TYRES
Tyres, a very contentious and debated topic. Which brand, what terrain, bigger, smaller, taller, wider, what pressure, pros, cons, budget…
My experience:
My baptism into off road tyres was quite a quick one, albeit, quite later in life. I bought my first 4wd at around 30 years of age, and the tyres were quite shot. Headed off to the nearest tyre store in my lunch break and the recommended tyre for my application was the Goodyear Wrangler AT. Standard size of 245/70/16.
Man were these perfect for the application at the time. Used as my daily commuter and then some occasional weekend fun, the odd trip to the farm and an annual overland trip with the clan.
Offroad:
Excellent for the occasional off road fun, dirt roads and (surprisingly) excellent in some very hectic conditions up in the Richtersveld (very rocky and sharp rocks). We went everywhere the other guys went with big BFG’s, Coopers, Maxxis etc. I must say though, my wife and I were exhausted from being extra cautious and doing way more spotting than anyone else. But they held up and performed amazingly. We only shredded a left rear on gravel somehow in 4 odd years, with 3 overland trips. But, no harm, no fowl. Bought a replacement and we were good for another few years.
Daily use:
Probably one of the best tyres I’ve ever had, on any vehicle. Very little road noise, great stopping ability, good handling and great in rainy conditions.
Namibia 2023:
So 4-5 years down the line and my third 4wd, taking the Wranglers with me to each vehicle (luckily all same vehicle brand and models – I’m a sucker…lol), we headed off to Namibia. This is where 1, my hope in stretching the life of the tyres and 2, not following my gut and replacing tyres, nearly ended up in a big mistake.
We had 2 spares and the best 4 were on the vehicle, of which the best 2 were in front. Of these, 4 had manufacturing dates of 2016 (original set bought), one 2012 (from latest vehicle purchase) and one 2022 (from replacing previously shredded tyre). The 2016’s were on the back, and spare.
Queue issues:
On some very bad gravel road just before the Skeleton Coast, luckily we stopped at what we thought was the check in/entrance office parking and over the VHF comms came a voice, “Stop, Shaun has a flat”. Left rear had gone flat and had completely lost it’s sidewall integrity by the looks of it. We assume it may have blown had we kept on and not mistaken the office for the entrance. Phew, bullet dodged and let’s push on. A few days later, driving from some dodgy fishing cottages (we needed to get out of the West Coast wind, which these served their purpose) and some of the worst corrugated gravel road I’ve experienced, we lost another tyre. Same back left. This time, blow out at about 80km/h. I’l be the one to say it, luckily, my wife was driving! She is a professional athlete so has lightning reflexes. We went into an uncontrolled swerve and nearly tipped when we came to a stop while broad siding. F^&*, “Are you ok?”, ok, we’re ok. WTF just happened?? When we examined, we saw the cause and the marks in the road where we skid. Fortunately, no other cars at the time and our convoy was far enough behind to slow down safely.
This led to me asking the “Overlanding Elders” in the group if we should replace the set of 4 tyres ASAP and bite the bullet. It was a unanimous yes.
We made it home and after doing some research and getting opinions, we decided on 265/70/16 BFG KO2’s and sold a kidney in the process. BUT, I will gladly do this again as we probably came off very easy in this scenario and it could have been way worse. Looking forward to testing out these tyres in the near future!
Why the change?
The thinking behind changing to the BFG’s was that our 4wd was no longer a daily driver, but had now transitioned into a dedicated overlander and we would be exploring beyond the borders of SA and we had way more load now and also on more gravel and rougher roads. It remains to be seen if we made the right call in going larger and in our choice.
Conclusion:
What I learned most in this case, was to trust your gut. Especially when it comes to safety items. As you explore life and boundaries, your requirements and applications change. Assess accordingly and where necessary, don’t compromise. Choose what works best for you. Do your research. Get good opinions and advice. After all, is your families life worth trying to eke out the life of a few tyres?