muddies or all terrains???

hey fellas
just wondering is use had any advive about tires?
i do mostly road driving but also a mix of mud and sand..
i want to buy muddies but i want one that is also good in the sand but i cant bring myself to buy a all terrain.
i do like the cooper ST tho and the mickey thonson 4 rib..
any ideas on what tyre would suit me the best?

cheers lads

hally.

Muddies work perfect in sand. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know how to drive in sand.

I am having a hard time choosing as well.

I think I am going to go for an aggressive all-terrain, the tyre wear from using a muddie on the bitumen just doesn't justify it for me.

At the moment I am looking at the 4 rib Mickey Thompson or the BFG AT, the Mickey Thompson is just ahead.

08KINGCAB said:

Muddies work perfect in sand. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know how to drive in sand.

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True, but HT's can work perfect in sand as well, it's mainly about tyre pressures, speed and driving style (as you've said).

Of course you don't need any tread for sand. But mud terrains can be used with some compromise on any surface, I think they are more practical than AT and the road noise drowns out the whine from the passenger seat.

Ha ha gold.

Don't forget to check out the Dick Cepek FCII's!
I'm going through the same decision process as you guy's at the moment and I think I'll be up for new tyres much sooner than I had planned. Leaning toward the FCII's.

Jason said:

True, but HT's can work perfect in sand as well, it's mainly about tyre pressures, speed and driving style (as you've said).

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Hi Guys,

I was talking to a guy who used to race offroad vehicles and we were discussing tread patterns and tyres and he said that most people think an aggressive tread pattern is best for sand when in fact the opposite is the truth.

He recommended highway tyres as best for sand as the tread doesn't dig the sand out of the hole therefor stopping the wheel spinning which ends up digging holes and bottoming the chassis on the sand.

Of course using correct tyre pressures allows the load to be spread wider and the tyre to deform to roll over the sand without having to push sand out of the way.

It changed my perception of beach driving (which I mostly do). I've seen a stock XB falcon station wagon drive up the beach all the way from Lancelin to Wedge Island. I couldn't believe it! Some pretty soft sand along there.

Cheers,

DJ

Oh, I'm also considering the Maxxis Bighorns as well.

Deejay said:

He recommended highway tyres as best for sand as the tread doesn't dig the sand out of the hole therefor stopping the wheel spinning which ends up digging holes and bottoming the chassis on the sand.

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Exactly my opinion also. Been bogged up to the chassis in river sand in a mate's ute with muddies. It just kept diggin down deeper, and digs fast! Pressure was around 20psi from memory. Winch saved us that day.

Guido

Jason I'd love a set of Bighorns but because I do an average of 500km's a week around town I reckon they'd wear pretty fast.

Brad

Would it be a reasonable thing to say that muddies are well suited to mud, but A/T or even highway tyres are best for most other surfaces (including sand, but not including snow) ?

Would be very reasonable Old.Tony! Though the more agressive style tread blocks allow for better traction on a wider variety of offroad surfaces. Hence my wanting to find a tyre that does'nt compromise too much on or offroad.

Cheers Brad

I was just thinking that the really aggressive tyres would suffer from wear faster, and would dig into sand (as someone else pointed out), making them fairly heavily leaning in the "mud only" direction.

Strangely enough, I'm into forest trails - but no deep mud. I'll do some gentle water crossings - but won't be venturing onto sand a lot. Hauling a 1.75tonne 18' dual axle full van limits where I'll be going - but that's a thing I'm very happy with.

I think when the time comes, I'll probably go the BFG A/Ts myself, being "mostly good on the road but handles the mud ok and fine on the sand".

Sounds about right to me mate!

Brad

I put BFG AT on my truck a week after buying, I have just clicked over 30000k's.in 12 months. Tyres are pretty much stuffed with severe chipping from high speed gravel roads, I won't be buying or reccomending them again.

has any one used the mickey thomson mtz tyres b4.. are they anygood on the sand.

hally said:

has any one used the mickey thomson mtz tyres b4.. are they anygood on the sand.

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Any tyre will work on sand, lower the pressure to 15psi and don't spin the wheels!

If your thinking of seeing any bit of mud then stay right away from the A/T, it'l be that one time just one time your stuck in a stupid tiny boghole that muddies would have got you out of. My muddies wear great on the blacktop and wouldnt get anything less, just make sure you rotate as your meant to and a wheel alignment and balance every 6 months.

Iv seen too many mates with a/t that spew cos they are constantly struggling to get traction.

Hi Guys,

I reckon A/T's would pack with mud pretty quickly and become slick and end up with the traction problems SOLID D22 speaks of.

As I said I drive a lot of sand and often tow my heavy trailer on sand as well. In the soft stuff I don't mind dropping my tyres down to 12psi but you have to keep the speed a little sensible and no fast cornering otherwise you'll roll the beads clean off the rims.

Bead lockers will improve lower pressures but really isn't required for sand driving. I mostly use 15psi for sand and when heavily loaded or in super soft stuff I go down to 12psi which has always been more than enough. Most of that experience comes from the Patrol which was 400kg heavier than my D22. I reckon the D22 will kill the soft stuff at 15psi.

My Patrol used to have Cooper H/T's and then I went to BFG A/T's and the sand performance didn't change so long as someone else said; "you don't spin your wheels and you keep the pressures low".

Cheers,

DJ