Best stock sized off road tyres ?
Hiya everyone,
I'm stuck with the stock size 215-65-16.
It's a weird size, expensive with poor choice of brands etc. yes I should have gone bit bigger, but can't afford to to throw new ones away.
The avon ranger htt were good, but can't get anymore for some reason-not noisy, don't crack/age badly (annoying throwing away tyres with tread spare).
So am looking for a more 50/50 road /off road type. I don't rate some of the Japanese stuff.
What have you tried out pls?
Thanks for those tyre
Thanks for those tyre recommendations -its good to know not just what is a good tyre -but what suits a particular car!
I was looking at generals AT and AT3, but have no experience with them.
It does not do major miles, so a hard wearing expensive tyre is not needed. Those tend to crack more and once cracked I dare use them on road, so for safety are replaced despite 6-7mm tread. Money wasted.
If I went to 15 inch alloys, what offset would I need to clear struts and callipers pls?
Maybe the tyre choice is wider in patterns/sizes-and cheaper!
It seems Japanese brand tyres
It seems Japanese brand tyres (BRIDGSTONE etc) crack after a very few years making them unusable despite 70%+ tread left.
This is because the rubber compound is different and as most Japanese cars in their homeland are recycled after 8 years tyres life's irrelevant.
Michelin do too. Good quality and ok if you do a lot of miles and wear them out before cracking occurs. I've got an unused Michelin spare-cracked.
As it is used on mud/sand and don't want a 'road' set I need some AT off road performance -here we have:
Yokohama geolander go15
Toyo Open country
Nokian weatherproof
Avon av3
Rather than sidewalls cracking it's between the treads nowadays. Even the avon at the back started going same way, tailhappy on damp tarmac too.
I was even tempted to look at car winter tyres, but these don't work as well in summer...
Best pinin wishes
It seems to me...
that your problem is more likely to be related to how you use and possibly store your tires - try rotating them every six months or so - otherwise they will dry rot just sitting on the back door, exposed to the sun.
Regardless of the brand of tire, Japanese or otherwise, proper care is essential to long life, you also want "fresh" stock, not new tires that have been sittng in storage - learn how to read the date codes and reject any new tire more than a year old.
Bridgestone happens to be one of my favourite brands, I've gotten very good mileage out of them and no issues with cracking, and I'm talking about five maybe six or more years, both highway treads and all terrains, and I could say the same for the Yokohama Geolandars - what I will no longer buy is Dunlop GrandTrek AT3s, no problem with cracking (given proper care & rotation), they are crap in the wet, and more so as they get older - the last set of GrandTreks I took off of my car because of poor wet weather traction, are still going strong, almost a year later - on my mechanic's Grand Vitara...
Yes the Dunlop's are poor.
Yes the Dunlop's are poor. Dealers will try to fob you off with old stock at full price. One Seat main dealer I collected cars from got a customer complaint, the tyres were 6 years older than the used car he bought.......
Weirdly some of the cheaper brands have not cracked (in road type tread for cars, no experience in 4x4).
The tigar wore very quickly but though older than the TOYOS can't see any signs of cracks. Maybe hankooks ok too, I think of them as budget but vw use them OE. Now vw fit junk through from any country except Germany (LOL).
I guess I should just drive more, wear them out and buy more new ones sooner.
I have some general at2. They don't look well made and may be causing wandering/drift to one side, or if could be that trucks suspension....
Thanks andre! I think on
Thanks andre!
I think on another thread you said 205/80x16 will not go on low pan strut cars.
But what about if I go from et46 (can't remember original ET) to say et36 to move the wheels outward? Or is more needed? I could fit spacers or get wheels with less inset.
I could fit wide wheel arch extensions!
You make an important point about tyre wear. The more off road pattern a tyre is, the more it wears. Not always what some are bothered about.
I wanted a popular size which makes it cheaper AND have wide choice of off road tyres.
Best wishes!!
Syndicate
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215/70R16 will fit (that is the stock size on the Japanese market vehicles) and they should be available in a reasonable range of tread patterns - I've been using Dunlop GrandTrek AT3s for several years and have been quite happy with them.