Light truck tyres

Species

Species

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Joined
Jan 9, 2012
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323
Location
Mount Isa, QLD
I've been looking around for tyres with a decent tread on them for off road use. But the only thing I can find for my 14" wheels (other than 27" maxxis) that look like a good tread are light commercial/light truck tyres. I thought this is not such a bad idea considering that 90% of the terrain here is made up of sharp rocks. So I stopped at a place to ask about fitting them to my wagon but was told that they can't legally fit LT tyres to a passenger vehicle.... is this right? Any reason why this is so? I was thinking of taking the rims off and getting them put on anyway, but I don't wanna do anything dangerous or illegal. Anyone else run into a problem like this?
 
Thats the first I've heard of LT tyres being illegal on a passenger car! I'd suggest calling the roads authority in Qld.

However, I wouldnt fit LT tyres anyway. There are much better tyres designed for cars that are tough AND work better...Geolander AT-s, BFG, Cooper, Maxxis, etc... if you get on their websites you can check if they come in 14", hopefully there are...
 
I'd totally prefer something like Geolander or even Coopers if I can save the coin. But unless there are more tyre sizes available other than what their websites say, it's rather slim pickings for 14" rims
 
A friend off mine was trying to sell me on a set of 14" at tyres for my bug but it's 15". I'll see him this weekend and ask what they were if you like. LTs have 8 or 10 ply sidewalks I think and they don't bag at the bottom even at stupid low pressures. End up spinning them on the rims and have to ballence them again.
 
stilson said:
A friend off mine was trying to sell me on a set of 14" at tyres for my bug but it's 15". I'll see him this weekend and ask what they were if you like. LTs have 8 or 10 ply sidewalks I think and they don't bag at the bottom even at stupid low pressures. End up spinning them on the rims and have to ballence them again.
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Thats a good point, not so good for sand...
 
I dont know if its different in WA but i know you can get LT tires on any car. Dad had LT Geolandars on his ute and they went brilliantly in some extremely soft sand only let down to 20 PSI. They were very big tires but so they probably spread a lot more than tires youd get on an L.
 
I've put 38k km on my Dueller 693 IIs (= light truck and AT) covering snowpack to gibber to corrugations and they've performed fine. They are now down to about half the orig. tread depth.

Heavier sidewall construction provides confidence when you drop the pressure by a third on outback roads.

The load rating is substantially higher than for a passenger car tyre which is a plus when towing a camper trailer when fully loaded.
 
Can you guys get the BFG All Terrains in a 14" wheel size in OZ? If you can I recommend them highly!
 
Have heard good things about those but in my state there's only one AT tyre available that's legal on my Foz '08* and that's the Geo A/T-S (and yes, that makes my D693s illegal by about 6mm in OD!). Have heard some good reports about the Geo's but the lower load rating and user complaints about sidewall gashes on earlier Geo ATs are cause for concern.

* 215/60/16
 
^^I know of some people, who had the earlier yoko's (AT+II) had a few drama's with sidewall damage, but the new yoko's (A/T-S) seem to have a stronger sidewall.
I seem to remember reading somewhere, that yokohama addressed this & made them (sidewalls) stronger when they designed the new style IE: A/T-S tyres :)

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Sigmund said:
Have heard some good reports about the Geo's but the lower load rating and user complaints about sidewall gashes on earlier Geo ATs are cause for concern.
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Agree with Mr.T, the new Geo At-s is a much stronger tyre. Plus it has a factory puncture warranty. Pezimm had a sidewall puncture on his (maybe something to do with doing donuts on aired down tyres lol). he went back to get it replaced on the warranty but they were out of the AT-s in that size (due to the tsunami in Japan)...so they gave him 5 NEW tyres in HT-s! Talk about service! I'm very impressed with Yokohama in general & the AT-s in particular :monkeydance:

I dont think we get the BFGs in 14" here...anyone?
 
I use these on my boat trailer.
https://www.bridgestone.com.au/tyres/treads/r623.aspx
As far as i am aware the rules regarding tyres refer to the OD and load rating/speed reating as per the Manufacturers compliance plate and you can't go under it but can go above it. The speed rating could be the killer with a light truck tyre that will fit your car.
 
im looking to put Lts on my 15s prob 217/75 r15s on my 1995 leg l wagon . i had 14s but couldnt find much for tires . so i bought 15s off craigs list .almost all tire makers offer 15s or bigger
 
yeah that's the problem, 14's are either regular tyres or 265 wide monsters for your classic holden cruiser.
I did have tyres with a winter tread suggested and they are available for 14" rims. This might be the go
 
Blizzak winter tires make great offroad Subie tires, at least on the lightweight Justy they did, lol.
 
I was told to stay away from rally tyres.. but not by anyone of repute, well... in my books anyway. I have seen some of them for sale and the tread looks very good.
 
Yeah I was speaking to Dean Herridge and a couple of other rally people and they reckon they are ideal for off road, usually go for about $40-50 with heaps of tread left on them and very grippy, you might only get 5,000k's out of them but at least if you stake one it's neither here nor there.

But they are very heavy.
 
Cañon Carver said:
Blizzak winter tires make great offroad Subie tires, at least on the lightweight Justy they did, lol.
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I ran Blizzak tires on my L. They were great off road, but I only got about 10K mi. out of them. Good for a second set of rims if you want to switch them out for off-road trips.
 
I am in the same situation soon, my current tyres are just about gone! only thing that looks semi decent is light truck tyres in 175/80/r13 but i have no idea if they are good for the wagon.

would love something that works well on road(majority of driving) but still has that advantage off road. LT tyres seem to be in that sweet spot!

hmmm.
 
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