Thread: Tyre talk in the bush

With out getting into a debate over tyres i thought i would relate some
observations made during a recent trip through outback QLD part of SA
and bits of NSW, a trip of 4500k in two weeks in Sid the disco dieselfitted with BF Goodrich 215/75/16 AT`s, swapped the wheels and tyres off my mates as mine are Michelin, basically road tyres, also my spare was a Michie and decided to get a second hand Goodrich to match when i got to
Brisbane (from Anna Bay).


Called into Fourbys in Brisbane and managed to pick up a as new Goodrich AT, while there I enquired about suitable tyres for Sid for
general off road use, had a long discussion with a very helpful and
knowelgable member of their staff, for around the same money as the

Goodrich AT 3 ply sidewall the Coopers SST 2 ply sidewall would be a
better tyre particually in the mud and had better side wall protection
and had less tendency to clog up with stones, drove off and thought
Coopers for me when i get home ( you can only drive on your mates tyres for so long before they start to winge and want them back).



Headed out from Brisbane to Longreach, Windorah, Betoota, Birdsville,
Birdsville track then on to the Old Bore track to Innamincka via Bollards
Homestead, Culumutta Water hole, then down the SA side to Cameron Corner.

It was here the tyre story takes a turn ( I had run tyre pressures of
32psi all around on Fourbys recommendation their reasoning being that a
softer tyre even with some side wall bulge will tend to conform to the
terrain and in affect "roll" with the stones and obstacles as opposed to
a hard tyre that has no give and is venerable to punctures and side wall
damage , with 2 up and a fair amount of weight extra fuel, water etc ,
we had driven through lots of gibber country and sand dunes a real mixed
bag of driving)

At the Cameron Corner pub we ran into a boundary rider
who maintains a section of the rabbit proof fence, got around to tyre
talk, as you do in the bush, I mentioned Coopers, well he tells me that
they don't use them around here as they have lots of trouble with the
side wall being ripped apart on the gibbers and that a tyre dealer in
town (Broken Hill 400k away) refuses to sell them because of the
problems and that they were a pile S*** and that they might be good in
the rest of the country but not out here, bugger I thought there goes my

Coopers idea,then on to Tibooburra, Hungerford, the pub, Goodrich you
say not round here mate!!!!! not with low pressures too many bloody
punctures, I run Coopers..... back to the Coopers idea, on to Cunnamulla
then along the NSW border to Stanthorpe and the Girraween NationalPark,back to Brisbane.

Blow up the tyre to 40psi for the run home, still thinking Coopers v
Goodrich, in the end I have decided to go with Goodrich based on the
fact that over 4500k I had not the slightest problem with them, they did
not clog up with stones and at low pressure the rode well, handelled the
gibbers and sand, there were no chunks out of them plus the spare I
bought had never been on the road, $140.

I think the formula for me regardless of the tyre is more than 70%
tread, drop the pressure and drive to the conditions mayby I was just
lucky.

To end with a real hard luck story met a bloke in Birdsville with a
Mavric, now this would not have mattered what tyres you had. He ran over an object flicked it up with the front wheel and it banged up under the chassis and drove its self into the rear tyre, before he could stop it
gouged the mounting plate on the side step tore part of his fibreglass
flare out, removed the wheel with the flat tyre and managed to get the
offending object out of the tyre, it had gone in dead centre and square
to the tread head first........ what was it ????? .....a four inch
spring shackle bolt.

Regards Joatt

That's what i like, unbiased advice, I agree, I'm running kumho's at the moment, because they were on the car when I bought it. So far they've been great, just too small, and I'd like a more aggresive tread than their A/T has. Really thoughI can't fault their performance.