Tyre Advice

[Umar]

Evening all,

just looking for your advice on tyres,brands, ride quailty and so on. I'm no off-roader well not yet anyway but thinking about changing the tyres on my truck as they are well worn. Currently got bf Goodrich at's which from what I know are the bees knees but at like £130 a corner not cheap either.

I've seen some Kingpin Mud Tracker tyres never heard of the brand but sounds budget they are retred but same tread pattern as the bf, have any of you had an experience of running these. Also I've heard running mud tyres on road generally gives a crap ride but is it crap as in unbearable?

lastly I've got 8x16 wheels with an et0 thinking of going with the standard 265/70/16 but could I go 265/75/16 without much trouble?

thanks

 

[MrMater]

Hi Umar, BF's are meant to be the daddies, expensive but last a long while from what I gather. I guess your choice of tyre type will come down to what you think you will really need.

Replaced all of mine a few month back and thought about going for AT's. However, it's highly unlikely I will ever do big time off roading. In reality i bought my Colorado for winter road use, particularly if it snows. Based on this I went with M&S tyres instead. More road biased tread and should be right if it (ever) snows again.

i went with Cooper Discoverer M&S 2's in the end and they have been fine. Not really any different noise wise compared to the Bridgestone Duelers that were on the truck when I bought it. Think they were £87 each if memory serves me right. If you want AT's I believe General Grabbers are well thought of. Try www.mytyres.co.uk. They were the cheapest when I looked for mine.

Not tried retreads before so can't comment on those. Don't believe you would have any major issues moving to the 75 size. Seem to be plenty of people on the forums that have done it without any problems.

 

[fildigger]

You can talk all you like about tyre choices and its a well worn subject (no pun!) but its all about application, Ok, we drive 4x4 AWD vehicles but if you 'ain't going off-road in it then you certainly don't want or need Mud Terrain or dare i say even All Terrain tyres!! Yes, The BF Goodridge Ko tyre is a quality item that wears well (to hard a compound for tarmac maybe?) But many folk buy them on appearance and an in my opinion an inflated (pun!) reputation, in other words, they're popular because they're popular.

My experience with many so called '4x4' tyres is rather mixed ( i remember skidding into a canal bridge on a wet day with BFG's in a Hi-Lux Surf)

If your running on tarmac (like i am now doing with my 95) then go for quality Road based winter tyres...some years ago i had new Hankook i-Cept Evo's on a Subaru STi and they were truly fantastic in winter conditions and ice and perform even better below 7 degree's temp's.

I Have only last month fitted the same new tyres, Hankook i-Cept Evo's in the 265x70x16 size on my 95 Colorado and they have been a revelation over the Dunlop Grandtrek AT2's i had on before!!!,, The handling, ride, tenacity and road noise has all been a vast improvement and am thoroughly pleased with them, worth noting they do have a block style pattern to the tread and feel they would be adequate for mild off-road/mud conditions! Hankook are now a premium tyre manufacturer but i got these new tyres (mail order) from Germany within 5 days to my door for £347 for four. ( i don't work for them either Lol)

Stick with the standard size bud, 275 might just rub with a '0 offset wheel (will be close) I have the standard 265 tyres with a '0 offset wheel but also with 30mm spacers as well and i have had to not only cut away the mudflaps and some inner plastic wheel arch but also some steel pressed welding on the bodywork!!!

Good Luck

ps, see my photo's in 'The garage' section

 

[StarCruiser]

+1 on winter tyres.

I fitted a pair to the front of Lynn's Space Star and the difference in grip was staggering. So much so we kept them on all year until one was got by a pothole [emoji35][emoji31]

As for 4x4 tyres, I'm pretty pleased with Cooper Discoverer STTs both on and especially off road.

When I was away from home with a wrecked tyre and desperately looking for a set of replacements, I was offered some part worn kingpins. They seemed to be a very hard compound and those I saw were full muds with lots of spaces and big plain blocks for tread. Probably ideal for quarries or that sort of thing but seemed very stiff all round, side walls especially.

 

[Sag]

I'm with starcruiser on Cooper Discoverer STTs both on and especially off road and they are good wearing and no noise.

 

[chadr]

I've always thought that this is such a subjective issue; what is noisy to one driver might be too quiet to another. What is a harsh ride to one might be very comfortable to another etc.

I had the OEM Dunlop Grandtreks AT20s (or whatever) in 265/70 on my 95 for over 5 years and was satisfied with the on road performance - they were certainly quiet and refined, had good grip on tarmac, wet or dry and lasted pretty well. I never went off road, so never had a real chance to personally test them. When they were finally due for replacement, I went with a set of Hankook ATs (Dynapro RT10s which are not a particularly aggressive AT - more road biased) in 265/75. I've had these on for the last 5 years and 40k miles.

They (or any other ATs/MTs) in the slightly larger size look so much better than the OEM tyres dunlops. They are only around 4% larger but really make the truck standout. The off road ability is also better as is the longevity of the tyres - mine are only worn by 3-4mm over the last 40k out of 12mm when new. So will need to do at least another 40k/5 years before I need to replace them. The longevity is welcome but it brings its own problem - if you've made a duff choice then you're stuck for quite a long time unless of course you cough up a load of cash to replace your nearly new set of tyres. One of the downsides is that the fuel consumption is slightly higher - but that will be the case with any AT or (even more so with) MT.

For me personally, the main drawback is that on tarmac the ride is harsh and noisy - compared to before. It is still "good" compared with most other LCs on ATs/MTs. Now call me a soft southerner but I used to love the refinement that my truck had on the OEM tyres. It was like a large luxury car at motorway speeds quiet, refined and with a supple ride. It is our main family car and that suited our usage very well. The RT10s on the other hand are LT construction, so have much thicker sidewalls and along with the IM suspension have completely changed the ride of the truck. Now it is a certainly a truck - there is no doubt about that and absolutely nothing car-like about it all, at any speed.

So in essence what I'm trying to say is think carefully about what your usage profile is going to be, what characteristics you want to keep or gain and choose accordingly.

If not, just do what most others seem to do and get yourself a set of BFGs.

 

[Shayne]

I am a fan of cooper as well but i think it all depends on what you want and why . If its to stay on the road and your tyre size is not going to be altered significantly a short wheel base colorado having all wheel drive needs little assistance from fancy tyres , i would pick the ones that look pretty and that would do me . If off roading and significantly larger tyres are on the agenda even if it will be a year at least before you get there saving money on tyres now will only cost you money later . I got my cooper stt's for about £115 each free delivery from Germany via ebay .

 

[clivehorridge]

I think the answer is to get something suitable for your road use if you're mainly or totally an asphalt user.

Later, if you intend to go offroad, then get another set of rims and shoe them with dedicated AT or MUD tyres. That way, if the offroad bug dies, you can sell the complete set with no compromises.

I use ATs on asphalt but I do about 60:40 on road to offroad. I also have a set of BFG MUD tyres on another set of rims for the more extreme offroad times.

There's always a compromise, just keep it biased to your main usage. JMO of course.

BTW, I would advise against remoulds, I had a set of remold offroad tyres once, and they literally fell apart. Total waste of hard-earned, IME.

 

[Umar]

Thanks guys