Help me decide...another tyre thread

[Hendrik]

Hi all
I am close to buying some mud terrains, so I'm faced with the decision of which tyre to buy. I have found out some prices, so do I go cheaper like Maxxis Bighorns, Pirelli Scorpions, GT Radials etc. Or, do I bite the bullet and go more expensive like Mickey Thomsons, Coopers or BF Goodrich. Is it really worth spending more on tyres? What are your experiences?
I've decided that I will run the mud terrains all the time, as I don't use my car all the much during the week and I can't be bothered changing wheels everytime I want to go offroad. I am looking at 265/75/R16.

Thanks
Hendrik

[josh aka sean]

Hi
I run a Defender (i know not a D2) with BF Goodrich Muddies. I find they are good on road and quiet, as well as excellent off road. So far done about 10000km's on them and no real sign of wear.
Cheers
Josh

[MickS]

A mate of mine swears by the Cooper St's....has had 100K out of them and he reckons he's got another 20K in them...

He doesn't rate the Mickey Thompsons....

There is another thread that rates the Maxxis big horns big time...might be Dullbird's trip report from last weekend from memory...

[DeanoH]

Hi, I'll bite. Tyre threads are good for hours of circular argument.

The latest edition of Australian 4WD Action (No 134) has a reasonably comprehensive comparison of 14 different sets of muddies and is well worth a look.

If you're used to driving on the speed limit you could be in trouble if you forget that with the 265/75's your speedo will be out by about 8 %. ie, 100 K on the speedo = 108 KMH in real terms. Thank you officer I'm glad to make a donation.:( Also a pain if you're used to using your trip meter to measure distances.

Me, I prefer Cooper Tyres. Not cheap and I'm on my third set. They have never let me down but I'm pretty fussy about tyre pressures and things. The type of travel I do is generally road and track touring towing a camper or caravan, and I find the Cooper ST's are a good compromise bitumen/dirt tyre. My only criticism is that the sharp flinty SA type outback roads tend to cut up the tread a bit, so I guess this is why Coopers bought out the STT which is supposed to be better in this type of terain. I'll try these next time.

My only advice would be that whatever type of tyres you get make sure the black valve holding thingys that go through the rim are replaced when you get your new tyres. I've been caught by this several times.Trashing $300 tyres because the fitter was too lousy/lazy to fit new thingys is a real downer.:(

That's my two bobs worth

Deano.

[big guy]

Yep, Coopers are now my choice after years of Michelin XPC's.
They are no longer made and I do realise some had bad experinces with Coopers but I have and many friends run them even on a Porsche Cayene and we can not fault any.

They are quiet and have great wear, I do have a couple of chips in them but that is normal as all my 4wd's have had chips or chuncks takenout when I go off road in them.

Go the cooper is my 2 bobs worth, rotate them often and keep tyre pressures correct and they will last you a long time.

Good luck, another can of worms.

[imatt]

Hi Hendrik,
Like Deano said, have a read of the latest 4WD action, it has a buyers guide to mud terrains. The new BFG muddies took first place followed closely by Maxxis Bighorns, it's worth reading. I myself run Cooper ST's on the Disco and Cooper ATR's on Ford Ranger. Both tyres are great but they are only classed as AT's.
Cheers Matt

[McDisco]

Hendrik

If you cant be bothered changing the tyres and intend on running the muddies all the time, I would go for a good cheap, but realiable muddie like the Bighorns. I dont think they will be good as the BFG KM2 or even the old KM's. It not worth your money to pay for good quality muddies and then do most of your driving on bitumen or around town.

I run Yokohama HTs around town and then put on the BFGs for fun...

Angus

[Slunnie]

I most definately WOULD NOT run Cooper ST's on a Discovery2.

These tyres do not tolerate wheel spin at all, something which the ETC requires to operate. Wheel spin will crack and rip off the outside lugs on these tyres. I and many others have already been there with this tyre. Cooper advised me to run the tyres at 20psi due to this but the problem continued before the tyre was changed for a different type

[Blknight.aus]

due to some people pulling out there are still some of the perelli scorpians available from the last lot of the bulk order that I was doing.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/849990-post6.html

[Redback]

I most definately WOULD NOT run Cooper ST's on a Discovery2.

These tyres do not tolerate wheel spin at all, something which the ETC requires to operate. Wheel spin will crack and rip off the outside lugs on these tyres. I and many others have already been there with this tyre. Cooper advised me to run the tyres at 20psi due to this but the problem continued before the tyre was changed for a different type

X2

I am one of the many others, whatever tyre you decide FOR GODS SAKE DON'T RUN COOPERS:twisted::twisted::twisted::twisted:

Baz.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

any of them????

thats a pretty big generalisation there Baz,,

[stevo68]

Hi Hendrik,
Like Deano said, have a read of the latest 4WD action, it has a buyers guide to mud terrains. The new BFG muddies took first place followed closely by Maxxis Bighorns, it's worth reading. I myself run Cooper ST's on the Disco and Cooper ATR's on Ford Ranger. Both tyres are great but they are only classed as AT's.
Cheers Matt Hey mate, aside from the Bighorns coming in as runner up and a good wrap in the latest 4WD Action......I also have them as you know. Maybe they were a "cheaper" tyre...but not a hell of a difference now compared to say some of the other brands.

I do on average 5-700 kms a week on the Bighorns....plus take them off road for a decent thrashing every now and then. So far am unable to fault them. The only thing...which I would say is common for running muddies is just to take it easier, especially in the wet. They handle fine in the wet.....but I always make sure that I am a few extra metres behind a vehicle in case of emergency braking as it takes a smidgy longer to grip as opposed to a highway based tyre.

I can't really compare them to other tyres, as these are my first muddies....but will get them again as no reason to change,

Regards

Stevo

[Redback]

any of them????

thats a pretty big generalisation there Baz,,

Well these are the ones I've tried, STs 6000ks, ST-Cs 20,000ks but were stuffed at 15,000ks and STTs 25,000ks, in the end the Cooper rep was lost for words, when he offered us a warrenty replacement (part replacement only) we had to pay part of the cost, I said no thanks and replaced them with Nankangs, it cost me about $150 extra to go with the Nankangs.

Pete if you do a lot of off road, on the D2 they will tear lugs off.

Just like this, these are my STs after 6000ks, you'll notice the cracking on the other lugs.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

And these are my ST-Cs (the claimed anti chip compound tyres)after 15,000ks
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Dont doubt you for a second Baz.:cool:
just wanted to know which ones to steer clear of,,

[scarry]

Well these are the ones I've tried, STs 6000ks, ST-Cs 20,000ks but were stuffed at 15,000ks and STTs 25,000ks, in the end the Cooper rep was lost for words, when he offered us a warrenty replacement (part replacement only) we had to pay part of the cost, I said no thanks and replaced them with Nankangs, it cost me about $150 extra to go with the Nankangs.

Pete if you do a lot of off road, on the D2 they will tear lugs off.

Just like this, these are my STs after 6000ks, you'll notice the cracking on the other lugs.
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/adq.sized.jpg

And these are my ST-Cs (the claimed anti chip compound tyres)after 15,000ks
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/House_011.sized.jpg

The top picture is exactly what has happened to my BFG A/T's,but they are 5yrs old & have done around 75k.You can see cords where the lugs are missing.
They didnt do it early on ,only after they were old & pretty worn.
They actually still have 5mm of tread,but should probably be replaced.
I will go them again......it'll save having ANOTHER tyre thread:D;)

[JayBee75]

Hey mate, aside from the Bighorns coming in as runner up and a good wrap in the latest 4WD Action......I also have them as you know. Maybe they were a "cheaper" tyre...but not a hell of a difference now compared to say some of the other brands.

I do on average 5-700 kms a week on the Bighorns....plus take them off road for a decent thrashing every now and then. So far am unable to fault them. The only thing...which I would say is common for running muddies is just to take it easier, especially in the wet. They handle fine in the wet.....but I always make sure that I am a few extra metres behind a vehicle in case of emergency braking as it takes a smidgy longer to grip as opposed to a highway based tyre.

I can't really compare them to other tyres, as these are my first muddies....but will get them again as no reason to change,

Regards

Stevo


Stevo, i have Bighorn's as well. Have you noticed a decrease in Fuel consumption? (TD5 or V8?) Obviously a trait with any mud tyre,, just interested I reckon about 50k's per tank for me.



Hendrik, I have just fitted bighorns 245's and am very happy with them. Honestly believe that it is a personal choice as everyon'e requirements vary and it really is a personal thing, as one's experince on the same tyre to another's is very different.

For me I went with the Bighorn's as I really was'nt sure what to expect, could not find any negativity on them, as as this was my first set of muddies, whilst cost was not the main factor, I did not want a very expensive set of tyres sitting around in case I did not like them or did not want to run them everyday on the car.

After having them on for a few weeks and now having them off the car, they will most likely go back on permanently when I have a moment to change them over.

Great on the road, seem good so far in the wet, but you obviously cghange your driving style "just in case". I am impressed with them, the only downside is they are noisey, particuarly 80-100km/h mark, however not as noisey as some muddies I have heard, but the one thought to keep in your head, they are muddies what else would you expect.
Specific tyre for a specific job.

Cheers
JB:)

[stevo68]

Stevo, i have Bighorn's as well. Have you noticed a decrease in Fuel consumption? (TD5 or V8?) Obviously a trait with any mud tyre,, just interested I reckon about 50k's per tank for me.

Great on the road, seem good so far in the wet, but you obviously cghange your driving style "just in case". I am impressed with them, the only downside is they are noisey, particuarly 80-100km/h mark, however not as noisey as some muddies I have heard, but the one thought to keep in your head, they are muddies what else would you expect.
Specific tyre for a specific job.

Cheers
JB:) Hey mate......I have the TD5...plus with the muddies I keep the roof rack on...I 'd say closer to 100kms per tank, which I can live with. As for noise....dunno....bit hard to hear anything over the stereo blasting out some tune :cool:,

Regards

Stevo

[Grover-98]

Go the bighorns!

I run mine as a daily on my D1 300tdi 245/75R16 and love them! $220 a corner! so price was great! and as for noise as others said they are muddies... but i have both mufflers removed so if i can here them would mean then engine as died... or my stereo is off...

They handle great on tar wet/dry i find them to give you a fair warning but i have thrown them into some corners very harshly and never had them give up on me :)

As for dirt roads i live on a property and have to drive on 3ks of dirt every trip and they love it! handle the dirt roads very well! i do sometimes hit the loose stuff to get it sideways...:angel: but im on P's so i am suppose to do that!? :wasntme:

And as for rocks, they seem to love it and i have not had any dramas with tread blocks or the sidewall i ussually run at 25 Psi, and of course mud... well i havnt had them in real deep mud, but they seem to grab well when dropped to 25 Psi... I am going to test them out in some serious mud soon so i will let you know how i go :) i have faith in them but i dont think they will like the deep stuff as much as the more aggressive open treads on the market.

Compromise is the key and for price, onroad off road ability life and noise these seem to come out on top many times on this forum! i will certainly be getting another set when these ones give up :)


James.