What Tough Tyres for RV??

I have no idea what is the best tyre for your trip because i am not a tyre expert,,, but i can tell you that my Cooper STT tyres just completed the OTL, Simpson Desert, etc etc.... Which you may think "BIG DEAL"..."thats not much in the way of rough country"....
but we also navigated between dirt tracks by going straight across country in some places around Hells Gate to Kingfisher,,, and that country is absolutely full of dead wood and rocks.... and i could'nt dodge it all...
and not a problem in the world....
Tyre pressures were dropped to 22psi the moment i hit gravel / roads...

Ditch the alloys and get a set (or 2 just in case) of skinny 14 ply Super Grippers.
Cheers

Equinox,

I'm interested in what the "Light Truck Tyres" are that came with the vehicle? If you bought it new, I would assume they are Dunlop Road Grippers, 8ply rating and made in Japan. They normally come on split rims which are dead easy to find at wreckers/eBay/Trading Post or the like....I just sold 5 brand newies for $80!

I have just completed a trip to the Kimberley/Bungles/Gibb River Road/Tanami Road and home via the Gunbarrel and Great Central Road and I run these exact tyres on my 105 series L/C. Punctures or tyre problems in just over 12,000km = 0. I had 2 spares and about 50kg of levers, tyre pliers, patches, glue etc.

Many out there on this forum may bag the old Road Grippers or 'Telstra Tyres', but I find for the price I can get 'roaded' tyres for (about $160 per tyre) the value is there compared to the Coopers/BFG's etc at say $280ish per tyre. The last set were replaced at 55,000km, but they had more life left in them, however I wanted the newies on for the trip.

Secondly, these old crappy Road Grippers are available everywhere in the outback and they are the most reasonably priced tyre and the most common tyre found...there are literally thousands of Toyotas (troopies/utes/wagons) roaming the outback in the guise of Britz/Locals/Boomerang rentals etc ...you name it and its bound to be wearing split rims and road grippers....pays to have hundreds of 'spares' along with you on the ride if the worst comes to the worst.

I went through this exact same research before my trip and read just about every one of the 738981375492834 threads on tyres and came to the conclusion that there is actually no real consensus and this was confirmed whilst on the trip....especially in relation to pressures for varying conditions. My general rules were high pressures on the bitumen, slightly lower on the smooth fast gravel roads and gradually lower as the conditions worsened.....worked for me.

You don't need to pay $500 for a tyre...in fact it won't make any difference to the number of punctures you do or don't get and if you do get a wrecked tyre you will be spewing, both at the loss of a perfectly good tyre and the exorbitant cost of replacing some fancy rubber in the outback (unless you have unlimited $$$$)

IMHO careful driving to the conditions and proper attention to pressures will be a better preventative measure.

I do however agree that if you have some slick looking highway tyres with bugger all real tread, then anything in A/T or M/T pattern will be better. Not worth getting the old BFG/Cooper debate going again though.

Just my thoughts.............K.I.S.S Principle works everytime.

Mark

. Equinox, the other bloke said it all. Said it all. In NW West Aust, there are possibly 2:1 hire vehicles to private. Maybe I've got a bit of a thing about rubber that the Missus isn't aware of yet, but I sniffed almost every tyre on display, and the good old Bfg and Coopers were no more represented than any other.
. I run BFG's ,wear varies from good to ordinary, severe stake damage to sidewalls has been accomodated. They chip badly.So do most 'semi aggressive' tyres , I suspect.
. I suspect that , maybe, I'm typical of our mob; universal "off road tyres" simply don't exist. When we get remote, I carry 3 wheels; maybe I should carry 4. Hmm, it's called 'space'.
. Have you read any of Len Beddels books?
(spelling looks wrong; sentiment is accurate: help trhis bloke, please.
. jeff. h.

My RV came standard with alloys and Japanese Dunlop Grandtreks AT1 265/70/R16. Can't find a ply rating.
The standard L/C ute comes with split rims on the same hubs. A s/h set with tyres should not be hard to find as many are swapped for alloys anyway.

Cheers.

I think you are in perth now. There is a mob on Dundas road that can set you up with 2nd hand 16 ply rags for 80 bucks fitted. Even if you buy splittys for 2nd hand dealer prices (about 100 bucks) you will still be streetsd ahead on price compared to bfg/cooper/goodyear and the level of puncture resistance is huge compared to aformentioned radials

Just put Goodyear Wrangler MTRs on and forget about Coopers, whey are not for gibber country... Just look through archives - everyone happy with Goodyear MTRs
and with STTs there is one happy person for every unhappy person...

The 7.50 x 16 14 ply might be worth a look, price OK - Grudge

RV ????

Are you talking about a caravan, a quad motorbike, a bus, a moped ??? Or perhaps a mountain bike?

FFS, such Americanisms do get up my nose.

Of course if you are talking about a 4wd, you should use the correct Yankism, SUV and then you would really climb up my nostrils.

Sorry for the bluntness, but this is Australia after all. Our identity is fast disappearing. Sad but true.

Equinox,

You won't get strong sidewall tyres in 265/70R16. The Dunlops your vehicle came with are pretty weak in the sidewall. I'd suggest you use 265/75R16 on your RV's 16x7 rims. They fit up well and are a common tyre with a lot heavier LT construction.
Goodyear MTRs are the most puncture-resistant of the tubeless radials. In my experience, most people who have Cooper tyres stake and destroy them.

And save yourself a lot of hassle by using a decent tubeless plug kit for any punctures. Takes a few minutes to fix a puncture with the tyre still on the vehicle. And again, in my experience, one split rim puncture takes an hour off beer o'clock.

cheers
phil