UK to Oz - Tyres

Anyone got any views on tyres - have already got BFG All Terrain - will these do? Looking at Cooper Tires (Discover STT) - any views/tips/experiences?

Cassie said:

Anyone got any views on tyres - have already got BFG All Terrain - will these do? Looking at Cooper Tires (Discover STT) - any views/tips/experiences?

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Well, I am planning a trip from UK to Cape Town.

I thought long and hard at which tyres would do the job.

The answer is, that, there are a few good A/T tyres out there that will do the job, some just do it better.

And its the "just do it better" part thats set the BFG aside from all the rest.

I considered perhaps 4 different manufactures, and guess which was the most expensive.

Yup !

BFG.

This is what I broke the bank for.

General Grabber AT2 , Scorpions, and a close second was the General.

Here is what I bought.
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Graham

BFG All Terrains. No substitute. Easy to find for around £100 each.

if you wanted something a bit more aggressive but not an all out MT then the cooper discoverer ST are meant to come between an AT and MT. ive heard good things about them.

G

busaboy said:

BFG All Terrains. No substitute. Easy to find for around £100 each.

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i think stig might disagree with yer

That would make a change, normally you disagree with everyone.

busaboy said:

That would make a change, normally you disagree with everyone.

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no i dont

Cassie said:

Anyone got any views on tyres - have already got BFG All Terrain - will these do? Looking at Cooper Tires (Discover STT) - any views/tips/experiences?

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Keep your BFG AT they are a great tyre . Hundred times better than coopers anyway. Coopers were/are pushed hard over here but are seen to have alot more puntures than BFG and have weeker side walls too. Also the wear down alot quicker than BFG. But there again you get what you pay for as they are cheaper

I have a set on my 90 (and my disco for that matter) which i bought in the uk off a mate (second hand) then brought the car to Aus and drove 26,000 miles around Aus with them and still have them on the car now. I took a second spare with me and never used it as the only punture i got was in a Bunnings (B&Q) car park in cairns and it was a slow one so i drove to the garage and got it fixed.
They are great tyres on road and great off road
You don't want mud tyres as they are far too nosy for the amout of road driving you will be doing. Also on touring you will drive around deep deep mud. After all it is not like you are on a club site day , where you can let the red mist come down and go for it , because you have serval people to tow you out . When i comes to that it is all about presevation of the car.

When you get to Aus you will find over 90% of the touring trucks run BFG AT


BTW cheapest place in the Uk for BFG is Micheldever tyres (just north of winchester) If you want a full set belive me no one cantouch them for BFG price . I was at Billing and went to the BFG tent and they told me they could sell me one tyre not fitted for £110 . I told them that Micheldever tyres could do it for $85 fitted.He siad i was talking crap and called over his manager to prove it to me that i was talking crap . So he said to him , That i reconed i could get this stupid price of £85 for a BFG AT . The chap said it laughing and the manager said to him Yeah thats right you can get them for them for that price at Micheldever. The salemans did not know what to do , so he just walked off

I run BFG MT in 235/85 r16 these are a direct size replacement for the 750R16 . This allows the use of standard rims . I run tubeless. The BFG has 50% more plies in sidewall than other makes 3 instead of two. This size is a ten ply rating, same as the 750r 16 as fitted to 130 DC HCPU as standard , for extra payload capacity. tread depth new is 22mm and wear rate even in high temp speed usage is extremely good. The noise is not a big factor at normal cruising speed i.e. 55 to 60mph. especially in a diesel defender. In my 110 V8 tyre noise is only noticeable above the gearbox whine (no engine noise) at speeds in excess of 70mph on bitumen. Wet road grip is perfectly adequate, resistance to aquaplaning in deep water is very good due to void area. For the extra traction when you want it they are better than the AT . JMHO

Cheers all - fantastic info (as ever) - looks like BFG it is then! Will look into what T2Man (thanks) says about the BFG in more detail. Meantime, as not going for a while yet - will hold onto to the AT for the time being and wear them into ground so to speak. Will keep eyes peeled meantime to learn more about BFG generally and the differences between the tyre types - relief to know don't need to think about spending huge amounts of money. Thanks all - hugely grateful.

busaboy said:

BFG All Terrains. No substitute. Easy to find for around £100 each.

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When did you last buy BFG A/T ?

There definatly not £100.00 anymore !

yur right..85 quid

AT's better in sand than MT's.

busaboy said:

AT's better in sand than MT's.

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says who

Griffdowg said:

says who

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Most of the people who drive on the beaches in Aus

You don't really want harsh treads in sand. If you look at sand tyres thay don't have huge amouts of tread. Reason being that you want to travel along the top of the sand (hence why you deflate your tyres on sand to give you greater surface area). And the problem with mud tyres is they do their job too good and dig into the sand and don't allow you to drive on the top fo the sand

Sounds like a no contest outright win for BFG AT. Will look in more detail at Billing in July to find out more - incl. rims etc. me thinks what I have is going to do the job though (just need a spare). Interesting about needing to deflate tyres on sand - is this the norm? Does everyone do as standard or just if essential? Would be interestd to know process/approach and what re-inflate kit preferred.

Cassie said:

Sounds like a no contest outright win for BFG AT. Will look in more detail at Billing in July to find out more - incl. rims etc. me thinks what I have is going to do the job though (just need a spare). Interesting about needing to deflate tyres on sand - is this the norm? Does everyone do as standard or just if essential? Would be interestd to know process/approach and what re-inflate kit preferred.

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They will tell you as you go on the beach in aus to deflate your tyres. Deflate them to about 18 psi

You have two ways to deflate tyres

One is staun tyre deflators, you get 4 of these that you put on and they will take you tyre pressures down to 18 PSI (pre set amout) but you can change them to what ever you want



The other is ARB
The ARB tyre deflator is great i have one of these and alot quicker than the Staun


Reinflate with a Tmax 12v tyre pump which you should carry anyway

Thanks Reads - and so quick - and thanks all for mentioning 'sand' - awful lot to think about for one of these trips! Just when I thought I was getting off lightly with the tyres though deflate/re-inflate doesn't look too painful/costly. Sounds like these will be useful tools anyway (specially when need to squeeze LR into vehicle at some point).

Cassie said:

Thanks Reads - and so quick - and thanks all for mentioning 'sand' - awful lot to think about for one of these trips! Just when I thought I was getting off lightly with the tyres though deflate/re-inflate doesn't look too painful/costly. Sounds like these will be useful tools anyway (specially when need to squeeze LR into vehicle at some point).

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No worries
Not much mud here in Aus , mostly sand and dust .(we are in a mayor drought here in Aus ) Yeah loads and loads of dust on the tracks. some so fine they joke it will get into a can of baked beans