Thread: D697 Tyre Damage on Road to Birdsville

Graeme's 275/55 R20 tyres look very similar to my 285/60 R18 BFG tyres. They look smaller than the same size D697's but I think it is because of the full width square looking tread. The D697 is a more conventional tyre with a more bulging sidewall that comes out past the edge of the tread, which seems to make them look wider. I'm very interested to see what they do at 18psi. The D697 rear tyres look almost flat at 18, although the fronts are fine. They are great in soft sand at that pressure, however.

Originally Posted by Graeme

Neither the RRV not the BFGs have seen sand yet but I don't expect any problems airing down enough to extend the footprint for adequate floatation. The LT BFGs are for tougher and maximum 20" sidewalls, hoping to avoid a conversion to LT265/60R18 on Compomotives.

Love to know how they go!

Aarron,its only a small increase in sidewall height compared to our stockies.What concerns me is they are wider,I believe half our problem is the tyres are quite wide and need to push a fair amount of sand before you move,we have little sidewall bagging out to assist.
Andrew

Bob, do you use the same pressure in the rear as the front when loaded, particularly regarding sand usage? I used 4 psi less in the front to obtain about the same footprint in sand with my loaded D4.

Greame.
When Aaron and I were at Horrocks we couldnt get the D4s to do much at all with anything above 15psi.
We both were disgusted,as we and our friend who just got his new deefer last week(was a D2 owner) as too the very poor performance in the soft sand and all agreed our D2s wouldnt have struggled.I do believe the sand was much softer than where the 3 of us normally beach drive.I never used to air down in the D2 until it was struggling.
Once we were moving the soft sand was easy.It was just the trying to get moving that was the issue.
The Toyotas didnt need to make a runway like I did on our last fish.Aaron gave up in disgust and parked on terra firma.
The 19"tyres are the worst feature of these loverley vehicles
Andrew

Originally Posted by Graeme

Bob, do you use the same pressure in the rear as the front when loaded, particularly regarding sand usage? I used 4 psi less in the front to obtain about the same footprint in sand with my loaded D4.

That would be about right. I have my Stauns set to 18 and I stop the rears a bit early when they look about right, if still a bit flat. That is usually around 20 to 22 and the fronts are at 18 and don't look too flat at all.

Originally Posted by BobD

That would be about right. I have my Stauns set to 18 and I stop the rears a bit early when they look about right, if still a bit flat. That is usually around 20 to 22 and the fronts are at 18 and don't look too flat at all.

Ive ditched my much loved Stauns now.I got an ARB deflator,you really need to know exactly how low you have gone with these 55 tyres.They look dreadfully flat on hard ground at 15psi.
Andrew

FWIW I've done a lot of soft sand driving now in a RRV on 285/50/20 Cooper LTZ and never looked like getting stuck, but aired down from scratch to 16psi.
Cheers