OK I'm getting new tyres - what do I get?

[Hookedon4wding]

After discovering a chunk missing from the sidewall of a rear tyre, I've decided to bite the bullet and get some AT's. But what do I get. I want to keep it under $300 a tyre and want a reasonably quiet all rounder with good grip off road.

BFG AT?
Bridgestone D694?
Toyo OPAT?
Cooper ATR?
Silent Armour?
Others?

OE size is 265/65/R17 but would be happy to go to 265/70/R17. Needs to be light truck construction.

If you could list approx $$ with your recommendation it would be great.

Cheers, Sam.

[jmi]

I am in the same boat as you Sam, so i am very keen to hear what other recommend.

What about Cooper ST's as well? I have been thinking about getting them, but i think they might be a bit too aggressive for around town??


Josh

[Ranger J]

This would be my pick in order of preference (and tread aggression)

-Cooper ST
-BFG AT
-Cooper ATR/Bridgestone AT

I have had a set of Bridgestone AT's since purchasing my Paj, and I was a pure mud terrain fan after having a set on my previous vehicle. But after driving around on these, they are great on road, with little road noise and outstanding wear. Drop to correct pressures on the sand and rock and they still perform reasonably well - certainly surprised me. As with most AT's they are utterly useless when things turn sloppy - and thats where the ST's would excel.

Cheers,
Jayden

[Hookedon4wding]

I am in the same boat as you Sam, so i am very keen to hear what other recommend.

What about Cooper ST's as well? I have been thinking about getting them, but i think they might be a bit too aggressive for around town??

Josh

The Cooper ST's on my mates Prado are definitely quite aggressive and while pretty quiet, I would think their effect on fuel consumption would be greater than some of the less aggressive tread patterns. Still, I'm not ruling them out at this stage. $$$ will be a big factor with Cooper I think.

[Walker]

You would just want to make sure Cooper have fixed all their delamination problems. There have been a number of people who have had blowouts with their ST's due to delamiintion.

My first choice would be Goodyear Silent Armour.
Mickey Thompson ATZ's are very very good as well.


I dont think you are going to get a 17" tyre for less than $300

My Silent Armours in 265/70-17 were $390/tyre and when I asked the Cooper A/T and the BFG were both more expensive.

[dolphin]

the Pirelli Scorpions are a very good on / off road tyre, plus they last.

[glsgls]

i would go for cooper a/t no worries

[pajman]

my choice was really simple, after 2 set of BF good the choice was really simple. the last set on the triton MK had done over 110K and they still were not wore passed half way. I found that coopers had more road noise than the BF. Cheers Bruce

[Eastie]

There's a couple of sites worth looking at wehn making a short list - this is one:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey....jsp?type=ORAT

There's also a site in one of the recent tyre threads in the tyre section that has an 4x4 magazine test - leaves a lot to be desired like comparing MT's to AT's in the same test. but the results for grip and handling are interesting:

http://www.4wdmonthly.com.au/tips_tyres.php

I run cooper ATR's on the paj and I won't be buying them again. They are good offroad and no problems with punctures but they lack black top grip when it's wet. I worked out that although BFG's AT's last it also comes at the cost of grip - the longer they last the less they grip - in fact the switch to to the MT's saw the same handling on road and they have handled well through their life, albeit less kms per tyre than the AT's. My only experience with goodyear was a near death one, but I believe they have dramatically improved with the silent armour compound.

Since my Paj does most of it's km's on black top I'll be looking at something like the pirelli atr or yoko ats next time. It's interesting that there's not much written about cooper/mickey thompson (offroad tires) in the states and I'm yet to find an international tyre review/survey that includes them....given we purchase as as many tires annually as the states use in less than a month?

Anyhow - the real problem is to get great offroad grip across the range you have to go for a fairly aggressive tread (more than a lot of AT's give) and sacrifice noise/handling/braking. It's quite simple - MT's are noisier and don't handle as well as HT's on road.

[Hookedon4wding]

Looking at the tyre company websites it seems that the 265/65/R17 size is not readily available in LT construction. Most of the 265/70/R17 tyres are over 800mm overall diameter which would make them illegal in VIC would it not? The OE tyres on the Paj (Bridgestone Dueller 693) has an overall diameter of 776mm which would mean the biggest you can legally go is 791mm. his would pretty much rule out any 265/70/R17 tyre.

Is this correct?

[pajman]

I have just checked and I have 275/70/17 on mine and I have been pulled over about 10 times this year (not for speeding) and I have never been asked about the tyres. Most cops would not even know what they are looking at. The only time the are concern is outside of wheelarch and condition of car....The reason I know this is a mate is a cop

[Walker]

Looking at the tyre company websites it seems that the 265/65/R17 size is not readily available in LT construction. Most of the 265/70/R17 tyres are over 800mm overall diameter which would make them illegal in VIC would it not? The OE tyres on the Paj (Bridgestone Dueller 693) has an overall diameter of 776mm which would mean the biggest you can legally go is 791mm. his would pretty much rule out any 265/70/R17 tyre.

Is this correct?

No. I am pretty sure the new National code came in onthe 1st Feb 2008. This allows tyres on an off-road vehicle to be 50mm greater in diameter than standard.

So the 265/70-17 are legal and even teh 275/70-17 is legal

[Eastie]

Adam - while I've heard the same I'm yet to see it in writting. Have you come across the specifics anywhere? (ADR's/uniform traffic laws or the like)

[Gromit]

50mm! That would really throw the speedo out wouldn't it?
Has anyone tried the Bridgestone D694 ATs? They come in a 265/65/17.
I don't know if they're crap, just saw them mentioned on Exploroz as an option.

[Walker]

Have alook here. Look at page 16.

These are the new regs but I can't find anywhere which states when they come into practise. I am only going on hear-say from the engineer who is engineering my Range Rover and told me they took effect from Feb this year.

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roa...g_3Feb2006.pdf