Tyres again

Noise is an individual thing. some people think BFG AT"s are loud, others think Baja Claws are quiet.

Most in my club that do desert trippin, are usin MT's.

Ultimate would be MTR's.... but you say they dont come in your size?

IMHO the AT's would do you fine, quieter on the road and no problems for the terrain you speak of

Main problem on those tracks are the sharp stones that can puncture through the tread. If you have brand new tread, you are unlikely to have a problem, provided you don't speed and don't overload too much and you keep the tyre pressures down around 25psi.

The BFG ATKO can chip out easily on these roads (mainly the rears). The muddies are usually better, but they do whine on the bitumen.

My preference is the Goodyear MTR or Silent Armour on the stony outback tracks because they rarely have a problem. But if you look after them, pretty much any tyre will do.

Hi Dave,
Ive used both in the Flinders and around Oonadatta. The AT's do chip. I have driven up the Stuart highway on the Muds. They are noisier than the AT's as the AT's are noisier than highway patterns. The noise is a personal thing. I thought it was ok but a mate that came for a drive said "How do you stand the noise". It is all relative. Major issues in the Flinders etc is shale and other sharp stones. It is as sharp as. Locals keep tyre pressure down and speed reasonable. Be wary of any recent road repairs. I drove through a couple of small areas that had obviously been recently filled with some sort of white gravel and arrived in Oonadatta with both rear tyre punctured. Both had a white stone chip driven straight through the tyre, in between the tread. I saw the repairs and was probably only doing 70km/hr throught them on tyres about 50% worn. I know that Dave at Anchorachina (?sp) does a roaring trade in mangled tyres. As always tyre pressures must suit vehicle, conditions, load and speed. Be wary on the windier roads and take it easy. I usually get called grand Dad for driving conservatively but some of these areas carry a lot of tourists at this time of year and some of them leave there common sense at home. Have a good trip.
Steve

I have a s1 disco with three billy lids, so we travel on the heavy side of normal. Previously had a set of BFG ATKO on my bush rims but got sick of punctures and tyre tread damage/chipping.
A cooper bloke at our club explained that tread damage this is mostly due to the sipe's in the tyre - small cuts made in the tyre to reduce raod noise. He was certainly on the money, all the chips stemmed from sipe's.

The bfg's are now on the mgs for road / day trip use and I have put a set of goodyear MTR's on. The MTR's we slightly larger than the stock, thus load rating went up from 900 kg to around 1300 kg's - no more puncture probs.
I find the tyre noise noticible but not annoying. As an all round bush tyre they are great. Living in Canberra, they have done a fair share of summer and winter high country driving, they give me great deal of confidance in the wet.
I purchased them from beuaripares and paid the $16 for lifetime off road use, tyre warranty.

Last year I went to the flinders with the mtr's and was very, very impressed with them esp the blocky treads ability to resist damage. The survived essentially un damaged!
Or flinders traves are written up at CampGroundCorner.
Click on the south Australia button.

Hope you enjoy the flinders - well worth the effort.
Paul.

You won't need a mud tyre. Most of the roads are well formed and improved by the addition of various types of gravel. If it rains to the point where muddies are advantageous the roads will be closed so you can't drive on them anyway.

I am in Broken Hill and there are a number of tour operators here who travel regularly to the Flinders. I am not aware of any who are using full mud tyres.

I use Cooper ST/C's and am reasonably happy with them. The Goodyears are popular mostly the MTR's but the ATR's are gaining popularity.

I have had 4 sets of BFG's ATKO but the last set, replaced about 2 years ago were very dissaponting.

The best tip you can get is to take your time. There is heaps to see and lots of people out looking so take it easy and you will have a good trip.

Duncs

For what its worth I've done two trips to northern SA and through the Filnders (off track and some rough Flinders tracks) and now have 3 tyres with minute sidewall leaks around where the tread finishes. The tryes have done around 30K.
Have always reduced tyre pressure on dirt roads and tracks. It might be just bad luck but may also be a weakness in the tyres.

I'm going through the same process at the moment; it really depends on the type of conditions you will be driving in. MTRs are good for conditions where you'll encounter a lot of mud, but they are not useful for sand type driving such as desert work. As far as the roads you are describing a softer tyre compound is probably better. If BFG had something in between the AT & MTR that would be the go, Coopers have the ST range.