Mid range rubber!

[mooxie]

Hi All... first confession - I'm a fresh Nav owner!
Been hunting though posts and found a bunch of info... but I want something specific to my situation!
Just picked up an '04 D22 ST-R Dual cab. Great condition, but it has some crappy Chinese Sailun Teramax H/T tyres on it!
I'm planning a big fishing trip to the Victorian high country, which will end up being around 2,000km on road and between 500-1000km off road.
While the current tyres have about 70% tread on them, I'm not confident that they'll hold up off road.
First does anyone have experience with Sailun tyres... pretty limited info around on the net!
I would much prefer to upgrade tyres, but my back pocket is still recovering from buying the Nav.
I have pretty limited options as I live in a rural town. Been given a choice of the following:
Bridgestone D697 265/70 R16 - $280 / corner
Goodyear Silent Armor 265/70/R16 - $330 / corner
Cooper S/T Maxx 265/75 R16 - $380 / corner.
Unless someone can tell me the Sailun's are much better than expected and will be fine, Mr Visa card is going to get a workout.
Anyone have experience with the above tyres?
I like the Cooper's but I'm concerned about them rubbing and affecting performance. Until I get some money in the piggy bank, she's pretty much a standard Nav.

 

[d22dave]

I have the st maxx in 265/75/16 and i reckon there great, Can,t help about the fit on standard suspension as i have a 2" lift on mine. Go offroad on your tyres and give them a try, Let the air down and try them, You dont have much to lose. Even the tyres they fit from new go allright if you air down

 

[ben85]

federal couragia's mt's are hard to beat, have a look on ebay. they also have at's and highway tyres cheap.

also silverstone 117 sports are about $290 a corner in 285's if you wanna go that big.

 

[mooxie]

Ended up with Cooper LT A/T 3 265/70's.
Was quite keen on the Goodyear Duratrac and Cooper ST Maxx... but both were 265/75 or 245/75. Interesting that 2 of 3 local tire fitters advised against the 265/75's!
The Coopers are pretty aggressive for 70/30 AT tires and since they have a 80,000km warranty... they'll hopefully last a while!
Will get a set of muddies once I've added a few more mods!

 

[shan_b]

Have a read of the fine print for your 80,000K warranty, I had a quick read of it, and I may be wrong but I think there was two clauses which were annoying

1. Where you can drive it (as in it's void if you go 'too' off road)
2. I think you had to have them rotated every 10,000K from place of purchase.

But even if you don't get that warranty, making that claim at least shows cooper believe in their tyres!

P.S I do a fair bit of hunting in the Vic high country, and track conditions can change quickly,
the best thing you can do for off road tyres is let em down!

I goto 20 or 18Psi in my Federal Couragias (which are awesome!) when I hit the tracks there!

just my 2c,
Shan

 

[Boosted]

Have a read of the fine print for your 80,000K warranty, I had a quick read of it, and I may be wrong but I think there was two clauses which were annoying

1. Where you can drive it (as in it's void if you go 'too' off road)
2. I think you had to have them rotated every 10,000K from place of purchase.

But even if you don't get that warranty, making that claim at least shows cooper believe in their tyres!

P.S I do a fair bit of hunting in the Vic high country, and track conditions can change quickly,
the best thing you can do for off road tyres is let em down!

I goto 20 or 18Psi in my Federal Couragias (which are awesome!) when I hit the tracks there!

just my 2c,
Shan

I had a close look into the warranty when I got some STT's. Unless you live in the middle of an urban city doing slow traffic driving all day then the warranty is void as soon as you drive out of the tyre fitters car park. They wont cover for driving in any rural towns whether it is bitument or not, which 3/4 of towns in AUstralia are classes as rural towns

 

[ben85]

guaranteed to last UP TO 80,000ks the add on tv says.

i guarantee that if you buy my 80,000k old pro comp muddies they will last UP TO another 80,000ks, they might only last you 10,000ks though haha

anyone can guarantee tyres to last upto a maximum of 80,000, but can they guarantee them to last a minimum number of km's?

 

[Jarrad]

What about BFG All Terrains? I got mine in 265/75 R16 for $340 a tyre

 

[180degrees]

What about BFG All Terrains? I got mine in 265/75 R16 for $340 a tyre

Love my BFG's very good mix of offroad, onroad, wet handling and tread wear.

 

[mooxie]

Cheers everyone for the response! Regarding the warranty, I don't expect to get 80,000km from them and as I'm in a rural town, I don't actually get the warranty! However I hope that it means they should wear well! I couldn't seem to find BFG's from any of the local dealers... they were on my list... just found out one mechanic here sells them! Too late now! Took the Coopers on their firs trip over the weekend and overall I'm impressed! Nothing too serious, about 200km on the black stuff and around 100km off road. Bitumen noise was a bit more than I expected, however they handed a couple mud holes and sand dunes well! Big improvement on dirt roads too!

 

[mooxie]

Next adventure for a real test is Broken Hill - Omeo / Mitta Mitta via Bendigo and Eildon. Combination trout fishing and off road trip. Anyone have experience or suggestions in these area's?

 

[mad possum]

make sure you have a meal at the blue duck at angler's rest (out of omeo on the mitta mitta). are you going to wait with your trip til the tracks are open? there's some nice tracks that arent too involved that cross various places of the country there. we went from mt beauty - omeo (via bogong tracks) and then crossed the range into the snowy catchment, was very enjoyable. If you headed Eildon way for fishing then take the time to travel around the back side to the big river and jamieson, ( back of big river is mt terrible, nice 4x4 there- someone did a trip report on it a while ago and posted it here). from the jamieson you can drive either north via bitchumen to mansfield, or east then north to the headwaters of the howqua and jamieson via mt sunday tracks area or east then south to licola and wellington and macallister rivers, heaps of fishing up there. keep us posted with ur progress

 

[mooxie]

Cheers mate... Blue duck is on the list! Going at the end of November, so hopefully most of the tracks are open by then! How were the tracks around Jamieson... just watched a couple youtube videos and they were pretty hectic! My Nav will be pretty standard for this trip, so I won't be setup for any full on 4x4! Just about to start making a set of recovery points in preparation!!

 

[mad possum]

yeh the tracks should be good by then, depends if it dries out a bit, a week or so of good weather and they'll be a bit easier, it just keeps raining down here. there are some hectic tracks up there, the larger tracks aren't so crazy tho. are you going with another vehicle? recovery points are a bit plus! if you're going solo a hand winch would be a good investment (if you don't have a winch fitted) and for the price it's a lot of peace of mind. but it's easy to tour and find some good spots that you could have to yourself without going far off the bitumen.

 

[mooxie]

Thanks Mad Possum!
Got a mate coming in his Navara too.. No winch, but we've both got recovery points, snatch strap and an arsenal of shovels etc. Hopefully we can get nice and muddy without getting in too much trouble! On our way to Bendigo this Friday... then wherever we end up for a week after that!