Time to bite the bullet with tyres

yep..spot on Krakka..I usually ditch my muds ( 3 sets of G/Y MTR's) at 2/3rd's wear, around the 50-55k.They are not much use and become puncture prone, regardless of brand. Get a few bucks for them.

I just did 17,000km in 50 days across the centre, up to the Pilbara and back to Brisbane towing a Tvan. Busted 3 of the tyres, 2 on some hard gibber country,and 3rd on dirt/rock road west NSW, but was to be expected as they were over 2/3rd's worn. I am rolling 5 tonne.

Peter,

Yes they do punture easily when they become 2/3 rd's worn but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that the lugs on the outside edge chipped or were torn right off. As I said I was about to replace them due to their age rather than the amount of wear.

It seems the tyres have hardened over the years but the fact that the spare that had never been used didn't chip. Same batch and same age.

I have found all 4X4 tyres, "not just MT's" that are used off road have reached there used by date when they are 2/3rd's worn.

Have a god on,
RA.

Yep, horses for courses Will, stick with whatever tyre suits your needs and you're happy with. It really doesn't have to be rocket science.

Alan,
The tyre dealer had a look at them before I went away as they all had fine radial cracks just outside the beads for around 25mm. He said they were fine and it was nothing to be concerned about.

He then commented on the condition of the tyres and the kilometres they had travelled. His quote was whatever you are doing to those tyres you are doing it right.

They had the odd cut and chip in the tread but no more than the average 4X4 tyre.

We get around 5000k out of our work tyres before they are destroyed and the best one's have been Goodyear kevlar mt's.The price I was quoted for these was way to high.

Enjoyed your video you posted recently.

All the best,
RA.

I have to be careful because I seem to upset a certain member when I criticise Cooper tyres!
However, I am with you, you also have to worry when they advertise that the most important thing with 4wd tyres is the tread depth, & we always thought sidewalls were important!

One of my mates had a fairly new Cooper ST delaminate on the F3 Freeway, near Sydney. It did $3000 damage to the Landcruiser and Cooper are paying the bill.

I have been using Wrangler Duratracs and I'm really impressed with them. Cape York, Western NSW, Western Qld, NE South Australia, rock, beach, mud, highway, I really reckon they're a great tyre. On and off road traction and they aren't noisy at all.

About $325 a tyre and I'm getting another set soon.

eighty matey.

Alan,
are they At's or Mt's

Thanks
RA.

Bob,
I will put the record straight. I never intended to bag the tyres. I was more giving a real life account of them, 65000k road test if you like.

They were well mannered in both dry and wet conditions, great on sand, not so hot in clay, in their later life not good on gibber and good value when I purchased them at about $280 a tyre.

You will notice I did not bag the tyre's when I shredded one, because I don't know what caused it and if I had my tyre monitor turned on I may have saved it.

Size wise I am restricted to a few brands as the 285/75/16's aren't available in many of them. The reason I use this size is it suits my gearing.

Now to the nitty gritty. The tyres still had 8mm of tread left, this is only about half worn, but they tore lugs off and chipped badly. Also the spare that had never been used was fine and I still have the case if ever I need it. Something is amiss as it should have chipped and destroyed lugs as well. It say's to me there is a problem with them when they have been used over many K's or due to age.

To the part about changing to another brand. The BFG muds ended up costing me $365 a tyre they quoted me $375 but only charged me this). On the other hand the price quoted for Cooper ST's or whatever they are called now was $416 and the disposal price was $2.50 more per tyre. I was quoted $350 for BFG AT's which makes the Coopers $66 dearer. No thanks.

Also horses for courses, Mick O uses Toyos for what he does and I believe they are great for his application. Bridgestone 694's I understand a great but they don't suit my application either and I don't think you can get them in 285/75/16.

RA.

RA

I paid $370 all up for STTs last month. $416 sounds a bit rich.

Bob

Bob,
Yep..... that is what I thought. Next town that does Coopers is 400K. Captive market. If you want them, we sell them and this is the price and that is their right. I just said thanks but no thanks.

Have a good on,
RA.

Iain,
yes I believe you are right about the heat cycles and the wear was really good. If I was running around on tar or sand I am sure I would have ended up with great K's out of them. I could have let them go down too a couple of ml if I wasn't worried about punctures or case problems due to age.

The tyres have done about 40% of their life on dirt.

I was speaking to my neighbour this afternoon and he had a problem with them as they got older. Two of his started to delaminate.

RA.

Browny,
two reasons for changing tyres are firstly I didn't change because the spare didn't chip and rip lugs off. I changed because all the others did chip and rip lugs off. The tyre that was destroyed didn't worry me because that could have been caused by anything.

Secondly the price difference between the tyres. I ended up paying $365 for the BFG's muds and they wanted $416 for the Coopers.

The reason I spoke about the spare was because it was the same age and batch and it didn't chip or rip lugs off. That says to me that after they have been on a vehicle for many K's some sort of problem develops and they are rendered unserviceable (belting was showing where the lugs were missing. I am sure they would have gone on to log up some huge K's if they were driven on blacktop for the rest of their serviceable life but that is not what I use them for. These tyres were only about half worn although they were getting a little old.

Have a good one,
RA.