Tyre Choice.
Submitted: Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 11:21
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Ralph C
We are in the market for new tyres. 270/75 R16 or 275/70 R16 All Terrains. To fit our 80 Series Cruiser. We are thinking of purchasing Coopers to replace BF Goodrich due to poor mileage and bad cutting on current Goodrich tyres (275/70 R16 All Terrains.) We have heard Coopers can be noisy and in the last few millimetres of tread can be tricky in the wet due to their harder compound, which is required to get high
miles.
We do a fair amount of off roading in gibber country and will be towing a 2 tonne van.
Our mechanic advises our BF Goodrich's may de-laminate even though they still have plenty of tread left. He showed us an example of his own vehicle. He had two de-laminate and they were less badly chopped up than ours.
Any and all advice welcome Thanks Ralph C.
Reply By: Member -Signman - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 11:49
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 11:49
Why so wide if you're on hard gibber country??
Possibly better of with a narrower tyre eg. 235/85x16
As for brands...I ain't going there !!!!
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Reply By: Shaker - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 13:16
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 13:16
Everything you have said is a good reason to avoid Cooper tyres!
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Reply By: Moose - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 14:18
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 14:18
G'day Ralph
If you haven't been on here before and witnessed the $hit fights that tyre questions can cause, especially when the word Cooper appears, then you may
well now find out.
If you do a search on tyres you will find out 10 million posts.
However I'll say that I have an 80 series and currently run Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor. Reasonably happy with them. I swapped from Coopers purely due to the cost factor.
You could also
check out the recent post (no 54090) on General Grabber tyres - received a good review.
Good luck and cheers from the Moose
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Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 15:09
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 15:09
I'd suggest you use LT265/75R16.
Both Cooper and BFG cut up on the gibber country. Some Bridgestones do too.
Dunlop and Goodyear are better in this regard. Silent Armours are very good for not chipping.
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Reply By: mark4 - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 15:31
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 15:31
Every one has a differnt opinion on tyres,my experience with coopers are:
trips that we have done on coopers
cape york,
alice springs along the old gahn line than across
simpson desert,
Vic high country,couple of 2000kms return trips to QLD and than the general driving around.
Have not had one flat tyre as yet (touch wood) but we do let our tyres down to suit conditions as saying that i have found that they are getting slippery in the wet on the road with the last few millimeters left on them.
Good luck with your choice.
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Reply By: Steve from Top End Explorer Tours - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 15:59
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 15:59
Hey Ralph
I use and recommend the Bridgestone 693 265/75/16 as I have used them now for 7 years on 6 Toyota's including an 80 series.
These tyres have spent 80% of there time on corrugated dirt roads from Arnhemland to the
Kimberley the
Strzelecki track,
Oodnadatta track,and the old Ghan track.
I have had 2 blow outs one was driver error as he drove on one that was going down the other was at
Lyndhurst on the black stuff just after coming off the
Strzelecki track this was an old tyre 55000+ km on it.
I run my tyres at 40 psi front and 42 psi rear and never change them, they wear perfect and never had to re balance them either.
I really believe you don't have to reduce your pressure on dirt roads, if your
suspension is right and you drive carefully tyre pressure is of no significants, this info is based on close to 750000km of work on 13 sets of these tyres
Cheers Steve.
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Follow Up By: Member -Signman - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 16:13
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 16:13
"I really believe you don't have to reduce your pressure on dirt roads"
"Tyre pressure is of no significants (sic) "
Are you for real ???????
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Follow Up By: Steve from Top End Explorer Tours - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 16:16
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 16:16
I sure am.
If you have any proof that I am wrong please post it.
Cheers Steve.
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Follow Up By: Member - andrew B (Kununurra) - Saturday, Feb 09, 2008 at 08:55
Saturday, Feb 09, 2008 at 08:55
I'll continue to vote for the 693's, I've had a good run, trashed 3 tyres in about 90,000km, most of which were due to sidewall damage in
places I probably shouoldn't have put the tyre......
I reduce tyre pressures on gravel roads, my car in my circumstances travels much better this way. I run trailer tyres as low as I can to make the ride as smooth as possible for the boat....tyre pressures are a bigger debate than toyota vs nissan!
I do what feels best in my set up, each to their own I guess
Cheers Andrew
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Reply By: RobAck - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 17:45
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 17:45
You have plenty of good tyres to choose from apart from those you have mentioned.
I took a client into the Flinders last week and he had Toyo Open Country on his LC 100 and they were excellent with no chipping and did great work so I was impressed with them.
Bridgestone D693 are also very good and I have run them on several of our vehicles over up to 60000 km in a year with no problems.
Mickey Thomson is another brand that is making some waves but I have no real experience with them
I have also seen good performance out of the Goodyear product mentioned.
Lots of comment on the confusion that comes with tyre selection and that is certainly true.
We recommend lowering tyre pressure and speed when off-road and in gibber country we normally run around 26-28 psi
The bottom line is there is no such thing as a
puncture proof tyre. Even the mining tyres such as the Bridgestone D661 with its 11mm thick sidewall can be punctured. Don't even think you can get one off a rim with your tyre pliers. You need serious compressed air and a tyre gorilla
All the best with the search
Regards
Rob A
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Reply By: Smudger - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 18:58
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 18:58
Can't understand the desire for big fat tyres. I run 205's. When you're out bush, look at what the locals have on their trucks. as for labels, for 2 years I've had a set of Nankang AT's. About 25k's later on all terrains including the
Oodnadatta Track and a bunch of off-road tracksthe, y're down to about 60% and have worn evenly. $130 each. I'm happy.
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Follow Up By: splits - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 22:10
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 22:10
I agree. There is a reason why so many manufacturers keep making tyres like 7.50 x 16s in all thread patterns and in steel belted, light truck all steel and very heavy bias ply construction.
The people who live and work in those remote areas also know the reason which is why you see so many out there.
I have 205s on my Hilux and can see no reason to change them. I only wish I could find an all steel highway pattern tyre in the same size. A 7.00 x 16 seems to be the closest.
I have always thought if you want to use your car in the type of extreme conditions that you have to go out of your way to find then there are other tyres that would be more suitable. If your interests lie in seeing the country then follow the example of the locals.
If the original equipment type of tyres did not do the job then they would not use them.
Brian
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Reply By: 96 GXL 80 series - Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 22:22
Friday, Feb 08, 2008 at 22:22
I have the GT Adventuro 275x75x16 fitted on my 80 series and can highly recommend them.
12mth no fault full replacement warranty if damaged.
50.000klm guarantee and others are getting over 70.000k's out of a set.
Very quiet on the road and handle very
well in all conditions.
I paid $202.00ea fitted and balanced. + free rotation every 10.000ks and
check balance.
I took off a 1/2 worn set of BFG's that were delaminating.
they were like railway sleepers to drive on compared the the Adventuro's
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Reply By: hotfishez - Saturday, Feb 09, 2008 at 08:46
Saturday, Feb 09, 2008 at 08:46
I run TOYO Open Country AT on my 80 series 285/75/16, Toyo MT on the 79 series cruiser work ute. Both of these tyres I support 100%. The mt are quite pricey. Coopers is all I have to say about them, Bridgestones are a good tyre, a bit soft on the compound, grippy on the tar, not too bad on the dirt, only got 40k out of them. BFG I rate fairly to the Toyos, have heard some failure problems with them though, have not had dramas myself so I willl not elaborate. All in all it is a dead end question cos I like the Toyos, old mate down the road likes BFG and the fellas round the corner like something else. Read it all, make your own assumption.
Conditions I put my Toyos through, both OPAT and MT's. Carries on a regular basis over 800kg additional the the kevrek crane and toolboxes through the
pilbara on sharp rocks, multiple creek crossings, mud slicks,
mine pits, you name it. 44psi in the rear, 38 - 40in the front. The tyres will chip out but have never caused a failure.
The toyo OPAT (AT) are a relatively cheap tyre for what you get, I change
mine out at approx 30k on the rear(around 2/3 worn) and 60 k on the front(2/3 worn again) take into consideration the extra work the rears do.
I have only started trying out the Mt's adn so far so good and suprisingly quiet.
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Reply By: bushy04 - Saturday, Feb 09, 2008 at 08:48
Saturday, Feb 09, 2008 at 08:48
Hey Ralph I use Coopers and have done for quite a long time, and have had brilliant mileage and wear from them.
I would suggest that if you have a chipping problem that you go for stt which are specialy made to comdat it.
I use st and do most of my running in the
vic high country and have not had an issue with chipping at all . these tyres have done about 50,000k's and still have plenty left.
I have driven 4x4's for over 40 years and these tyres would be one of the better tyres that I have used!
The choice is still what you feel comfortable with, regards Bushy.
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Follow Up By: Moose - Monday, Feb 11, 2008 at 15:02
Monday, Feb 11, 2008 at 15:02
I think you're wrong Bushy. The STCs are the anti-chipping ones. The STTs are the mud pattern.
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Reply By: bushy04 - Monday, Feb 11, 2008 at 17:39
Monday, Feb 11, 2008 at 17:39
Hey Moose if you had coopers you would know that the tread patten is the same for both just that the sst is specialy made to resist chipping.
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