq. They got 3 ply side wall which is very tought.

www.4x4wire.com/reviews/gymtr99/

GREENDOG they are excellent all round tyre. A lot of people use them as an AT type of tyre.

Yeah mate no worry's just having a dig mate i use 693's and they have been great up in the Gibber country cheer's GREENDOG

Doug!
Its easy to work out, You travel at the right speed in the right place with the right tyre pressure.

Cheers Axle.

Damn it Axle I thought it was luck, lol but hell mate I can remember back in the 60s I could never get through the Flinders Ranges without doing a rear , I worked it out that at 50mph - 80k was the precise speed that when a stone was flicked by the front tyre it was still standing up when the drive tyre got it / long wheel base Landy and EK holden , yeh on the Holden I had the new tyre technology called Radial, Goodyear G800s and 1967 run them across the Nullabor to Perth/Darwin/Alice S/ Oodnadatta, Marree to Hawker and nearly home and felt that stone grab the left rear, 5 mins later it expired

Doug!

IT was meant to be a compliment, I should have emphasised YOU.

Axle.

Sorry Axle.

ok thanks, based on what? type of travel?

Been travelling those roads for 30 years. I run several desert trips per year with up to 10 vehicles, and I'm pretty nosey :-))) You get to see how other tyres fare under the same conditions.

Oh Phil, I've enjoyed the whole of this Post. Was too busy to get in yesterday - bit too tired and cranky after the day before, then I checked my emails first before coming in here this a.m. and am in a better frame of mind - guess when you deal with qustionable questions all day and then strike some 'odd' ones on my few minutes of peace on EO at the end of the day..........
Anyway, just had to weigh into the tyre debate this a.m.
We have a plastic Toyota 100s with split rims, skinny tyres (and never use SP Roadgrippers) - don't like using brand names but in 10 years have seen hundreds of them shredded. Don't have much fancy stuff at all and zip in and out of the Desert like it was the backyard (it is!!).
Good answers though on all - seems to me I'll just keep doing what I've been doing (I'm very mean when it comes to replacing tyres) and we just drive according to whichever conditions we are on. So simple as you know.

Hi Ruth,

With a medium load (not expedition package), what tyre pressure do you run?

Hi Ruth,
I'm glad you are in such a nice mood - that was the nicest way of saying "I disagree". Can't imagine you in a grumpy mood. I have to admit, I love to dive in on these aguments - it keeps the forum lively.

Cheers
Phil

I've had a pretty good run out of the 693's myself - bout 40,000 k so far, mainly on the blacktop but quite a few k's on gibbers, and about 40% worn at a guess. What pressures do you run usually. When the going is a bit slow - about 60k or less, I will go to about 27, with a good ride and no aparent damage. I even did about 100k at 20 pound after a sand run - lazy but got away with it. I kept the speed down a bit but had no problems. The rig ('98GU Wagon) had the best ride for these conditions, and it looked after the gear in the car as well. It would be great to know the lowest pressures you can get away with at any given time, but go too low and I guess it will get a bit pricey and inconvenient.

I always think about what tyres next - but I think I will stik with the 693's, and possibly get some snow chains for when the blacksoil gets a bit thick.

Cheers Andrew

32 - 36 sounds way to high to me !!

Kiwi Kia,

With a vehicle that weighs in at 3t., I don't think that there would be too many vehicles that would be doing a outback trip that would not hit that mark. Anything less than 32-36 would be far too low.

I can only go by the trips that i have done and the vehicles that travel with me.

On average I would have 8 vehicles with me on a trip, 4 trips a year on the outback roads. That is 32 different tyres and vehicles and they all run between that pressure range. Take that over a 10year period, 320 trips.

Now I am not saying we never had a flat but for the amount of trips and kilometres that we have travelled the amount of flats we have is very low.

Just going on experience

Wayne

Hi Sandman,
Have a good trip!
Adam Plate at Pink Roadhouse will still say 28 is too high - he reckons 24 is right for most vehicles in that area.

Cheers
phil