which tyres should I buy

G'day Wayne,

I have a 100 series cruiser. Had 65,000 k's on it when I put BFG A/T's on. Have since done Sydney-Alice-Gibson Desert-Great Sandy Desert-'cross the top of Tanami-through the back of QLD and back to Sydney. Sydney-Cape York and back. Mungo-Broken Hill/ Mutawintji and numerous short trips towing Heaslip camper. I now have 148,000k's with the same tyres and still some to go. Have only had 2 spinny punctures in Great Sandy Desert and that's it. Plugged 'em and patched 'em when we returned to the Big Smoke.

Needless to say I'm very happy with the mileage I've got out of this set of tyres, (over 83,000). Good traction, even did the CREB Track in the rain, the most frightening day of my life. thoroughly recommend them.

JimB

Have to agree with Jim, BFG all terrains. I've got over 80,000kms on mine now, mostly desert travelling (gibber plain, stony desert, sand) as yet not 1 puncture. looking to replace them this year before my next trip. Think I'll be getting BFG again.
Thats just my experience

PMK Next trip please..............................................

yeah absolutely....... bfg's are the way to go i reckon. i have got 75,000 out of mine and still got around 2.5mm above the indicators. great tyre!!

Wayne ,
It never ceases to amaze me how the people who are having a bad run on a paticular tyre only "drive to church on sunday" I have done 45000 on my Cooper S/Ts and will probably get another 40000 on them.(admittedly nearly all on the blacktop) Your twice a month offroad work must be pretty radical or something is radically wrong with your wheel or suspension setup.
I'm not having a go at you but what were your previous tyres and what did you get on them? Is it worth going back to them if they were OK?
Ray

Wayne - have to agree with your comments on STs. Mine did the same. There's a design fault with them. Have gone back to STTs and they don't chip at all. Not much noiser either. All the guys who are getting really good mileage out of STs are sticking to the blacktop, sand or similar surfaces. STs just are not suited to genuine offroad work where rocks/gravel are involved.
Be wary of the BFGs. They certainly had a good long wearing design with the older model but the tyre dealer told me they've changed the design (I think the current ones are called ALKO or something similar) and that they now suffer the same chipping problem as the STs. I suspect that the guys who have been raving about the BFGs may be disappointed when they replace them. Also you need to be wary of what people claim because you don't know what sort of offroading they really do. What some call offroad may not be what you call offroad.

Wayne
just did 25,000 mainly dirt/gravel kms on BFG Muds and they still look llike new. I look like getting a 100 series but wont be doing as much outback in the near future so I wil stay with BFG and try the A/T's this time. The devil you know I spose.

BearBEAR

Wayne, Had the same problem with my Coopers. As i said in a post a week or so ago, Read the small print on the warranty! Have gone back to BFG, Cut my losses.
Cheers
Jonty

This issue has been done to death on this site if you check the post history.

The Cooper ST's copped plenty of flack due to lugs bein ripped off. I've just put on Cooper ST-C's which are a softer compound and with early experience I'm more than happy.

Evening Wayne

I have Troopy that weighs 3.5t fully loaded.

Nearly all of its trips (30,000Kms worth) have been from Melbourne into the desert areas - Border Track Flinders, Arkaroola, Inaminka, Qld Bourke & Wills Dig Tree, Bore Track, Camerons Cnr, Cordillo Downs, Birdsville, Poepells Cnr etc and of course that poxing Broken Hill/Tibooburra road.

I ran BFG'S A/T'S for those 30,000kms at 50psi R and 40psi F except for the Birdsville/Poepells Cnr/Mungerannie Hotel sector 18 - 36psi.

Never had a puncture, however after returning to Melbourne after the Poepells Cnr trip (Last one) I had a blowout just out of Renmark on the Bitumen. Blew the whole side wall out, absolutely amazing sight/result.

A full inspection in Melbourne revealed lumps/chips ripped out of the tyres and a myriad of sidewall cracks in all remaining 3 BFG'S.

The lumps/chips I put down to the Cordillo Downs/Great Stony Desert. Also I didn't/don't and will not spare tyres where the conditions allow a tad of speed. If they live up to the crap that is spewed out about them they should take it.

The sidewall cracks are another thing again. I strongly suspect (nearly believe) that 18psi was too low through the dunes. I had a heap of 'bounce' which I noticed disappeared when I raised the rear pressure to 36psi. (possibly a bit too high).

Anyway the punchline of all this is that the BFG'S never had a puncture even though flogged unmerciffully, suffered sidewall degradation (why ????) chipping and missing lumps, and were 66.5% worn after 30,000.

I have replaced the lot with Cooper ST'S to see how they go, no real reason other than the advertising spiel and those sidewall cracks. They are something to behold.

I have retained the 3 remaining BFG'S as spare casings, sidewall cracks, chips and whatever else.

This might give you a few extra thoughts on tyres and help you make up your mind.

Regards

Ken Robinson

Wayne,
A guy in our club had the same problem with his Coopers, bought them brand new went on a 6000 K trip when he got back the A/T's had complete blocks of tread missing on the outer edges, he'd only done gravel work as well as far as I know, rock hopping isn't his thing. I'm a BFG person, Willem isn't, we all have our things, until I have a bad experience I will stick with them, I've got muddies on my Rangie, and they work quite hard, they look like they do, but it's all damage I would expect, I rolled a couple on the first trip out but that was may fault. "Touch wood" I've never had a problem with any of my other BFG A/T's, I always get the ones made in the US and not the ones made Japan. I tried to swap the two brand new Pirelli Scorpions I have presently on my GU for two part worn BFG A/T's, the dealer wouldn't bite, nuff said. I'm saving up at present to re-shoe the GU with new BFG A/T's, I'm close but not close enough, I got about two and a half so far..... Keep the shiny side up