Discussion
Asked about this on another thread but figured it'd be nice to discuss it further now I'm more sure of what it is I'm after.
As mentioned elsewhere I'm hoping to pick up a patrol in the next day or two, which I'll be wanting some big tyres for. I'm told on the owners forum that 33 inch should go straight on, or 35 inch with a 2 inch suspension lift.
Basically I want an off road biassed tyre that is still going to be pretty competent on the the road as it'll be spending a lot of time on the road. Temptaion is there to buy a set of wheels and tyres for off roading, but I'd like to keep to one set for now.
I've not really got any knowledge of the tyres in this size range in terms of who makes good ones.
As mentioned elsewhere I'm hoping to pick up a patrol in the next day or two, which I'll be wanting some big tyres for. I'm told on the owners forum that 33 inch should go straight on, or 35 inch with a 2 inch suspension lift.
Basically I want an off road biassed tyre that is still going to be pretty competent on the the road as it'll be spending a lot of time on the road. Temptaion is there to buy a set of wheels and tyres for off roading, but I'd like to keep to one set for now.
I've not really got any knowledge of the tyres in this size range in terms of who makes good ones.
I was only fitting 31", not 35", but every bit of research I did came back to the BF Goodrich A/T KOs.
They are not a full mud tyre, but do have a very nice aggressive tread pattern on them. I've only had them on a week, and in that time I've been limited to on road and some very gentle green laning (ie, no mud!
)
On road, they are slightly bumpier than the heavily road-biased tyres I took off, but I no longer noticed this after 20 miles or less. The handling doesn't seem affected, and this includes reasonably brisk progress on wet roads.
Off road, I've not had an opportunity to properly test them yet, but the loose earth and sand I have had them on felt like tarmac.
They are not a full mud tyre, but do have a very nice aggressive tread pattern on them. I've only had them on a week, and in that time I've been limited to on road and some very gentle green laning (ie, no mud!
)On road, they are slightly bumpier than the heavily road-biased tyres I took off, but I no longer noticed this after 20 miles or less. The handling doesn't seem affected, and this includes reasonably brisk progress on wet roads.
Off road, I've not had an opportunity to properly test them yet, but the loose earth and sand I have had them on felt like tarmac.
When I brought a new set of tyres the cheapest I could find were Formula 4 for mail order. You can then get them fitted locally for a few quid each - cost me £7 per tyre to fit, balance, valve and dispose.
I got Kumho's in the end and they are superb on-road (great grip in the wet), but only good for green laning really. The formula 4 catalogue rates most of the tyres by intended useage, i.e. mine are 90/10 - 90% on road and 10% off road. Goes right through to 5/95 - which have amazing tread patterns for off roading. Almost like lego!
That was about 18 months ago though so you'll need to check prices... If you call them they are really knowledgeable about what tyre suits what use... they alse sell steel wheels as well which is on myshopping wish list at the moment!
website is http://www.formula4.co.uk/
ETA: hmmm... having looked at the website they seem to have gone a bit bling these days - will have to see the new catalogue I suppose!
I got Kumho's in the end and they are superb on-road (great grip in the wet), but only good for green laning really. The formula 4 catalogue rates most of the tyres by intended useage, i.e. mine are 90/10 - 90% on road and 10% off road. Goes right through to 5/95 - which have amazing tread patterns for off roading. Almost like lego!
That was about 18 months ago though so you'll need to check prices... If you call them they are really knowledgeable about what tyre suits what use... they alse sell steel wheels as well which is on my
website is http://www.formula4.co.uk/
ETA: hmmm... having looked at the website they seem to have gone a bit bling these days - will have to see the new catalogue I suppose!
Edited by john_r on Wednesday 30th January 14:03
john_r said:
The formula 4 catalogue rates most of the tyres by intended useage, i.e. mine are 90/10 - 90% on road and 10% off road. Goes right through to 5/95 - which have amazing tread patterns for off roading. Almost like lego!
That one puzzled me somewhat.You might only use the car off road 1% of the time, but surely you still need decent traction when you do get off road!
The ones the Shogun came with were rated 80% on road, 20% off road. There is simply no way I would trust them off road for 2,000 miles a year! They scared the crap out of me in less than 400 yards of steep, rutted wet chalk!
Not a dig at John btw!
Kermit power said:
john_r said:
The formula 4 catalogue rates most of the tyres by intended useage, i.e. mine are 90/10 - 90% on road and 10% off road. Goes right through to 5/95 - which have amazing tread patterns for off roading. Almost like lego!
That one puzzled me somewhat.You might only use the car off road 1% of the time, but surely you still need decent traction when you do get off road!
The ones the Shogun came with were rated 80% on road, 20% off road. There is simply no way I would trust them off road for 2,000 miles a year! They scared the crap out of me in less than 400 yards of steep, rutted wet chalk!
Not a dig at John btw!
Kermit power said:
I forgot to mention, most people seem to get 60k+ miles out of a set of BFGs, with many getting well over 100k, and only changing them then because the sidewalls are starting to perish! 
60k miles 
Fantastic stuff, can't believe I haven't bought one sooner
I used to get 15k out of a set of pirelli scorpions, which I used to find good on the road, average off road but never really gave them a hard life in the mud to try them properly, which i suspect would be their downfall. Cheers guys I'll have a look around for some prices
any other suggestions while I'm hunting?
Kermit power said:
I forgot to mention, most people seem to get 60k+ miles out of a set of BFGs, with many getting well over 100k, and only changing them then because the sidewalls are starting to perish!
Another vote for the BFGs, had them on the Jeep which was my daily driver, felt just fine on road and still performed well off road.Stu R said:
Kermit power said:
I forgot to mention, most people seem to get 60k+ miles out of a set of BFGs, with many getting well over 100k, and only changing them then because the sidewalls are starting to perish!
60k miles Assuming I do 15k miles per year, and 80% of that is in the Shogun, my annual rubber budget has dropped from roughly £800 to £180.
I have been a fan of BFG MT for many years.We used to use them on the Hi-Luxes we used to run for a major petro-chemical company.60k+ was the norm for a set.I used them on my own Trooper, and again on my Navara (33x12.50x15),covering over a 1000 miles a week on them.Their road manners were impeccable,and road noise just wasn't an issue.Sure they are dearer to buy, but £130 for the 33" tyres is hardly outrageous, and the will outlive almost anyother tyre out there.One other note,I seriously cannot ever remember puncturing one, nor damaging a sidewall.Shame they don't do them in 46"......
Stu R said:
As mentioned elsewhere I'm hoping to pick up a patrol in the next day or two, which I'll be wanting some big tyres for. I'm told on the owners forum that 33 inch should go straight on, or 35 inch with a 2 inch suspension lift.
Don't forget that it's not just about whether they fit - 33" tyres will raise the overall gearing of your vehicle quite significantly. 35's even more so. You need to work out what effect that increase will have on the driveability of your vehicle. You may find it harder to pull away with a load on in 1st high or fifth might become unusable except downhill if your vehicle is already reasonably high geared. Off-road whereas on 30" tyres in first low held the vehicle back perfectly on a 45 degree slope, 33's or 35's might have it running away from you. You will then need to change the diffs to lower ratio ones (if available on Patrols) or to lower gearing for the transferbox, once again, if available for a Patrol.Think carefully as I've driven several vehicles with 33's and 35's fitted that were undriveable until lots of money was spent rectifiying the effect on the gearing.
Another vote for BFG ATs. We did 23k to Cape Town on 8 (only binned 2 the rest came back with plenty of tread) and didn't get stuck once. To be fair it didn't ever get that muddy though. And we only had one puncture. The MTs are also highly rated but can be a bit wayward on road when it's wet.
biglepton said:
Stu R said:
As mentioned elsewhere I'm hoping to pick up a patrol in the next day or two, which I'll be wanting some big tyres for. I'm told on the owners forum that 33 inch should go straight on, or 35 inch with a 2 inch suspension lift.
Don't forget that it's not just about whether they fit - 33" tyres will raise the overall gearing of your vehicle quite significantly. 35's even more so. You need to work out what effect that increase will have on the driveability of your vehicle. You may find it harder to pull away with a load on in 1st high or fifth might become unusable except downhill if your vehicle is already reasonably high geared. Off-road whereas on 30" tyres in first low held the vehicle back perfectly on a 45 degree slope, 33's or 35's might have it running away from you. You will then need to change the diffs to lower ratio ones (if available on Patrols) or to lower gearing for the transferbox, once again, if available for a Patrol.Think carefully as I've driven several vehicles with 33's and 35's fitted that were undriveable until lots of money was spent rectifiying the effect on the gearing.
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