Talk to me about Tyres & Towing

UPDATE - Checked corrected speed against the GPS ... Set the Nanocom tyre co-efficient to 1.058. Matches GPS spot on. New tyres are 5.71% larger.

Speedo definitely reads 5kmhr low at 90 actual.

Will check on drive down vs return towing and see how mileage stacks up to prior.




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Originally Posted by Fluids

It's all good Baz. The 255/70 cover fits the 265/70 ... Just. The D697LT is a bit bigger diameter but appears to be a tad narrower then the S/T it's replacing ... And it's supposed to be a wider tyre !?

Cover just slides over the bar well enough for it to not be a problem .... Doesn't fit as nice as it fitted the 255/70 though.

No need to flip the spare carrier.

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That's great, oh as for the tyre width, that depends on where they measure the tyre from, it's an actual tread measurement, not how wide the tyre is, so they could be measurung the ST from where the tread starts across the face and Bridgestone measure from the sidewall:confused:

Baz.

I have a 2004 Diesel Disco auto. Currently has 245/70 R16 street tyres on it. I use it mainly to tow a 6.1m Hydrofield boat (about 1.7 Tonnes fully fuelled). My local boat ramp is short and if I get in to port on a low tide I always need a friendly stranger and my snatch strap to get out.


I don't drive far and am thinking of muddies, but I hear good things about All Terrain too. Anyone with experience towing over sand? Opinions welcome.

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Originally Posted by gwherbertson

I have a 2004 Diesel Disco auto. Currently has 245/70 R16 street tyres on it. I use it mainly to tow a 6.1m Hydrofield boat (about 1.7 Tonnes fully fuelled). My local boat ramp is short and if I get in to port on a low tide I always need a friendly stranger and my snatch strap to get out.


I don't drive far and am thinking of muddies, but I hear good things about All Terrain too. Anyone with experience towing over sand? Opinions welcome.

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Hi GW.
For using a steep boat ramp, I'm not sure if aggressive mud tyres would be much help, but others may have more experience.
In my view, if you are working with a heavy boat and losing traction on a concrete ramp, your best bet (before spending a shed load of cash) would be to transfer some of the weight (esky full of ice, 2 slabs, 50 litres of spare fuel, fat Bob from the office, 2 teenagers, fat Bob's back-pack - you get the drill) from the boat and into the car, you might get a pleasant surprise regarding traction.
(you probably don't need real high tyre pressures for this job either)

Well, jobs done. Picked up the camper yesterday and had an easy (if not slow) trip home.

The bigger 265/70 tyres on the trip down worked quite OK ... towing home showed a huge change in performance ... picked up camper at Unanderra, took a short drive towards Dapto to let the brake controller calibrate itself and get the feel of the rig, then turned and headed for home .... and here comes Mount Ousley !! Oh dear ... Going to need some more ponies under the bonnet :eek: Saw the water temp go from 88 to 98.5 up Ousley in 3rd unlocked ... that's a long long long uphill haul with a decent grade. The 255/70 tyres might have been a better choice, but I think and extra 20-25% under the bonnet will make all the difference with the bigger tyres.

3rd locked works quite well with the bigger tyres at up to 80/85 actual and about 2400-2500rpm but it runs out of steam pretty quickly on hills, even with a run up. 4th locked on flat open highway is comfy at 90 actual doing around 1975rpm ... 95 actual for about 2100rpm.

11.1L/100km for the trip down - 13.2L/100km for the trip home. Happy with that ! :)