For point 3, I suggest you compare the thickness of the sidewall, especially at the point where the sidewall and tread meet, with other tyres. On most tyres the area where they meet, it thins out, even on LT construction tyres. Of course some are worse than others. One tyre that is better in this regard is a rally tyre, which has extra beads at this point. For me, most all terrain tyres are grossly over rated.
Thanks, I usually check the tyres before purchasing when buying an A/T tyre. I will be visiting shops for live samples within the month.
Regarding the rally tyres, I had good experience with them 18 years ago but that was rallying and it is a different story. Fun times, though.
Regarding over-ratedness of the A/Ts, somehow the NZ market is oversaturated with very cheap A/Ts from
you-know-where and I won't put them on any of my vehicles. The cheap ones cater the shop-going crowd pretty well because of the price and tyre size availability for their low-offset 18s, 19s and 21s. I would rather keep my H/Ts instead of installing those. With A/Ts, I will stick to the brands that I know as well as those that other true overlanders and off-roaders use. When I went to a tyre shop for my sister's Impreza, I saw 2 blown A/T tyres from a brand that I have never heard of yet. How do these get past compliance? The owners changed to G015s immediately because they couldn't find the model and the brands anymore. :lol:
Maybe look at a more modern design?
Almost all P-metric AT tires offer little extra puncture resistance compared to good street tires (cheapo street tires are another story). I have very strong P-metric ATs, Falken Wildpeak AT3W, but these are the exception, not the rule. I get best of all worlds with them.
To get strength, you usually need to go to LT tires. I was happy with KO2s in the US because of the very rocky terrain. However, for dirt and sand, the LT are too much tire on a Subaru. They require being aired down for both traction and comfort. At proper LT adjusted street pressures, they are just too stiff and have too small a footprint for challenging off-road.
Rally's unique experiences and claims aside, one generally buys AT tires for dirt for the better handling, cornering, and braking over street tires, not for strength. For sand or mud, the differences between AT and street are probably inconsequential, at least in my relatively limited sand and mud experience.
So, to reiterate, strong AT for rock (traction+strength), any AT for better dirt performance, MT or hybrid for mud, winter for snow, pretty much anything will do in sand and actually deep tread may hurt you in sand.
Thanks. I just found this model just recently and somehow it caught my attention. I really haven't got any experience with the brand except for relatively good MTB tyres, haha.
In my past, I had only used BFGs (Patrol, Trooper and Surf) and Duelers (FJ40 and Jeep F-head). I totally had no problems with the BFGs but had 2 punctures with duelers but that was in the late 90s, so a lot should have already improved. At the moment, only K02s and D697s come in LT. LT may be too overkill for me for my SG5.
M/Ts would be nice here in the North Island as we always get a lot of rainfall and the terrain can turn from dusty to boggy in a few moments. I will have to downsize further to 15s to be able to get a decent size. Also, I am only doing 10% gravel at the moment and M/Ts can be rather drony on the highway. In this regard, the K02s tick a lot of boxes because of it's almost M/T construction. I look at it as an A/T-M/T hybrid.
I have H/Ts at the moment and will be increasing my combined off-track and gravel use to around 40% by November. These H/Ts will struggle, especially with the relatively wet terrain in the Central North Island.
they look good thou. i was looking for those when i was choosing tires. but on some tests reviews i saw people rate them kinda lower. one famous overlander said that most people in south Africa using mud tires for sand . why not AT tires, because mud tires just hold longer on high temperatures.
its one thing to drive with your car like around area and other thing is to drive hundreds or thousand km's on tires . then you know differences and why ones are better. but if you just wanna go some offroad near your are like some do then no probs with most tires i guess.
True, there is one track here that can be tackled with just ordinary but good-branded road tyres.
Topic reminder: Maxxis Bravo AT 771 :iconwink:
There are at least a couple of larger vehicles in the Subie club that run them and have also been renewed with the same brand so the members are obviously happy with them. I've been on several extended trips with another ute that runs them, including a trip to the Kimberley, a Simpson Crossing and a Cape York trip and they had no punctures whatsoever.
Thanks for the input. I see them on some 4x4s here and got somewhat intrigued. I am to change my H/Ts soon as they are somewhat near the end of their lives and I will increase my gravel + off-track use by November, so I am gathering some personal accounts here, which I think is the best site to go for regarding off-roading with Subarus. :thumbsup:
Ok, so, back on topic, Maxxis 771 may be good, but there are more recent AT designs to consider.
Thanks, I will keep on searching and getting feedback as much as possible.
I must admit, I'm becoming a bit of a fan of the wildpeak. from what I've seen they're pretty good.
A lot of 4WDers up here run Maxxis.
I just saw the Wildpeak AT01 and the only size that I can fit on mine is 215/70 R16. I will call them and check, though. I, too, have been getting good feedback with the Wildpeaks.
