Bridgestone 694LT

Brad
Disappoointing to read this. I always think of Bridgies as a really honest tyre. 693LT's were only made in Oz. My 694LT's were made in Japan. Done well by me but I didnt do a whole lot with them off-road (only use them as my road tyre now). Thing I dont like about them is how much they 'bag' out. When pressures low you're running on side walls which has to make them vulnerable. So my questions are, where were your 694's made and were the pressures low when you had the side wall cuts/punctures. Cheers

Why do people continue to buy 2 ply sidewall road tyres with an A/T tread and get upset when they graze the sidewalls and the tyre is stuffed..?

If you go off the blacktop a bit, buy some 3 ply sidewall tyres, and they are available in an A/T tread, not just quality M/T's.....but you pay for the benefit.

Bugger, I just bought some after reading the positive comments on the forum. I would be interested to know what pressures you were running at the time.

I like the idea of lower pressure for comfort, but not at the expense of flat tyres.

I've had some cheap Silverstones on for the past four years without a problem, run them at 35psi except on the sand.

Regards
Geoff Hardiker

Hi BradW,
I run Bridgstone 694 235.70.R16s on the Disco 50,000 kays over a variety of ground, from sharp rock , mud, sand including towing a 2 tonne van that has a ball weight of 210 kg.
On the black top the front has 30 psi and the rear psi unladen. Over rocks when laden, the pressure in the rear goes down to 30 psi. When the van is attached, the rear goes up to 38 to 40 psi. The front never varies unless on sand. Then pressures start at 20 psi all round.
No blow-outs/punctures etc... Just in case Murphy is around better find some wood. Ahh that's better.
Bit old ain't I talking in psi !

Tony

Hi All,

For info I try to run about 32-34 when on the rocky stuff. After losing two I thought just bad luck but now three of them with the last year seeing very little off road means I have lost three off road I would say within around 1500kms. Sand I run 18 and I have to say they are brilliant in the sand.

The first one I lost I thought running 32 may have caused some sidewall deflection and that may have stung me so I try run closer to 34 now.

As mentioned I have just lost confidence in them as I have not changed my driving style over 17 years off roading on Bridgys and I need to rely on my tyres. On the LC100 previous to the 694s I had the 693 which in all honesty I gave a good workout with only one tread puncture in around 50-60,000 kms which was repaired and then run till worn out. This was over mostly the same tracks and terrain the new tyres have failed me on.

Silly thing is I was going to buy the 693s and the Bridgy man talked me into the 694s. Perhaps should have stuck to what I knew.

They are Jap made - 265/75 R16

Just some feedback for all really - when all said and done perhaps it is just bad luck so take the info as you will.

Not good, i lost 3 Coopers in 2 days once. Not sidewall punctures either, punctures in the tread, on a normal gravel road. Never want that to happen again. Will never try them again unless they are really cheap.

But i will agree with you on saying that the 693s are better, i have the 694s and even though i find them good i would prefer the 693s. I dont believe any crap the tyre companies try say, its all garbage. Really i go with whats a good price and what i can trust. the 693 definitely rule that category, but now having 17'' rims had to go 694. My 694s are Aussie made, as of next year Bridgestone will be making all tyres overseas, im not sure what brand tyre i will chose then.

I didn't comment in the earlier D694 thread as when I had a set of D694's put on the cruiser in 2005 they were not desinated LT even though that's what I specified.
I decided on these tyres back in 2005 after good reports on on the forum and there were no BFG A'T's around at the time.
Had quite a few issues with them and only got 30,000KM out of one.
The pressures were set for different terrains so I came to the conclusion the cruiser was too heavy for these tyres. Maybe the newer LT's are better.

Link to the image is here as the image embedding isn't working at the moment.

Hi Brad
Sorry to hear of your problems. I have been running 694 now for over 2 years and have found that they have performed faultlessly. I am in a fairly good spot to comment, as we travel to some very remote locations, where puncture and tyre damage will happen over the next sand dune, or over that next piece of mulga hiding in the spinifex. I have now upgraded to the 694LT and will see how they compared to the standard 694's.

Tyre problems can happen on any tyre and any surface. On one of my cross country ventures a few years ago, I ruined to new Coopers. As with all tyre damage, it was not the tyres, but the terrain that we were travelling. I have even seen a few STT's damaged beyond repair from the true rough going, so it just shows you that no tyre is perfect.

Cheers

Stephen

I'm on my third set of D694 ATs and can hardly fault them. I've driven them across a variety of terrains, including the Simpson Desert and the only puncture I've had was coming into Birdsville onto a newly graded road with tyres at 42 psi - my fault, not the tyres!

I recently bought my third set and was offered the LTs for the same price as the standard ATs. Now I'd read somewhere that the higher tyre profile (or something like that) of the LTs could possibly cause problems once tyre pressures where lowered considerably. If my memory serves me right it amounted to a permanent bagging of the tyres once you had lowered them.

Based on this and the fact that my ATs had served me very well I stuck with them.

Now I don't know if the info I was given was right but it's worth noting.

That said, any tyre, regardless of make can be staked and three of them over a period of time is far from improbable.