New Boots Needed

[Paddler Ed]

Right, not for a Land Cruiser, but for my 4Ruuner.

At the moment it's on a tired set of Cooper Discoverer HT's, 235/75R16's which are OK on tread, and passed Road Worthy the other day, BUT aren't that great when the road stops being sealed; particularly running to our friends property which is on the Liverpool Plains, where 5mm of rain means the road turns to clag and is sticky and slippery (the back end steps out on the corrugations at times in the dry...) Aim is that we'll be setting it up for touring, so it'll be the roads in the national parks etc, rather than Ben's style of road!

I am thinking about a set of 31x10.5's on a 15" rim, but haven't decided which to got for.

I'm budgeting $1000ish, £600 or so, for 4 new tyres and rims... so that puts the following in budget:
15" Sunraysia-type rims are $60-ish each ($240)
I'm after a more aggressive AT/mild MT as the trails round here can be a bit wet, especially if I head over to Coffs Harbour, so the tyres I'm looking at are:
Hankook DynaPro MT R03 at $680 for 4
Maxxis Bighorns at $793
BFG AT KO's at $780
Achilles Desert Hawk MT's @$620
Nexen Rodian MT's @ $648

Talking to mates over here, the Achilles are surprisingly good (mate down near the Blue Mountains is in a club where a couple of the guys run them) and the KO's have a thinner sidewall and poor grip (although I got on well with them on my LandCruiser)

My preference is probably the Hankook's at $680

Any one any experience? (Ben?)

 

[Ben]

Sorry Ed never really been in the market for that sort of tyre so cant really offer you any advice.

Obviously the BFG's are known and proven to be good and wear very well.

Why do you want/think you need new wheels?

If money is tight why not stick with your current wheels and then have more to spend on tyres, or other mods? You could always paint your wheels if there not looking to flash.

 

[Shayne]

I got 4 part worn cooper discover stt 285/75/16 on landrover steel wheels from ebay for £300 , they were like new , though i couldn't find a part worn spare so a new stt cost me £150 . 16x8 steel wheels cost me about £40 each from formula 4x4 .

The coopers i find great with little noise and good grip on road despite having an aggressive thread .

 

[Paddler Ed]

Sorry Ed never really been in the market for that sort of tyre so cant really offer you any advice.

Obviously the BFG's are known and proven to be good and wear very well.

Why do you want/think you need new wheels?

If money is tight why not stick with your current wheels and then have more to spend on tyres, or other mods? You could always paint your wheels if there not looking to flash.

Basically the Cooper's that are on now have flat spots, which means they go thunk at certain speeds, horrible wear on the shoulders (need an alignment when I get new tyres), have some chunks out of the tread blocks and are 235/70R16's... they're just about roadworthy, but I think the rubber has gone off a bit.

If I get new tyres that will fit on the rims I'm limited because of 16x6 rims, which aren't that great for options.

For the cost of something in that size I can get a new set of 15" sunnraysia knock offs, and 31's (which would give me a bit of a lift up in terms of clearance) which in the long term become cheaper ($170ish a corner vs $210 a corner)

Shayne:

2nd Hands have proven to be about as expensive as getting some new ones over here, and a trip down to Fairfield in Western Sydney isn't far from a mates place, so that becomes a bit easier as it means I can sort them out there, and I know someone down there who can sort out an alignment. I had a look at some of the prices here, and for something with 75% wear they were asking around what I could pay for a brand new set on new rims, and avoid any problems with the tyres (ie run on a puncture/over soft and the inside of the tyre damaged)

As much as anything the looking now means I'm not doing it in a rush, and I know what I want and what I want to pay for it. Up here I've not got (quite) all the same contacts I had on the Coast, so it's not as easy to get bits on the cheap, and there's also a bit of a shortage of wreckers up here. I'm probably going to have a run down to Singleton Wreckers to see what they've got.

GF has an interview on Tuesday for a job, so fingers crossed!

 

[Shayne]

Phone these fellas and offer a grand for wheels and tyres , they can only say no -

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/lalo...7-6-studs-hilux-patrol-prado-black/1024222842

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/sout...es-goodyear-duratrac-3312515-15x10/1019187802

ps. i'm only guessing they are within an acceptable distance from you ?

 

[Paddler Ed]

First is $15 more than a new set of rims would be, the 2nd would need engineering to be legal in NSW.

And 450km away....

See the challenge?

Thanks for trying!

 

[Shayne]

But a phone call costs nothing his circumstances may be that he has a huge access to tyres but is struggling to find funds for the new wheels he wants , you just never know , offer a grand for rims and rubber he can only tell you to sod off .

I would have thought 280 miles would be considered just a nip down the road in a land as vast as OZ