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How good are ATs?

Joined
Mar 5, 2010
Messages
120
I'm currently running Mastercraft Courser MTs on my 80. However, they're not great on tarmac, and I'm toying with moving to some ATs.

I do quite a lot of driving about on my fields - which are pretty boggy Welsh hills. Not mudbaths, but in places very, very squelchy grass (with puddles sitting on the surface at this time of year). I've never had the slightest inkling of a problem using the MTs and the occasional use of CDL, although I do sometimes end up making ruts/bumps.

Would I expect ATs to be able to handle this sort of terrain OK, or should I stick with my MTs?
 
Personally, I would stick with muds but that said Rob's 80 performed faultlessly (well almost :p ) over the weekend on BFG A/T's & did so at Lincomb earlier in the year.
 
My 100 performs very well even in deep puddles at an off road center with a very boggy ground underneath on A/Ts on the back and Cooper STs on the front just with CDL. Never had a problem on A/Ts and in fact in really soft mud have had problems with BFG M/Ts which were so agressive they just dug themselves in with my old Hilux Surf.
 
piers_finlayson said:
I'm currently running Mastercraft Courser MTs
Would I expect ATs to be able to handle this sort of terrain OK, or should I stick with my MTs?
.
Well, luck would have it, as I have both.
I have a set of Mastercraft Courser Muddies on one set of rims, and a set of BFG All Terrains on another set of rims.

Both sets of tyres are 265 x 70 x R17, and both on identical Toyota rims.

The Mastercraft are not as good as the BFG's on the road, thats for sure.
My fuel consumption suffers, to a difference of about 4 mpg.
The Mastercraft are more noisy, as expected than the BFG.
I can feel a continual vibration, as the big mud lugs, slam down onto the tarmac.
The BFG have yet to tacle some serious mud, but, I don't believe they will be as good as the Mastercraft, which I believe are quite good in the soft sticky mud, but they do get stuck, when the mud is just too bad.

So, what to go for, ?

I think the BFG AT would be my overall tyre of choice, unless you like to change wheels for summer BFG AT when your fields are not too bad, and use the Mastercraft MT for the winter period.

Graham
 
Hi
Personally i like bf ats,I have had them on a couple of trucks and really like them. I do drive a little hard to be honest, but never over 70mph :whistle: They grip well and have never let go.
I also have generall grabber at2s on my 80 and i find them also good. I went to a play day yesterday and put a set of the aggressive mud tyres on for the day. They arnt for me at all. Dont get me wrong, they were good when i was playing but driving there and back wasnt nice at all. Far to much noise and very little grip.
I tow a trailer alot, Off road a little and do a few lanes now and i find ats great for myself.
karl
 
you could maybe consider a more modern mt tyre to cut down on noise or look at something half way. hankook dynapro rt03's or maybe the new goodyear dura trac might be a good place to start. personally i'm not massively keen on bfg at's. i found they clogged up pretty quickly in mud and were not brilliant on a greasy road either because they're quite hard. in saying that, they do last a very long time and economy is probably a bit better than with an m/t. lots of people rate them, but i wouldn't buy them again in a hurry.
 
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I've got BFG AT as my summer and winter tyre. Weird I know.
And then GDYR MTR as my mud tyre.

The BFG AT is great when confronted with a hard surface or sloppy mud. You shouldn't have any problems in the wet patches even with the water standing amongst the grass.

But if for any reason you've got the sticky mud kind, it sticks to your boots when walking around. Then the BFG will turn into a slick mud coated donut, without any traction.

Dad has got the GDYR wrangler duratracs on his SWB hunting G-wagen and loves them.
They are in between an AT and a MT, but they perform like an AT with a slight attitude problem. He doesnt get stuck that often as when he was on Pirelli scorpion ATs.
When he does get stuck loosing all pressure and they back out nicely.
 
TAKE COVER......TYRE THREAD!

My 2p....

In the time i have owned my LC i have done 3 Lincomb Farms, countless Salisbury Plains and a fair bit of greenlaning.

Have i ever been unable to get to somewhere i wanted to go because i was running AT's but i would have if i had been running MT's....no i haven't.

The most recent example was at Picadilly Wood where i encountered some fairly slick sticky mud and i was convinced that i wouldn't get anywhere. Despite this, my AT's clawed my through where we all thought i would fail. Ian and Paul will back me up on that one!

Generally speaking, and by this i mean the use a normal LC owner who is into his greenlaning and offroading will require, AT's will get you most places MT's will get you to. But you may have to work them a little harder.
 
I've always run Cooper STT's on my previouse trucks with absolutely no complaints in all conditions & I consider them to be a very good all round tyre :D Now for the first time once I've got my SL done on Fiery I'm going to go get me a set of BFG KM2's :!: This is something that I keep swaying back & forth about between the BFG's or the Coopers :think: But I know one thing for sure after a day @ my local Pay & Play site rescently viewtopic.php?f=38&t=8829 running on my currently fitted Avon Ranger A/T tyres http://www.avon-tyres.co.uk/4x4/ranger-t the sooner I get my SL done & some tyres with a descent bit of tread fitted the better :thumbup: Although the Avon A/T's kept me out of trouble on varied surfaces from gravel to sand to deep mud & ruts they wern't great especially on side slops I could feel the truck starting to loose lateral traction while moving forwards :shock: Something I've never had when running my Cooper STT's I'm pleased to report :D So for my ten pence worth a descent set of M/T's every time :thumbup: :D

Now just to throw another spanner in the works I spent this half term in Devon with the family & had a very nice day @ the donkey sanctury in Sidmouth :roll: ;) :) Now I couldn't help noticing that a couple of the vehicles that they were running had the General Grabber AT2's fitted :) Now they're an interesting looking A/T with attitude & have got me to :think: ing :? It's not untill you see a tyre in the flesh that you can get a gut feeling for it really IMHumbleO :p

Hope this all serves to help you & not confuse you :roll: :lol: :thumbup:
 
[Hard-hat firmly on...] My vote is to go for a "quiet" MT like a BFG KM2 or Kumho KL71 - you can live with them on-road but are good in the slushy stuff. If an MT is doing the job off-road for you, an AT might do the job but equally might not.

sae70 said:
Now I couldn't help noticing that a couple of the vehicles that they were running had the General Grabber AT2's fitted :) Now they're an interesting looking A/T with attitude & have got me to :think: ing :? It's not untill you see a tyre in the flesh that you can get a gut feeling for it really IMHumbleO :p
The GG AT2 tread pattern is near as dammit the same as BFG AT, no? Rubber compounds are different with the AT2 being a bit softer than the BFG.

The Cooper ST might be a better compromise if you want to go the AT route as it's more aggressive than most of the other ATs :idea:

My 2p!
 
Piers, as I know you area quite well, ATs will not be that good, what you need is some better MTs.BFGs or Cooper STTs or even one of the Maxxis tyres (Cheaper than the others).

Paul
 
Just to add, do not get the KL71s as you will hole the side wales in no time in mid-north wales.

Paul
 
I ditto what Andrew says. Go for a quite M/T. I have the BFG KM2's. No complaints noise wise. I don't notice them at all and have been more than impressed with them. More than enough grip in the rain, i tend to not be all that shy with the loud pedal :shh: They faired really well at Lincomb too, even managed to get to a few punches a few others seemed to struggle with :cool:

My R0.02.

Later
Ryan
 
Gav Peter said:
Personally, I would stick with muds but that said Rob's 80 performed faultlessly (well almost :p ) over the weekend on BFG A/T's & did so at Lincomb earlier in the year.
In my defence I made it furthur then u did through that mud pit with your 35" Pro Comp MTs :cool:

BFGs are good when you have 3 working difflocks. You will be amazed what they can do. There were some punches at lincomb that I could get with relative ease (F and R locked) but others with MTs and no rear difflock struggled. On the other hand you will be kiciking yourself when you do get stuck on a slight sticky muddy slope where any 4x4 with MTs will walk all over you. Stick with the MTs IMO and if you want better road performance get some KM2s or STTs.

If you throw snow into the equation then it gets difficult as ATs are far batter in the snow.
 
You only need to look at the thread pattern side by side and compare.

A BFG AT only has minimum evacuation through the side of the pattern.
It is designed to compact the soil underneath and run over it, all those little groves and biting edges provide traction. Which is more than often quite enough.

A MT evacuates the muck through the holes in the side of the pattern.
It is designed to dig down onto the hard surface underneath the mud, with the flat sidelugs acting like paddles driving you forward.

The mastercraft courser MT has fairly long centerlugs which are great for sidehilling. The reason they don't grip on tarmac is the fact that the rubber compound doesn't contain as much silica, like grit paper. And the compound is on the hard side to provide a good mileage. So it acts like a skid in stead of creating friction with the surface below.

Traction on tarmac doesn't have anything to do with thread pattern, it's all about the compound. Race cars go like stink, corner beatifully and ride on slics in the dry. They ride on patterned tyres when confronted with rain. The need to evacuate water!
 
:D :D :D :oops: :p

Cooper Discoverer STT
a35x125cooperSTT.jpg


BFG KM2
bfg20km2203.jpg


Old style BFG M/T
bfgmtko.jpg


BFG A/T
all_terrain_large.jpg


GGAT2
generalgrabberat2.jpg
 
Rob said:
In my defence I made it furthur then u did through that mud pit with your 35" Pro Comp MTs
Only 'cos I took the tiger line & should have put that bloomin new rear difflock actuator on months ago ;)

No defence required :cool: As I said, your AT's worked superbly all weekend :thumbup: but as pointed out by members of our party, it may be that my tyres have seen better days... :( Abused beyond reasonable use by their PO no doubt :p :lol: :cool:

I'm sure there's logic to be applied in spades to any tyre choice but come decision day, its an expensive choice when it comes to it so it needs to be made carefully on whatever criteria you can justify at the time.

Personally (once again :roll: ), I've chosen to set MUX up in a certain way which kinda keeps me on 'big meats' which I am perfectly happy with, but at this moment in time with all the palarver in tyre legislation, it seems to make it vay expensive when it comes to tyre time :violin: Those makers that have nailed the size & the regs are pricing at will!!!

Anyone found any KM2's in 35x12.5x16 yet?? :pray:
 
Thanks for all the input. Sounds like I should be sticking with MTs, but I could usefully upgrade to ones with better one road performance.
 
Ryan Thomson said:
I haven't, but i have seen the Cooper STT's in that size. They look decent.
Yup, they're one of the options available to me for sure but man are they pricey in my size...

I've found some Maxxis Creepy Crawlers at a seemingly good price but only 4 available - can't be doing with at least one matching spare & can I find any others...
 
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