New Tyres for The D22

Well the time has come to replace the faithful ol Pirelli Scorpions, but this time going to get something a little chunkier. The Pirellis have done around 78000ks, which is good, but they are a bit too much of a road pattern. They are excellent in sand and on rocky steep hills though, but mud, pretty bad. (Janowen Hills earlier this year some of you will remember, )

So, after researching heaps, I'm going to get some nice BFG AT KOs 275/70/16, $383.00 ea. There was a D22 outside Jax when we were there just been fitted with some 265/75/16s, gave them a good check over, nice and chunky. Funny thing is , 265/75 are technically illegal in good ol backwards QLD, and as the tyre guy said, unless you get an insurance assessor whos had a bad day, no one would usually look twice. Now that we are towing the caravan its best to stay legal and make sure we are covered.

We could actually get some Bridgestone Dueler 697 265/70/16s for $289.00 ea, though the tread did feel a little soft to me. Anyway, will make a decision in the next few days,

Love my bfg a/t's
Great compromise between std and muddies
And tough as nails

Hey Ray

i also had the problem before we tackled the cape of having the AT tires out of action(showing belts), even though i wasnt using the AT for the trip i still wanted the piece of mind knowing i had a good et when i got back. I went with the Bridgestone Dueller 697 and love them. they have only tackled just over 5000km so its still early days yet but the tread feels good and im thinking i will get close to the 80000km mark with good rotations of the 4rims. I found BFG to expensive and also the weight rating wasnt as high plus they have less belts. A mate on the cape trip had BFG and the were rooted after there first run to cape. only had done 25000kms before the trip.

Also got my duelles from Jax for $259 each including fitting and balance and a wheel alignment in a 265/70/16 as i wanted it to be legal for onroad use. reason i purchased a offroad set in the 265/75 so i could swap them out when done. As stated the insurers dont usually look unless they have ha a super bad day or they are obviously way to big for the car.

Rusty

We bought a set of the older 694's for the missus Prado b4 we took it across the Desert. I had the choice between the 697 and 694 and took the 694 option purely because I thought it looked a bit more agressive than the 697's..... Been on there for about 10k or so. Went really well out west w/o any punctures but the Trip did take about 2>3mm of the tread depth off the tyres in that one trip of about 6000ks

rob

Thanks for your input guys, it'll be the 697s or the KOs, saving money is a big factor as well.

I had the BFG AT's and were scatey when half worn. Now I went with the 697's and have nearly done 10 Thou km's and no signs of wear yet. Have performed great on road, dirt and beach. Haven't yet used them in the sloppy stuff but the tread is deep so should go well

Ray BFG make the ATKO in 265/70r16 which is the proper size for a D22 STR

They do yes, still deciding whether to go back to original sizing 265s or stick with the 275s that are on the Nav now. Big price difference with the D697s, 265s are $279.00 and 275s are $358.00!