Thread: Defender tyres for WA conditions

255/85-16 Maxxis Bighorn (or MTRs). Good allround tyres for WA conditions IME. Mine have done heaps of pea gravel, beach and inland sand, west-east coasts 4 times, CSR, Gibb, etc, etc...

No good on lake dissapointment though...

BFG mud terrains!
Love mine and handle sand to rock and everything in between.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

255/85-16 Maxxis Bighorn (or MTRs). Good allround tyres for WA conditions IME. Mine have done heaps of pea gravel, beach and inland sand, west-east coasts 4 times, CSR, Gibb, etc, etc...

No good on lake dissapointment though...

Great to know and timely too, leaving for the CSR day after tomorrow and that's what's on mine. Was a choice of the Bighorns or the Roadgrippers that I got stuck in Lake Poeppel with in 2010.
I find them a little noisy though (the only reason I considered the Roadgrippers for the trip). I did have concerns about rocks in the large tread voids. .

Excuse my ignorance, but isn't a "mud terrain" tyre for.... well, for mud?

I see my GG's are 235/85/R16 - should i stick to this size? I’d like to go a little wider if possible but it looks to me like the standard defender alloys are quite a narrow wheel?

[edit - double post]

I've used bighorns on the Disco and now on the 110 very happy with them as an all rounder both on the beach and in the mud. Bit noisey on the road but in a isuzu 110 noise is just part of life.

It all depends on how aggressive the tyre tread is not really what the label they put on it says. Bighorns and BFGs are pretty mild compare to serious mud tyres that would be much use anywhere but a swamp such as simex Jungle Trekkers etc

It's more about setting the correct tyre pressure for the terrain than anything else ie an MT on the beach will likely need to be a lower pressure than an AT to prevent it digging holes but will still perform well in 99% of situations.

Sizing wise I have 235/85/r16 as I bought them for my Series with no powersteering next set will likely be the size that Isuzurover mentioned

Originally Posted by Samblers

Excuse my ignorance, but isn't a "mud terrain" tyre for.... well, for mud?

Not really. Tyres with a more open tread and side lugs can work better in a range of conditions (rock/gravel/etc), not just mud.

In fact MTR stands for "Maximum Traction Reinforced" - the specifically don't market them as a mud tyre and in fact they have mediocre performance in mud. Maxxis Bighorns are (almost) a copy of MTRs, but seem to be slightly better at mud.

Apart from the noise, both tyres perform well on wet and dry bitumen, and both are great in sand too at appropriate pressures.

When my MTRs were new they were much better on bitumen than the Falken AT/HT tyres they replaced.

for a "true" mud tyre you would need to look at something like this:

But even boggers are good for rock crawling!

Sorry to bang on again about these, but VERY happy with them in all conditions, and everyone I have recommended them to has been, too.

M55

JC