Mickey Thomson Baja MTZ

MTZ's being a aggressive tyre need to have pressures dropped a little lower than usual. I run mine at around 18psi on the beach if the sand is really soft & cut up I run 15psi and have had them down to as low as 12psi.
Cheers Dave..

Many tyres will run well in sand regardless of how agressive the tread pattern is provided the pressure is adjusted appropriately. Differences arise if there is a risk of objects poking holes in them, all depends if the sand is on a beach or off to the side of some Simpson desert tracks........

MadCows

I have a set, have not done a lot of sand driving, but from what I was told by the Qld agencies for them is that you can run much lower pressures due to the structure of the side walls. He even said that highway pressures can be as low as 28 lbs for a more comfortable ride and not inter fear with economy. I run 30 front and 32 rear.

G'day Matt

The Mickey Thompson MTZ's are a very good tyre ~ but they develop issuses with ageing, as most tyres possibly do as well.

The tyres will harden and crack between the tread blocks, tread blocks will tear off in severe 4wd off road situations ~ no matter what tyre pressures you use. Tyre face cracks will eventually cause air loss resulting in a slow leak puncture. The only effective repair is to use a radial tyre suitable inner tube.

They become quite noisey as the wear rate rises, tyre ballance issues also become a factor. The MTZ's I have in service on my vehicle have covered around 82000Kms and are due to be replaced ~ very soon, in the distance travelled two tyres out of six have suffered the indignity of being punctured.

Both tyres are still in service on the vehicle ~ one patched internally and the other is now running with an inner tube.

The no loss of tyres due to punctures is possibly put down to the fact that each wheel/tyre was fitted with pressure sensing monitor (SmartTyre) the tubed tyre is now unsensored.

Do I think the MTZ's are value for money ~ Yes. (81800kms all roads and then some !)

Would I buy them again ~ no ~ the reason being tyres and technology have changed and of course the almighty Dollar bargaining value has changed, in the buyers favour.

I have had my MTZ for about a month now apart from a bit of noise I like them but ask me in about a year or 2 , but so far great in the wet and mud.

I agree with other's about the sand most tyres are OK in sand once the pressure is dropped.

Cheers Scoot. :-)

W had MTZ's on our 80 series cruiser and on the camper trailer when we did our three year trip around OZ. There were brilliant. We towed our camper across some very soft sand without a problem, as said just drop your pressures. They have worn very well with 85,000kms on them and still going. We rotate them regulary with the tyres on the trailer. I have replaced 1 tyre which got a railway spike through it coming out of Wilpeena pound (nothing stops a railway spike). We picked up a couple of nails wihich we repaired with tyre plugs and are still going strong. I not not use any other tyre now having used the MTZ's.

Josh

I have a set for the last 35000 k's and I am very happy with it. They are noisy dough and can be rather slippery in the wet.
As for the sand driving, the moment you loose traction they tend to dig into the sand very quickly.
Excellent in mud and on rocks.
Also scoring top marks for looks!!

NNF,

We were up a fair way on cable beach a few of months ago. We both had Navara's and the same tyre pressure, mate had Bridgestone A/T's and i had MTZ's, he got stuck once, but struggled both in soft sand and wet sand, i was amazed how the sand just flew out of the side lugs instead of just spinning and clogging up your guards and quarter panels. I did 14,000kms up north, not a mark on them, no puncture, overall i have done about 20k and look like brand new, compared to my previous S/T Coopers, its like chalk and cheese.

cheers,

Lance

Thanks to all that have replied and gave me some solid feedback on reguarding the MTZ in sand. My partner and l are on a working holiday towing a 21' caravan. We are planning to do the cape, gulf area and finish off with the simpson desert next year. I am leaning towards the MTZ but the comments about them slippery on wet bitumen concerns me. The ATZ 4 RIB might be a better option, safety with pulling the van and good with off road work.
Any thoughts would be great.
Thanks
Matt

They get my vote as well. I have done 50000km's on mine now and they still have plenty of life in them

Matt,
I ran a set of ATZ 4-ribs for about 40k and would recomend them as a good honest tyre. They have some chipping and tread wear butthay have had some pretty harsh journeys. I punctured the side wall on one running 15psi loaded on a tight scrubby bush track but it took a plug and is still a back up spare. Thety got noisier as they wore but most tyres do. They are a good all round performer. In sand I ran them at 16-18psi most of the time and in really soft sand I ran them at 10-12psi.

I only changed then out cause I went to 35 inch tyres and decided to give the MTZ a go. I haven't done any offroad work with the MTZ yet, but on road they seem
OK.

Cheers
Rob