New tyres for the series 3

**pfillery** · 1st November 2011, 07:08 AM

I'm in need of a new set of rubber. I've been told the ones on her are "rag tyres" which is why they have some flat spots. I'm considering some dunlop road gripper as fitted to the landcruisers (pardon my swearing) because the price is really good at $200 a tyre fitted and balanced which compared to $185 for the cheap brands is pretty good.

Are these a good tyre for a series and will I be likely to get better ride and handling? I figure I'm on 35 year old brakes and suspension so anything that helps the handling and safety is a bonus. Plus it should be a quieter tyre. Are there any others I should be considering for a 7.50 16? Also with tubes, the dealer seemed to think that if the tubes are "rag tyre tubes" they may need replacing. The tyres on there are 4 years old so is there a recommended time after which new tubes should be used? How long do they generally last and should I just replace them all if doing the tyres?

Anyone got some spare standard series 3 109" rims lying about that they want to sell or offload (in Brisbane)? I'd really like to strip and paint the rims before fitting new tyres but can't really do this effectively while they are on the vehicle. If I can get a spare or 2 I can stagger the job with my spare tyre and do them that way.

**wovenrovings** · 1st November 2011, 09:18 AM

The dunlop road grippers are a good tyre. Especially if they are the japanese ones of the landcruisers. I am not sure if you have a short or long wheelbase series three, but I reckon they would be just right for a long and ok for a short. You may get a bit better handling and they are pretty quiet. As for ride, no radial tire rides as well as rag tyre.
On the subject of tube. If you have tubes that don't leak and have a bit of time on them insist that they fit them or if you aren't willing to go that far get them back. What I have found is that all tubes made in Korea are rubbish. You will get flats in about 5000k or sooner if you let them be fitted. I now have some genuine bridgestone tubes and they are ok. There is no such thing as a rag or radial tube a tube is a tube and your old ones will work. I found out about the tubes the hard way, 5 mystery flats a week is no fun when you have to change them yourself. I ended up fitting 20 year old tubes out of some old landies here to tide me over. They gave no problems.

Dan.

**PAT303** · 1st November 2011, 02:50 PM

Why buy new?,second hand tyre shops sell take off's for less than $100 each. Pat

**pfillery** · 1st November 2011, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by PAT303

Why buy new?,second hand tyre shops sell take off's for less than $100 each. Pat

Tried a couple of s/h tyre shops and they all only have new for the 7.50 16 tyres. The hard part is getting 4 matching wear tyres.

**goingbush** · 1st November 2011, 03:06 PM

as mentioned Dunlop Road Grippers are a great tyre. You might also consider Super Grippers, I ran them on my 80 Series Toyota and my 79 SWB BJ40 . I dont know about Rag tryes riding better than radials. I tried some 750-16 Bridgestone Jeep Service lookalike CrossPly tyres and they were horrible. I forgot that Rag tyres developed flat spots while sitting for a week , It was like riding on a camshaft until the tyres warmed up. Of course you wont get half the mileage out of Road Grippers that you will get from a set of BFG AT's or coopers . You might also condider InsaTurbo remoulds - do an ebay search.

As for Korean tubes going flat - yes they do, but go to supercrap autos & get a bottle of Green stuff & put 1/2 a bottle in each tyre - no more flats , great stuff.

**pfillery** · 1st November 2011, 05:29 PM

For the same price as the SP road grippers I can also get a Sime (previously called Simex) light truck tyre. Any thoughts on this brand? I guess in terms of original price the Sime is a $220 tyre and the dunlop is a $300+ tyre, plus I get the split rims and tubes to sell off from the toyota wheels (split rims are probably bin jobs but the tubes should be usable to someone). Pity the stud pattern isn't the same.

**peejay52** · 7th November 2011, 10:52 AM

I bought a set of Coopers when I had a Series III. They were great. Check the rolling diameter is not smaller than the original tyre's otherwise your top speed will be decreased.

**pfillery** · 8th November 2011, 07:13 AM

Originally Posted by peejay52

I bought a set of Coopers when I had a Series III. They were great. Check the rolling diameter is not smaller than the original tyre's otherwise your top speed will be decreased.

the tyre place assures me that aqny 7.50 16 or 7.50R16 will be the same give or take 5 mm of extra tread on some brands.

As for Coopers, my mind isn't made up on that subject. Out where I used to live (mining town) a tyre place that sells a lot of tyres and once sold a lot of coopers actually had a big sign warning customers against cooper tyres, rescinded their rights to sell them, washed their hands completely of them and agressively pushed other brands. This was over quality issues, lack of warranty backup and a few other problems. They told me they would never touch another cooper tyre except to remove it from a vehicle and replace with something else. They were a major chain not a small retailer too. They said a lot of the issues related to the claims by cooper that they gave much higher mileage which they disputed and even had a book of many hundreds of documented cases of tyres with 20k or 25k on them which is pretty bad for a $400+ in some cases tyre. And not all on mine vehicles but on road vehicles too. With mines pushing away from split rims to one piece wheels there were a lot of coopers sold and a lot of failures or premature wearing out with no mileage on them.

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