Jimbo4x4 said:
Or bust your diff
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Tyres
- Thread starter Julian
- Start date
Or bust your diff
Driving style is important if you lane with Simex. I can drive across places without leaving a mess that AT or MT equipped trucks have to spin their way across ... But if you've judged it wrong you need to ease up on the pedal before you dig a trench. Most of the time now though I leave my AT's on to go laning unless it's say a Lincomb weekend where there'll be a mix of laning and playing in the woods or I'm looking at lanes that may not have been driven for a long time and may be silted up.
pugwash
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have been running 2 sets of tyres for a while on my 80- a set of 285/75 BFG ATs and the same size BFG MTs
Had two sets to:
a: improve fuel efficiency
b: save my expensive off road tyres
c: give better handling
To be honest its been a complete waste of time and money. The ATs are not significantly better on fuel- 22mpg v 21.2mpg average (its hard to compute exactly, but it really makes no difference), the ATs cost the same as the MTs so you aren't saving any money, and to be honest the MTs really don't handle badly.
Simex for greenlaning really is a bit of a waste of time- i've never been up a lane in the UK that has needed more than MTs, and to be frank and LC80 has SO much traction that it rarely needs simex even in competition- a reasonably driven LC80 on MTs will outdrive a 110 on simex all day long, and will even outdrive a LC80 on simex with care! Having said that if you are doing a lot of competitions/ pay and plays then it just might be worth having a set of simex AND a set of ATs as simex don't have wear quickly on the road- about 10,000 miles if you aren't careful.
You would probably be best off buying a set of big Cooper STs (like a 315/75r16), keeping them until they are part worn (approx 70%)and then selling them secondhand- you will get most of your money back. The benefit of this is that you get the most effective off road useage of the tire. New MTs are 50-100% more effective off road than part worns. So if you sell them part worn (when they are still saleable), you will constantly have a set of very effective off road tires for not too much money. Was passed this tip by James at 4x4 Adventures (who some may remember from the winch training day) who has been doing it for years ! - its working for me too.
Had two sets to:
a: improve fuel efficiency
b: save my expensive off road tyres
c: give better handling
To be honest its been a complete waste of time and money. The ATs are not significantly better on fuel- 22mpg v 21.2mpg average (its hard to compute exactly, but it really makes no difference), the ATs cost the same as the MTs so you aren't saving any money, and to be honest the MTs really don't handle badly.
Simex for greenlaning really is a bit of a waste of time- i've never been up a lane in the UK that has needed more than MTs, and to be frank and LC80 has SO much traction that it rarely needs simex even in competition- a reasonably driven LC80 on MTs will outdrive a 110 on simex all day long, and will even outdrive a LC80 on simex with care! Having said that if you are doing a lot of competitions/ pay and plays then it just might be worth having a set of simex AND a set of ATs as simex don't have wear quickly on the road- about 10,000 miles if you aren't careful.
You would probably be best off buying a set of big Cooper STs (like a 315/75r16), keeping them until they are part worn (approx 70%)and then selling them secondhand- you will get most of your money back. The benefit of this is that you get the most effective off road useage of the tire. New MTs are 50-100% more effective off road than part worns. So if you sell them part worn (when they are still saleable), you will constantly have a set of very effective off road tires for not too much money. Was passed this tip by James at 4x4 Adventures (who some may remember from the winch training day) who has been doing it for years ! - its working for me too.
Julian
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Pugwash, on reflection my current thinking is to try and buy the most road biased set I can for day to day use and a set of normal mud terrains for everything else. I am pretty tempted to try 255 /85/16
I was having a look at what Toyota used for racing, I guess they can use what ever they like and they seem to use either 235/85/16 or 255/85/16
I was having a look at what Toyota used for racing, I guess they can use what ever they like and they seem to use either 235/85/16 or 255/85/16
Julian said:
That's the size I use on my 90 (255/85/16's), seems rare to find other Toyota owners in the UK who also use them though.
As far as I know you can only get either BFG M/T's or Cooper S/T's in this size, the Coopers were both expensive (in that size) and also have a very low speed rating.
I use the BFG M/T's as my everyday tyre and I'm happy with them although they may not be for everyone.
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Graham Stirling
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Simex are about as good as you can get for serious offroad mud but for laning a set of decent AT's are as aggressive as you need.
Simex and simex copies are normally found on fully fledged winch challenge motors but personally i wouldn't put then on a daily driver due to the excessive strain they put on the transmission. Having said that, i have a set of fedimas (simex copy) on my 80 but i also have a DD on General Grabber AT2's. Incidentally, i got the fedimas off a mate who kept breaking transmissions and swore it was due to the aggressive tyre. He now runs Maxis Creepy Crawlers.
My DD spends a lot of time off road as i'm a Forestry Civil Engineer so it gets me out to site before and during road formations etc. The General Grabbers have never let me down and are nice and quiet on the road.
My last DD went over the Corry pass on General AT2's and open diffs without any problems but when i came to change the tyres on that i put on a set of BFG MT's. Yea, they were a bit gripier as you'd expect but i recon i lost out significantly on fuel consumption.
My last offroader was shod with Cooper STT's which eventually found there way onto my 80 when i needed tyres for an mot. The Coopers were great on and off road.
If i had one motor I would spend my money on GG AT2's or Cooper STT's depending on how aggressive a tyre you fancy and wouldn't bother with a second set of tyres as you'll soon get bored of swapping them.
I suppose this is a long winded way saying get an old 70 or 80 and stick some simex on it for the weekend
Simex and simex copies are normally found on fully fledged winch challenge motors but personally i wouldn't put then on a daily driver due to the excessive strain they put on the transmission. Having said that, i have a set of fedimas (simex copy) on my 80 but i also have a DD on General Grabber AT2's. Incidentally, i got the fedimas off a mate who kept breaking transmissions and swore it was due to the aggressive tyre. He now runs Maxis Creepy Crawlers.
My DD spends a lot of time off road as i'm a Forestry Civil Engineer so it gets me out to site before and during road formations etc. The General Grabbers have never let me down and are nice and quiet on the road.
My last DD went over the Corry pass on General AT2's and open diffs without any problems but when i came to change the tyres on that i put on a set of BFG MT's. Yea, they were a bit gripier as you'd expect but i recon i lost out significantly on fuel consumption.
My last offroader was shod with Cooper STT's which eventually found there way onto my 80 when i needed tyres for an mot. The Coopers were great on and off road.
If i had one motor I would spend my money on GG AT2's or Cooper STT's depending on how aggressive a tyre you fancy and wouldn't bother with a second set of tyres as you'll soon get bored of swapping them.
I suppose this is a long winded way saying get an old 70 or 80 and stick some simex on it for the weekend
Dark Dude
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- Feb 28, 2011
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- 655
I know it's a bit late joining this excellent thread but here goes anyways.
285/75/R16 AT (BFG Pattern) Marix Retreads. (Sowden Tyres)
I've been running these "reboots" for the last couple of years, both on my classic Range Rover and my Frontera and I just love em to bits. Both off and on road these boots never let go and grip forever. Apart from the fact I can buy two pairs of recycled shoes for the cost of a single shoe brand new, these boots offer excellent value for money, increased fuel economy and enhanced handling both on and off road. I know that retreads get a bad rap from some quarters (some of it justified) but apart from a few isolated incidences, retreads haven't let me down.
John
The Dark Dude
285/75/R16 AT (BFG Pattern) Marix Retreads. (Sowden Tyres)
I've been running these "reboots" for the last couple of years, both on my classic Range Rover and my Frontera and I just love em to bits. Both off and on road these boots never let go and grip forever. Apart from the fact I can buy two pairs of recycled shoes for the cost of a single shoe brand new, these boots offer excellent value for money, increased fuel economy and enhanced handling both on and off road. I know that retreads get a bad rap from some quarters (some of it justified) but apart from a few isolated incidences, retreads haven't let me down.
John
The Dark Dude
