tyres skinny vs fat

tyre pressure and profile is they key what pressures were you and your mate running? even at the same pressure I would bet his tyres were a lower profile if stock this leaves less rubber to elongate which gives sand flotation.
As for mud well which kind? it comes in 1001 flavours each with its own characteristic. There is not much point digging to the bottom of mud if it has no bottom. Tread type is the most important characteristic of mud tyres - the wider the tread the more esily it will trow mud out and retain grip.
I have run skinnys in muddy conditions with non aggressive tread (rags) and in that case we often got bogged without the vehicle digging itself down to the diffs

I came across a mud hole the other day with a Toyo, Nissan, and rodeo all bogged, so i chained them all together and skull dragged them out with the landy which is fitted with standard 7.50 x 16 skinny tyres.

Cheers Axle.

It all depends on the amount of torque available from your engine.

If ALL things are equal then the skinny tyres will be better in soft sand. Low speed with plenty of torque works better then high revs which just digs holes.

The post about torque and low gear has more to do with traction than just tyres.
A 1927 Buick has 32 x 4.5 inch wheels (split rims). Because it is so low geared, we used ours as an offroader and negotiated creeks, mud, dirt, and soft ash soil on the sides of a volcano. Regularly.
We also tried a model A Ford offroad and it proved to be a sturdy vehicle too. Again, low gearing made the difference, it just chugged along at a slow walk and was light enough for the passengers to ocassionally get out a give a push in places. This was in the 50's.

cheers
T.R.

This has been discussed many times before (wide/skinny tyres on sand) - some people still think width is defining factor but it is a misconception - the length of the footprint is what matters most not the width. There is of course a minimum threshold width required, but even the skinniest 4wd tyre available exceeds this. Mud is a different story - in general terms tread pattern may be of some significance here (mud aint mud) - there is so much variety in conditions that it is hard to say a tyre of a certain width would be better overall that any other while ignoring other factors.ie I would not recommend a highway terrain narrow tyre in deep soft mud over a wider mud terrain tyre. I notice rally drivers use skinny tyres in snow for the exact reason you mention - they cut down to harder stuff at depth while wider tyres would aqua plane. Done recommend you go 4wding at 250km/hr though.
Cheers
Greg

A wide tyre may have more surface area than a skinny but it's greater width must be pushed through the soft sand negating much of the flotation advantage it has. A skinny tyre let down is similar to the track on a bulldozer. Narrow width has less frontal resistance but the tread flattten's out length ways (over double the surface area from 35 down to 15psi) giving exellent flotation. It doesn't really matter if they are skinny or fat, let them down to the correct preasure & either work fine. Your mate may have slightly less ground clearance to the diff in which case dragging the rear end is just like leaving the handbrake on or he may just have no idea how to drive in sand ;-)) not keeping his rev's up or backing off when he shouldn't.

I used to subscribe to your theory on mud tyres (in the good ol days) but modern tyre technology has seen a few improvements. You dont see too many skinny tyres on a winch challenge vehicle now do we? A fatty will grab traction on the side of ruts & present far more lugs to get hold on slippery surfaces. Often in mud you don't want to cut through as you can bog down losing momenteum. Tread patterns have improved for fat tyres & no longer "cake up" like they used to. So in mud I disagree, fat tyres are generaly far superior than skinnys.
Cheers Craig.........
HZJ105 Vic 285/75/16 MTR's

thanks for everyons response it appears i still have a bit to learn about tyres but i think i get the jist of it

Tyres are:

Round,

Black,

Hold lots of air,

Keep your 4by fom becoming a scraper.

Anything else you need to know?
Oh yeah,,,without them,,,,,,generally you ain't goin anywhere.....

meow.

rick.

sorry,,,,,couldnt help myself.

hiss, scratch. who's

well if all went to the tyres,,,,it woulda rolled out the door.....:)

meow.

rick.