Interchangeable tires for big trip....

Well Portley,

It may be stupid but I have been thinking about it for some time.

While I was living in Broken Hill it didn't seem to make sense because I was doing plenty of driving in conditions that needed the agressive tread pattern. Now I am in Sydney and a mud tire on Canterbury Road seems to be not quite ideal.

I am seriously thinking of putting some AT's on the car at the next tyre change for similar reasons to those you express.

One of the arguments against it while living in the Hill was that with 8 matched wheels and tyres I did not have to worry about swapping them back if I did change one on a trip but that seems less important now.

Duncs

I didn't have a trailer, but when I had the Prado I had 2 sets of 4 tyres - one set of muddies and another ATs. Carry the ATs as spares for the muddies and vice versa. As long as they are the same size, theres no major problem.
For the 79series, I'll probably get a set of 4 MTRs later this year to go with the 4 Silent Armours once they are wearing down.

Makes some sense Portley, but I probably wouldn't go that way
because STT will wear fast and slide more easily on trailer anyway
and personnaly I'd prefer the car to skid before the Trailer whiplashed
(bitumen) espically if you have ABS.

A set of snow chains will eat the 4 STT's anyway in mud/clay but if I was
buying more of those tyres I'd move towards the ST compromise.

Robin Miller

G'day Portley
Do you really think that you will go to the trouble of swapping tyres? I think you would find it to be a huge inconvenience whilst on a trip. How much mud/clay are you expecting? What sort of terrain? Whilst you were watching a Tassie video you don't say where you'll be going.
Cheers from the Moose

g'day Portley,
A few years ago we took 2 years to do a lap round oz.
At the time, to be honest, I didn't think about tyres that much and may have just been lucky, but this might help.
We drove a 60 series cruiser with all the gear, wifey,and two kids.
Before we left Sydney I fitted the old faithfull with, Bridgestone "Desert Duelers" on new alloy rims with 2 spares.
Even though the tyres were worse than useless in mud it didn't stop us going anywhere. Cape, the gulf, all over the centre, Gibb River Rd etc. We didn;t spare the truck or tyres. 2 years, 75,000 klms, 1 puncture(staked), and replaced 2 tyres(worn out) in Perth.
I know now that these tyres are easily staked, ok in sand, very weak side walls and soft tread and would never buy them again.
My point is a GOOD set of A/T tyres will take you anywhere(almost)with a little care, and most of your driving will be bitumen anyway.
I definately would keep all tyres the same, watch your pressures and have a ball.

Cheers Nifty

I run matching rims and tyre size on the Nissan and trailer. If need be I can interchange any wheel between the two.

Cheers

Admittedly I mainly do touring out west and around SE Qld.
(Make that not enough touring lately.)
Not that much real hard track work.

I run 10 rims for 3 axles. Car and C/trailer.
Allows me to take 2 spares on a trip with good tread, and have two rims with low tread I am running down around town.
They are all numbered,and I keep a log book of which ones have been on what axle when, so I can keep track.
All are 16x6 nissan rims (95/96 RV) with 235/85/16 10 ply tyres.
Have one set of mild AT tyres (4 off) for general use and reasonably aggressive ATs (6 off) for touring. Well that was the idea when I set them up over the last few years.
Swap them over when I needed them.

Finding I am not swapping them over as much as I thought.
Tending to keep the agressive tyres on the back, or running out the low tread tyres on the back when around town, and keeping the mild ATs on the front.

Trying to ensure that the tyres don't get much more than 5 years old, maybe 8 at the most.

So reckon if you just run the agressive on the back and the less agressive on the front, and swap over to something more agressive on the front whne you need it, it would be OK. Gives you reasonable breaking and steering on the bitumen that way.
Changing 4 tyres at a time gets a real pain. Besides the cost of setting them up.
Yes, I have a high lift trolley jack at home that lifts one end or the other,but getting them out of the stack, and just doing the change, then restacking them takes time.

we have stt's on the vehicle and the trailer. i would go same tyre all round, if you get too many flats, you can dump the trailer, use its tyres to get somewhere to have them repaired and then you have the same tyres allround still. it would make the most significant difference if the trailer has elec brakes and you are actually "using" the traction. thats when you will see it bog into sand (thats my opinion, someone correct me if im wrong!)

dont mean to sound like im patronizing you, but make sure the vehicle has the same rim size and stud pattern as the trailer or all of this discussion is academic anyway!!! LOL