Tyres for best on/off road compromise?

[Pauleds]

Dave,
We have bought a place near to Mayenne,just south of Brittany in the north of the Loire Valley.
4 Acres of mature land with a nice 1 acre lake,an orchard and a small paddock.
Property is still really cheap there as it is not as popular as Brittany and Normandy although just as nice.
If you are going we must keep in touch.

Paul.

[Guest]

Ooops edited now, MT's seem better than AT's.

Having had the AT's on for a year I pretty much know what speed I can do the roundabouts and bends at around the town before the back end goes. Thats:
1. keeping it all smooth til it just goes
2. Going round the bend then flooring the right pedal.

Now with the MT's I can take the roundabouts faster and can give it some extra pedal while cornering much more than I could with the AT's.
Andy (Lucky) has recently been out with me on nice wet roads and I think he will confirm that on one bend a couple of months ago I got the back end out on my AT's and Andy lost the back end on his with Road tyres this time wit the MT's it stuck and I wasn't going slow and gave it some pedal have way round.
I don't know why this is, I expected them to be more lively in the wet but have found the opposite??????

Yep I can confirm that - they stuck to the road far better than they had a right to.

Cheers

[adrianrdaw]

Tyres

My experience with a Range Rover was that MTs on the front reacted to cambers and ridges quite badly. I left them on the back and put ATs on the front. LOTS better.
In this case I used Bronco retread MTs, and Colway remould ATs.
My new '96 3.0 has now been fitted with Bridgestone AT 694s all round, 'cos it was wheelspinning like b*****y in the wet when pulling away sharpish from side turnings and I didn't think MTs would be good for that scenario.
Still bedding them in before I can comment on how successful I've been.

Adrian

[wibblywobbly]

Ahhhh....tyres!! ooohhh....France!!

Hi All
This is a thread dear to my heart, and sooo topical!!

I have 285/75/16 Yokohama Geolander MT's on my Surf.
I have a huge cut in one of the fronts, and some lowlife has put a knife through the spare.
The tyres are not only big, I can't find anyone who stocks Geolanders this size in this country.
I have been offered:
Bridgestone D694's at £100
BFG AT's at £125
General Grabbers at £111
Kumho 80% off road at £94
all prices are fitted, valves, balancing and inc VAT.

The Yokohama's are actually far better on the road than they have any right to be, and if I could source two I would be a happy man.

The other option is to replace the two fronts with the D694's, unless someone can recommend the Kumho's. That way I get grippy steering, and still keep the rear off road traction for the (rare) occasions when I need it.

The last option is to replace all four with D694's, and keep the three good Yokohama's for subsequent knife attacks on the spares.

Christ this is complicated!!

And as for France....
Where do you guys have property. I have a place 10 kms from Chateaubriant, and one day it might even get finished. You would not believe how difficult it is to get electricians and plumbers down there. As for patio door installers...ho-hum. If you ever thought that a Surf was a money pit, try buying a property in France...jeeez!! Take a look if you like, it's on http://www.HitEnter.Co.UK

I too have a lake, but its not mine, the commune owns it, just the prettiest place in the summer. Maybe I will keep it after all.


Cheers

Rob G

[Ian]

Alpha

Rob,
Try Stan at Alpha Tyres (sorry don't have the number on me and I'm in Dorchester at the moment), he came up trumps when I was searching for tyres for a Dodge Charger I had a few years ago (I know its not a 4x4).
They are at Stockwood Vale, Keynsham. Just behind RoughTrax.

Good Luck.
Cheers,
Ian

[Rob]

Hi,

Yokohama's UK website lists the MT but not in the size you have. The US website does though
Bathwick Tyres are a Yokohama stockist which is where I just got my Geolandar A/Ts They've got two places in Bristol.
The Yokos are usually listed by their model number. Geolandar A/Ts are listed as Yokohama G-011. You should have a similar G-# on yours.
I paid about £124 a tyre for mine, if I had been offered Bridgestone 694s at 100 quid, I would have gone with them.
Hope this helps
Rob

[wibblywobbly]

Update

I have emailed Yokohama Uk to see what they have to say. They obviously make the tyre so as to why they don't sell them here is anybodys guess.

Roughtrax is 2 miles down the ring road from my house, so I may pay Alpha a visit.

For the record, Britannia Tyres quoted me on the D694's, and Protyre on all of the others. Neither of them would budge on those prices.

I could try Cabot Tyres, who are usually the cheapest by a mile, but when you see the premises and the staff .....well, go take a look!

The best option at the moment is to stick the Bridgestones on the front. Then when the rears wear out I can do those too, at least it speads the cost!

I have to make a decision Monday as the gash in the front one is something that I can't ignore, and I need to visit France later this month?

Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.

Rob G

[davey.knowles]

Paul,
Sounds fantastic. We're moving a few hundred miles further south, to the very southern tip of the Dordogne. Hopefully this will be sometime between June and September, depending on when the House gets finished. I don't think you can beat France for value for money property and the lifestyle, clean air, space, schools etc.... My friend is looking to buy a place in the north, so no doubt i wll be in the area at some time in the not too distant future (with my Surf, and probably the wife) So i will keep in touch via the Forum.

Good Luck

Dave

[Simbad]

Hi people,

BFG'S. I have them fitted to my Surf and they are great all rounders. I am suprised nobody has mentioned Simex, they are the best mud tyres available but a bit pricey. I don't think they're too noisy either.

[Pauleds]

OK Folks i've finally got my new tyres,got them from 4 x 4 accessories at Leeming in North Yorkshire.
I went for the BFG A/T's.Very good value and very happy with them thanks for all the advice.

Paul.

[Koi]

OK Folks i've finally got my new tyres,got them from 4 x 4 accessories at Leeming in North Yorkshire.
I went for the BFG A/T's.Very good value and very happy with them thanks for all the advice.

Paul.

how much, we want prices

[Pauleds]

I got them for a very special price but 4 brand new fitted and balanced BFG A/T's which look and perform like the dog's nuts they will do them for £350 inc VAT.Quite good i think.
Paul.

[Mboza]

Simex Trekker Tyres

Hi Simbad
I've got a set of Simex tyres fitted to my Hilux(Mboza). This is currently the second set. The first were 34x10.5x15 Jungle Trekker 2. They fitted but looked a bit “abnormal”. These tyres have imprinted on them the preferred rim size. The 10.5” recommends a 8J, the 11.5” a 9J and the 12.5” a 10J.
Based on this and taking the cost already incurred, I decided to go the spec way ie. 34x12.5x15, but there were none in stock. The only 12.5 were the 36’s, Extreme Trekker 2. So I got them.
Since than I had to do quiet a bit to get these buggers to clear all round. Needless to say, I’ve not tried them out yet, but plan to do so this weekend 29/30 May 04.
I do know that I would need to fit a crawler, especially for those long inclines and will do so soon, BANK permitting.
I guess in the interim I have to just burn the clutch to keep the engine from dying through the obstacles.
Here are 2 pics. 1.shows the Mboza through some twisters and 2. The Simex 34x10.5x15's just before I sent them back.


I will let you know how things turn out.

Cheers

[jeff.fn02jwa]

Whack a

Whack a winch on it and it will save your surf fae all that tugging at your tree trucks i do some weed raking with my 4 ton winch and it makes short work of it

[plumb bob]

Just reading through this thread as it popped up again, so I was wondering, what happened to all the people who were emmigrating to France??

Are they all still surfing, if you're looking in, let us know how you're all getting on???