Thread: Mud Terrains on a daily driver practical ?

I've just put a set of BFG MT's on the disco which is a daily driver... all seems okay so far but haven't ahd any rain as yet [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] i did have Kumho MT's on Rachael for a couple eyars and they were great. Coopers offer a 100k guarantee on theirs which could be good.

Have fun, and grab some for the rangy while you're at it

The guarantee on the Coopers is pretty 'qualified' - check out the fine print:

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>MILEAGE WARRANTY PROCESS

The Mileage Warranty is only applicable at participating authorised Cooper agents in capital cities within Australia.
Ask the tyre dealer if they participate in this programme. Most capital city stores do. All country stores do not.

How to maintain the warranty
Every 10,000 kms you need to return to any authorised Cooper dealer to have your tyres balanced aligned and rotated. Participating dealers will endorse the Warranty Card. Every dealer has the right to refuse endorsing your warranty card if a fault is present in your vehicle that is causing erratic or rapid tyre wear.

What it will cost you
Check the Warranty Card as it has a special low price for Cooper customers.

How to Claim on any Shortfall
As long as an authorised Cooper dealer has endorsed your warranty card every 10,000 kms and the original warranty card and invoices for the regular services are forwarded to your Cooper state distributor. The Cooper state distributor will then organize through an authorised Cooper dealer to credit you with any shortfall you may be eligible for based on the warranty conditions off your next purchase.

Who isn’t Eligible for the Warranty?

Taxi or Hire vehicles
A participating dealer has the right to refuse or vary the warranty period based on their discretion, or because of the particular use of the vehicle.
The mileage warranty is only applicable to Capital City purchases. When used in the same conditions, Cooper Tires will usually outlast most competitor brands, however, some areas in Australia will cause rapid wear beyond normal use with any brand, that is why the mileage warranty is restricted to Capital Cities.
MANUFACTURERS WARRANTY

What is covered and for how long?
Passenger and 4WD tyres – Cooper warrants to the original purchaser that if a Cooper tyre becomes unserviceable in private vehicle use as a result of a defect in workmanship and material during the tread life (defined below).

Tread Life
When the tread becomes worn down to 1.6mm (Shown by tread wear indicators moulded into the tread grooves) the tyre is worn out and this warranty ends.

Replacement Charge
The replacement charge will be determined by multiplying the consumer’s original purchase price by the percentage of original tread depth worn from the tyre. The consumer must pay for mounting, balancing and any other additional charges, or the acceptance by the consumer of a higher priced replacement tyre.

What is not covered?
This warranty does not cover tyres that become unserviceable due to:

Conditions resulting from road hazards, such as cut, snags or punctures.
Conditions resulting from improper installation, wheel misalignment, or tyre/wheel assembly imbalance.
Conditions resulting from consumer damage, such as improper tyre and vehicle maintenance, misuse, abuse, accident.
Passenger car tyres used in any commercial application.
Ride complaints after the first 1mm tread wear.
Ozone or weather cracking on tyres over four (4) years from date of purchase. [/b][/quote]

Vlad,

as discussed on sunday I will be finding out soon as I'm about 95% sold on BFG M/Ts to put on the disco, however I suppose it really depends on your driving style and usage, if your daily driving was a lot of high speed blacktop and city work then maybe muddies wouldn't suit unless you are prepared for a bit of compromise and drive to the tyres ability under those conditions.

However everyone has different requirements and opinions, these days plenty of people run muddies as road tyres :roll: and then have something more 8O aggressive for offroad.

Luckily my car doesn't do a great deal of km's during the week and most of those km's are semi rural blacktop so the compromise isnt as much for me, but I'm still open to options as I'm still not 100% sure they are the best solution for what I do :? I would like to find out peoples opinions on the for outback touring, do the wide spaced lugs pick up to many gibbers and throw bigger stones etc at the underbody :?:

Most of my use will be offroad touring with the day and weekend stuff thrown in as well, but not on the extreme side of things :roll:

I've had BF M/T's for the last 35,000km's and use the fender as a daily driver. I've never had an issue on the blacktop, their road holding seems to be on a par with AT's, even in the wet and if you rotate them every 10k should get close to the same mileage. I went for 265/75 because I prefer a wider profile and thought it might improve the road holding compared to the standard 235/85.

The only compromise is slightly more road noise and this will increase with wear. Having said that, you drive a defender so probably won't even notice the noise form the tyres. :wink:

The real benefit is in the bush where the M/T's leave A/T's for dead. Not only in the mud but rock hoping, gravel roads, sand etc. The key is to lower tyre pressure .. even on fire trail as the muddies tend to skid over gravel surface at highway pressure. I run 20-24psi on gravel, fire trails etc. and go down to 16-18psi on rocky section.

I've done numerous Stockton beach trips and Fraser Island last year, on sand the muddies are brilliant. That includes a few japcrap recoveries in really soft sand. Again, at the right pressure you'll be fine .. and no .. they don't dig into the sand! :wink:

Also had BF AT's on my old Defender and although a good tyre I don't see any reason to get them over the BF muddies, even on a daily driver. I can't think of any situation where they out perform the muddies but I've seen many guys running AT's who had to take a second or third stab at a hill or bog hole where muddies just glide through.

Last thing, I cannot comment on Cooper Tyres, I've got a mate who runs the Cooper ST's on a Prado and is now sitting on 65k and still looks good for another 30k, from all accounts they seem to be a good tyre. BUT .. if you consider all the tyre reviews in the local and Land Rover magazines, the BF MT's always come up tops!

IMHO .. go the BF Muddies!! 8)

Cheers,
Henry.

I've run both BF Muds and Goodyear MT/R's. I found that the BF's are the best allrounder. The MT/R's are slightly better on rock, and a touch quieter on the road, but the are killed by the BF in Mud and sand, and tyre life with the BF is fantastic if looked after. I got 125000km out of 35x12.5x15 BF's, and the were still legal!

MT/R's are very popular down here, but that is mainly with the harder core drivers that only drive rock.

As for coopers, I have heard that many bad things about them I wouldn't touch them with a 20ft Barge Pole. And the warranty is not worth the paper it's written on. I had a problem with the belts on my MT/R's not long after I got them, they were a private import not bought through a Goodyear Dealer, Goodyear at Cleveland replaced it no questions asked. I would recommend Goodyear at Cleveland to anyone. Ryan at Fourby's Moorooka is also great to deal with and has great prices on any tyre you like, also knows his **** when it comes to 4x4 tyres. Never had a problem with a BFG.

Hope this helps.

OK the BFG MT's are sounding good.

Henry you mention the 265/75's were your size of choice. What width rims are you running these on and has it compromised turning circle more than the standard 235/85's? Did you have to adjust the bump stops?

If my memory serves me right somebody mentioned you get more tread depth on MT than the AT which gives about the same milage.

I brought my 235/85/16 AT's from Quickfit Tyres at Bowen Hills, I rang all over Brisbane and in March they had the best price, 4 x tyres fitted balanced and wheel alignment $967

Hi Vlad

I recently had the same dilema with my disco and went for the BFG Muds - 265/75R16 - and am extremely happy with them. I have not noticed any more road noise and they perform fantasticly on the back top - haven't experienced rain with them yet though. I only do about 30-40 k's a day around town but they have been great on a couple of highway trips as well. As already mentioned, depending on your driving style, there really is no point in going for AT's as the BFG Muds are a great all rounder and really come into their own off road. I haven't noticed them picking up any more grit in the tread than the factory Michilens I had on before and they self clean very effectively.

You can't go wrong with the BFG Muds I say and you wont regret it.

Aye, Mick