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I told you lot that Landrovers were unreliable !!
BFG's appear to have dropped the ball, they used to be great tyres but my last set were crap.
Re tyre balancing beads , I'll never use wheel weights again ,
I also would not use the sand / powder media , Ive tried a few brands but the ABC beads are about 3 - 4mm diameter and cause no sealing problems, absolutely fantastic for trackside tyre swaps,
ABC Beads ® | Tyre Balancing Beads Australia
Went up the Burke Developmental Road in early/mid July up to Karumba etc so it wasn't me. Was one of the OKA's towing an aeroplane and had a couple of minor drive train issues ?Quote:
Originally Posted by n plus one
Deano :)
If you go the balancing beads save yourself a lot of grief and do 2 things:
a) fit longer valve cores;
b) make sure you use the larger stainless beads for 4wds.
The finer beads have a habit (mine do) of getting caught in the valve when airing down and then you have to stuff around to connect the air compressor to force air in to clear the valve. Otherwise you can be left with a slow or fast leak depending on the amount of debris caught. When airing down I have to rotate my tyre so the valve is at 12 o'clock to minimise the risk of the beads getting caught in the valve.
Most products you find at tyre retailers are intended for trucks that once fitted won't see daylight until the next tyre change. The nature of 4wding and airing up and down can be a PITA when using non-specific beads.
Longer valve cores help with the above because it moves the stopper valve inwards of the internal rim surface. If you use a speedy deflator that removes the core then the longer valves make little difference.
The large beads don't tend to get caught in the draft of escaping air like the finer beads. Also the stainless beads don't break up into finer particles like the ceramic ones can (my ceramic ones are a mix of larger particles to fine gritty sized bits).
Not sure about BFG KM2's being difficult to balance. I had 2 sets of 255/85 and they were fine. Current set of 315/75 have a shimmer but i think the rim (Dynamic) is to blame. Just remember that larger the tyre or more aggressive the tyre pattern the larger variance in balancing.
MLD
Land Rover reliability is certainly an issue when you do long trips.
When I travelled 16,000 km from the south east corner of Australia through the geographical centre to the north west corner and back in my Series III, I suffered the inconvenience of the spring in the passenger's door latch breaking.
Wouldn't you think Land Rover could use a better quality spring!
The fact that it was the only thing that went wrong on a 26 year old vehicle is no excuse.
:p
Get the dealer to take the tyre off the rim and see if it is the rim and if that is ok it must be the tyre. I had a BFG's fitted to my defer and one of the wheels had weights halfway round the rim. They said it was the rim. On my last trip I got so sick of it I took the tyre off and got the rim balanced and it was ok so put the tyre back on and took it to the dealer and they did the same thing, so they gave me a new tyre under warranty, they did discount a little for wear though.
Lindsay
I have fitted BFG mud tyres to all my 4x4's for the past 20 plus years and never had a problem with wheel balance. I had KM2's fitted to my 2007 Defender without drama. These were then transferred over to a new BT 50 in 2012 and still balanced perfectly. As the Mazda was so smooth and quiet, any balance problem would be evident big time.
I have just traded the Mazda on a low Km 2013 Defender 110 with Continental AT tyres. Will swap to KM2,s as soon as I can. The Continental tyres seem to trap every stone ever made in the treads.
Isn't front wheel shimmy a symptom of wrong swivel bearing pre-load /wear or similar?
I love being back in a Defender as I would trash the Mazda underbody off road but wow, the Defender now seems so old, loud and rough compared to the Mazda, bearing in mind I have previously owned a Defender. But may I say, way more fun!
Quote:
Originally Posted by n plus one
Don't let the Toyota faithful read that list, they will have a field day destroying the rep of the puma.
Lucky you made it home by the looks of that list.
Hope you managed to find time to enjoy yourself.
Cheers Ean
Might be best to lock them out of the rest of the forum though[emoji16]
I have/had the same issue, 4 places tried to balance them and they are shocking, worst tyre I ever had for driving distance, the 255/85 are full of wobble also on my car, they are sitting in my shed 50% worn, I put some cheap Hankook dynapro ATM RF10 on and they are a marvel to drive on compared to the KM2, they have done Fraser Island and my back yard so far and no issues, might put the KM2 on my spare wheels and use them on the next trip, but that depends out how good these Hankooks go.Quote:
Originally Posted by n plus one
Anyway just my 2c worth, I am glad they are not all bad as they are not cheap and I would hate for others to have wasted money also but it does appear that it is hit and miss if you get a good batch.
if its an ashcroft diff is it realyl LR's fault? hehe.