Thread: All terrain tyres

Size of vehicle and type of driving plays a lot into what tyres would be the best for you. Then look at cost. Go for the best you can afford.

The likes of Cooper, Mickey Thompson, BFG etc are good and will last for ages if you keep up with wheel alignments and keep tyres pressured correctly. They are costly at the initial outlay, but over the life of the tyres they work out cheaper.
Cheaper tyres like Maxxis or Goodride wont last as long, so you may go through twice as many to a set of the above brands.

In saying all that, I have had good runs out of the Goodrides I have/am using at the moment. But I don't go anywhere as crazy as I used to. Only farm tracks and easy stuff, don't want to get the shiney scratched lol.
Also the Bridgestone Dueler 694 were good (been upgraded to the 697 now) on the Vitara's I've owned.
The Goodyears I've seen on vehicles that come through work (mainly Toyota's) don't seem to last that long.
I found the BFG A/T's on lighter vehicles (Suzuki's) didn't work very well. Needed to air them down when going offroad, compared to the Duelers anyway.
Carrying a compressor onboard will help you for when you air down tyres. A/T's get you more places when aired down than when leaving them pressured up at highway pressures.
I used to run tubeless muddies down to about 10psi and when tubed as low as 5psi. The A/T's I've only had to air them down once and that was only to 20psi. (Normally run them at 40 on the road in my Nissan Terrano).
Coast to coast in tough truck Suzuki's was always a good test of tyres, machines and men, and when I competed in 4wd trials many swore by the Kumho 833's back then. Unfortunately they stopped producing them years ago.
Lots have changed since then though. Many more black rubber things available now.

Plus side to coopers is that they include free rotations every 10,000km. This not only helps them last, but maintains the KM warranty.

I can get a set of brigdestone a/t for $600 a set for my hilux. I was thinking of putting a set of bfg's on it this time round but the way i see it i can get three sets for the price one. Shit tyre i know. I dont get massive kms out off them but its a cheap set (about 30000km) gisborne roads are the worst in NZ

Originally Posted by bigbear

I can get a set of brigdestone a/t for $600 a set for my hilux. I was thinking of putting a set of bfg's on it this time round but the way i see it i can get three sets for the price one. Shit tyre i know. I dont get massive kms out off them but its a cheap set (about 30000km) gisborne roads are the worst in NZ

I have bfg m/ts on my truck. Fronts have done just over 100k kms and still more life in them. Rears are at 35k and were only replace cause some muppet punctured one ane wasnt repairable

As mentioned above.... Maxxis are simply not in the same class as Coppers.

Not even close.

3rd division vs Premier League.

I know this from years of running 4WD fleets in remote areas, Aus, Africa, Canada. Vehicles came on site with crap tyres, we’d bin them there and then and go with Coopers. It was cheaper than risking suffering a failure in the long run as higher speed blowouts on heavy vehicles in rocky country damaged rims and more besides, and was flat out dangerous. Some of the tyres masquerading as off road ATs are a criminal bloody risk if you ask me. Maxxis were just ‘ok’ but they wore out in a year. Bridgestone Duellers were pathetic.

We ran a mix of tyre types depending on duty, it really is important not to select an overly aggressive pattern if you don’t need it most of the time, and vice versa obviously. We would routinely get 60-70,000km from a set of Cooper all terrains, pretty much the entire period we ran the vehicle (2 years), what is important to know there is that we changed out tyres at least 10,000km before minimum tread spec was reached as we didn’t want to risk failure, chance of which increases significantly towards the end of a tyre’s useful life.

I negotiated AT tyres on my new 2014 Hilux from the dealer in Perth, I asked for Coppers and got Maxxis which really pissed me off and they lasted 30,000km in the Outback. Now the vehicle has done 102,000km and its still on the subsequent set of Cooper Discoverer S/T Maxx ATs, over 70,000km of very tough kilometres. Not one single puncture. That is a fact, not a fanboy exaggeration.

On the same vehicle (now here in NZ obviously) I now run a set of Cooper STT Pro mud terrains in the winter. Where those tyres will take me at 15-20psi and diffs locked is unbelievable.

Cheap all terrain tyres on a 4WD are a false economy on my view. The wear rate is more than double, and beyond 50% wear the failure rate goes through the roof. And you’ll definitely get stuck more often!

Oh and what the guy in the tyre shop in town knows? Probably bugger all unless you go to a specialist. Even then the “best” tyre is the one he thinks he has a chance of selling with a good margin!

If you want your ATs to last the distance, they need to be balanced and rotated every 10,000km under normal duty, 5,000km in heavy duty conditions especially in rough mud or rocks where there’s an increased risk of loosing balancing weights.

I check wheel alignment every 10,000km just because what I do with my truck is hard case, if it gets a real hammering up front I’ll check the toe and caster marks myself, you’d be amazed how much they can move out of spec during a heavy session up the S Island braided rivers, or in the mud and steep country in the central N Island. The trick is always to run low pressures when you’re in the rough stuff, makes a massive difference not just to traction but wear and tear as well.

Originally Posted by mikee

I have bfg m/ts on my truck. Fronts have done just over 100k kms and still more life in them. Rears are at 35k and were only replace cause some muppet punctured one ane wasnt repairable

I am running the same, an MT that gets 80-100k is better road mileage than most ATs, buggar all noise too eh. Very very good off road.

Like the idea of more expensive and long lasting, just hate the thought of putting an unrepairable hole in one. Fair bit of my driving in winter is over sections with nasty shale or the sidewalls

Originally Posted by 223nut

Like the idea of more expensive and long lasting, just hate the thought of putting an unrepairable hole in one. Fair bit of my driving in winter is over sections with nasty shale or the sidewalls

Insurance. I drove over a set of spiked harrows left in long grass and stuffed 3 tyres, insurance paid out for a replacements.

Put a set of Maxxis 980's on my Navara last September so have only done a few thousand k's on them. Problem with "long life" tyres is that while they are new for longer, they are also half worn for longer, and pretty well stuffed for longer.
Really happy with Maxxis so far - -both on and off road.

Crunch, do you mind pointing me in the right direction of where to check for the Cooper fields specials? cheers

Originally Posted by crunch

There are field day specials on maxxis and cooper tires this month and I'm stuck on what to buy. Im looking at the maxxis bravo 980 $1350 for a set, or the cooper st/maxx $1880 for a set. Im not sure if the cooper's are worth the extra $530 over the maxxis? Anyone got any advice.
Thanks.

FYI I looked in my service book, I paid $400 fitted each for the Cooper STT Pro 225/75R16 last year. So four for $1600 inc GST.

I shopped around every dealer within 50km and played them off against eachother. Helps that I also bought Yokohama Geolanders for the wife’s Highlander at the same time.

In the old days, Hankook T24's. they were a great tyre. Good K's out of them too.
Don't know if they still exist or what they turned into but I had that sort of tyre on several of my wagons.

Originally Posted by csmiffy

In the old days, Hankook T24's. they were a great tyre. Good K's out of them too.
Don't know if they still exist or what they turned into but I had that sort of tyre on several of my wagons.

Hankook RF10 is the latest of Hankooks All terrain tyre , bloody good bit of rubber and even better when its the light truck casing- I run them at present and are rapt with them , i push them pretty bloody hard and haven't had them let me down as well as them being on track for doing big mileage

Have Yokohama of some variety on the outback and they go really well for tarmac and gravel