rav4 offroad tyres????

Hi there. I am NOT going to talk brands - that's a recipe for a fight on this site!! But I have found that Light Truck construction is the way to go, especially on the gibber and other rock that is so common in the outback. I would be happy to stick with All Terrain tread as a compromise between the various conditions you may come across.
But my real plug is for Light Truck construction for the extra wall and tread strength. And yes, I am speaking from experience - Passenger Tyre construction is a lot lighter and weaker, and is much more prone to failure.
Regards

What size are the tyres on your Rav4?
Have a look on the sidewall then google the brands you are interested in. All the tyre maker shave sites listiing the sizes available in LT .
The most appropriate tyres are either HT ( highway terrain) if you do not want to drive on dirt roads much. These are the nearest to passenger tyres in noise level.
The next up is AT( all terrain). these are usually noisier on bitumen but have better gripping on dirt etc.
The best traction on dirt and mud etc are MT (mud Terrain ) tyres. usually quite noisy, poorer wet grip on highway.
I would recommend AT tyres as a good compromise .
Brands I have had good experience with are BF Goodrich, Bridgestone, Michelin.
Others may recommend Cooper, Goodyear.
Regards Philip A

It's not so much the tyre type or brand that should be your main consideration, more so the pressure you run them at and the speed you intend to travel at.

I just got from the Birdsville Track in a Holden Captiva with factory highway tyres. Factory setting is for 34psi, I ran them at 28psi and dropped my speed down to a maximum of 90-100kmph. The tyres had only done 6000kms. No problems at all.

In contrast, I met a guy up there who had suffered two blow outs with his Cooper A/Ts. His tyre pressures were lowered and his speed was about 90kmph too, but his Coopers had done almost 100,000kms.

I've personally done the length of the Oodnadatta track on $25 retreads with no problems at all. (About 60-70kms per hour all the way mind you).

I guess my point is how do you intend to drive and how much do you want to spend? Given the choice, A/T's offer a bit more off road strength without sacrificing highway drivability or increases in noise levels.

Hope that helps....
Fab.

What are peoples opinions on

Dueler A/T D694 and D694LT by bridgestone

If your current tyres are still in good shape with plenty of tread I would go with
them, taking the good advice already given on speed & load. If their best life is
behind them replace with LT type as suggested. The tyre thing is more to do with
getting the speed, load, pressure thing balanced to the conditions . The brand & type arent an issue if you get that right, but, naturally, some tyres are better by design for certain conditions. Dont ditch a good set of tyres because they arent
LT or A/t or whatever, replace as necessary with what best suits your needs.
....oldbaz.

I've looked at several tyres now. We are leaning towards the Bridgestone Dueller's AT 694??

Any opinions?

oztours - Both my son and daughter have a Rav 4 each - we live in central western NSW and travel on stony roads daily. The tyres we run on both vehicles are Pirelli Scorpion P215/70R/16 100 H M+S. Both cars have had these tyres on for three years with no problems to date.

If your factory fitted tyres had at least 75% of their original tread I would not hesitate in going on your trip with those tyres.

What I find most about travelling in the outback is that people just do not slow down and drive to the conditions or their ability on dirt roads.

Have a good holiday -



A J

Used Dunlop Grand Trek 3 on our RAV4's Oztour.

The passenger version tyres they came with punctured and sliced far to easily and cars felt a lot better with the tougher rubber particularly on stony tracks , but agree with others that lower pressures and corresponding speed drop is a big factor to death of tyres on roads like Birdsville track