Thread: 70 series - what mod or what mod NOT to get

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Yes, but also no. You haven’t mentioned tyre pressures.

Tyre pressure and footprint trumps a fully inflated MT tread pattern pretty much every time.

The sensible money is on a decent AT tyre that you can really run effectively on all terrains, with the proviso that you are adjusting your tyre pressures accordingly.

We’ve all rescued pillocks who have got themselves into trouble and the common denominator pretty much every time is that they are running their tyres fully inflated. The last recovery we did was a Disco II out of soft wet sand and an incoming tide. A flash rig with big flash fuckwit tyres an’ all. I refused to drive onto the beach and the guy was getting really toey with us. All I needed was my tyre pressure gauge and a sea shell - dropped his tyres down to 10psi and I drove the fucking thing straight out. (Wouldn’t let him do it.)

MTs are shit on the bitumen, shit in sand, shit pretty much all the time except in proper mud, assuming you’ve got your pressures right. And even then it’s very easy to get into trouble in mud with MTs. 95% of 4WD drivers spend 95% of the time on bitumen or prepared gravel roads, so I cannot get my head around why we would advise this fella to put MTs on his truck (when he doesn’t even want a bullbar).

I run F&R lockers, winch, lifted, manual 4WD as a general purpose go anywhere vehicle and I don’t run MTs, for good reason. End of rant!

Thats a good rant because its true...

Most 4wd owners dont know to deflate tyres or have a compressor to reinflate, i just run 32lb deflate for 50 seconds if in trouble and drive gently to next air compressor if needec lol

Originally Posted by Flyblown

You should therefore consider running LT tyres, 10 ply rating.

Yep, been there done that when it comes to sidewall damage. The worst (and last) occasion was driving out of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, we staked two tyre sidewalls in a couple of km on buried ironwood in the sand, so no spares left. It was still ~200km of sand track driving to get to Maun, inc several deep river crossings, a nerve wracking drive. Walking out was not an option (you'd get eaten) and we hadn't seen another vehicle in 2 weeks. Those were regular Hankook 31x10.5R15 4x4 tyres - soft as shite! Lesson learned.

In Maun I changed to 12 ply rated Dunlop Universal 7.00-16 on Toyota split rims, and have never run anything less than 10PR ever since. Those tyres were amazing, and two sets took us from Cape Town all the way to Eritrea (and back), zigzagging across Southern & Eastern Africa to the remotest places we could get to. Had one puncture in two years (piece of rusty iron hidden in sand). Since we left Africa, we've run Light Truck radials, done a big chunk of N America, the whole of Aus, and NZ several times over.

Have never had a staked sidewall again - will happily drop pressure down to 10psi in extreme circumstances, and normally run 18-20psi when properly off-road in variable mud / rock conditions.

(I ran Cooper MTs (STT Pro LT) for a while a few years ago for the Ruapehu farm - I killed them in less than a year driving the 350km from home to the farm and back. Binned them after 11,000km as the tread was so worn from the bitumen driving that they were farkin' dangerous in the papa mud, useless. Regretted that purchase ever since as I cannot fathom how I convinced myself to deviate from the proven LT/AT formula. Expensive mistake.)

@Cartman, your usage puts you firmly in the 5%, and you'll be in a very small minority of guys who fit MTs and actually use them according to the specified 80/20 off/on road usage (which is precisely why the Coopers I used failed me so badly - poor choice for the mileage I was doing.)

Good post. I run lower pressures, but generally, in a bead lock, 8-10psi on landcruiser and safaris make them very capable.
2 psi on the rally truck has some new a/t tires to try out this weekend


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Coopers are the .ost overrated overpriced shitest Tyre
Slippery in wet , no traction off road , can't handle any sharp stones and fk s up in heat , maxxis r OK
BFG u get what u pay for

If you drive sandy beaches and mountain tracks you should know how to deflate. We often go down to 15-16lbs when loaded up in the loose stuff.

I’ve had a good run with Mickey Ts in the Atz and now at3 pattern. Heavy sidewall LT spec. Tread pattern is close to a RT.


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Originally Posted by Sharki

Coopers are the .ost overrated overpriced shitest Tyre
Slippery in wet , no traction off road , can't handle any sharp stones and fk s up in heat , maxxis r OK
BFG u get what u pay for

If that is the case, then pls explain the 65,000km of puncture free hard core service I got from the Cooper Discoverer SST Maxx AT/LT - all the way through Outback Aus… (towing a camper trailer)… That mileage was about 80% unsealed, rough Outback tracks, including the worst of the corrugated endurance missions like the Canning.

Doesn’t sound very shitty to me.

The Maxxis 753 we had on the same vehicle prior to the Coopers lasted 35,000km in the same Outback conditions.

At the end of the day when it comes to tyres, everyone’s got an opinion but not everyone has got the same experience. Tyre performance and wear rates are controlled by how you manage them - correct pressures for the conditions, balancing, rotation. The Cooper MTs I had wore out because I made a poor decision and used them incorrectly.

Well, to be fair the rotations for the ones I've been involved with were all done on spec by the outfit that sold them, they were aware of the useage (gravel roads, towing, fully loaded vehicle etc) and were quick to action the 'abuse' exemption on the warranty. Even from new and at the pressure recommended by the outfit that squeezed them onto the rims - they are one of the slickest tyres I've experienced in the wet. Loose as bro. I expect that if you use them in the perfect conditions for what they are designed for you will get the stated performance and they will run well for you, but for general working truck - there are options that don't cut out on gravel and offer grip in the wet and I'd prefer them to be fair.

The best mileage for buck tyres I've had are the Dunlop AT22 - the reason for that is 65,000-70,000 Km wear for $100 a corner on factory rims after people sold them off to fit aftermarket wheels. That's 3500Kg boat towing, fully loaded to unloaded, gravel roads and everything in between. They aren't the best in all conditions but I've been surprised at how well they have performed in conjunction with the electronic doohickeys on the ute...