15" Vs 16" Rims for a Cape York Trip

That is a good point John. The tyres I have are 235/75 Yokohama Geolanders. I bought the Pajero with approx 40% tread left. They have been fine on bitumen but haven't done much offroad.

I'm keen to save money so if I don't need to upgrade to 16's I will be happy.

Frank

By "haven't done much" I mean that they struggle to perform.

G'day Old Girl,

I have a Patrol on 15" rims with 31*10.5/R15 on, I just bought a trailer with 16' rims but the rolling diameter of the tyre exactly matches the car's.

I was planning on swapping the 16" tyres from the trialer to the front of the Patrol because they have better tread on them but reading your comment on the brakes I wonder if this is something I need to worry about? They are both a standard 6 stud pattern as far as I understand it shouldn't make a difference.

Can any one shed any more light on this for me?

Cheers,
Nik

Yeh I recon some one better than me will answer that one. Been through it all going from 80 series to 100 series back to 80 six and five stud, different trailers so on. When we had the 15 on we did borrow two 16 to get us out of trouble once.
Sharon

Thanks Tommo I much prefer the 15 inch option if I can get away with it! I will look into the 31 inch and see what is available.

Frankie My wife had 31/105r15 on her old paj and they where quite a bit taller then my 245/70/16s on my Jack. Plus they where LT construction and much cheaper then 16s. Your current tyres would only be about 28in.
Cheers Pete

Thanks mate. From what everyone has said it looks like 15's are the go. I will look into the lift kit after I give the high profile a test out bush.

Just when I thought I had a general consensus! haha

What is the difference in the ratings? What is likely to fail in a 5ply tread? I do lower pressures and speed according to the environment?

Thanks Fatso. Good advice on travelling light & slow it is the smartest way to make it through in one piece. I'm hoping to do the CREB track which should hopefully pose more of a challenge. I also haven't done many water crossings so that should be a good test.

Looks like the 15's will be coming along for the trip!

The OTL in a falcon ? Fatso your dreaming.

I am not implying that you would drive the OTL in a falcon. The OTL only makes up a small portion of a trip to the top & there is only a very small amount of actual 4 wheel drive required on it. It is definitely not extreme & is definitely not beyond the capability of a novice 4x4 driver in any mid size or larger 4x4 car.
I met a bloke 15 years ago that did most of the OTL in a Subaru. I saw a photo of a Subaru being towed at speed through the Wenlock & he has water going over the roof. He was being towed South because it came up after he had crossed. You don't need to worry about that. There has been a bridge over the Wenlock for 10 years now.
I would seriously argue that a dirt road serviced by a road train can be considered a 4 wheel drive road. Nearly all the roads you will travel on in the Peninsular are travelled on by road trains.
Stop into the Coen pub & ask the publican about the backpackers in the Valiant. That's a 2 wheel drive sedan. After they did the trip to the tip in their Valiant sedan they toured Australia in it & sent him photos of them sitting on the bonnet from all over the country. That would have been back in the 80s.

The CREB track is only difficult when wet. Unless it is wet it is definitely not extreme either. It can be prone to heavy traffic & get dusty at times.
Happy travels

Fatso your still dreaming , would love to see a road train on the OTL , on the bypass no real problem for any type of vehicle, you obviously have not been on the OLD TELEGRAPH LINE track from Bramwell Junction north.

Maybe I am not getting through to you Alloy.
How can I put it.
The OTL only makes up a small portion of a 3000 km trip from Cairns. Probably no more than 150 km both ways.
Now in layman's terms, that is SFA.
It is not the be all & end all great 4x4 adventures it is wrapped up to be either.
I would say that quite a large number of the people who travel the OTL are novice drivers.
I was & I was in a 2.7 diesel Navara dual cab with no mods.
No 2" lift kit
No Long range fuel tanks
No snorkel
No fridge
No winch
No dual batteries
& definitely no power
Just Me, the wifey, 2 little kids & a bit of camping gear. We would have had the Kelpie with us if we weren't going into a national park.
Not a very good add for ARB or TJM.
I have been up that way several times since, but I can't be bothered with the OTL. I don't find it that interesting myself. When I go up that way I am going somewhere I want to be & not just touring.
So Frankie, just go for it mate & enjoy yourself.
We did.

Fatso your still dreaming I see , the OTL not even 150klm both ways ?? dream your dreams .