Buying some "Road Tyres"

[Highway-Star]

Hi everyone

Before I get into the nitty gritty let me just explain my situation.
I have a Suzuki Sierra SWB Widetrack, and I am planning to buy some 31x10.5R15 "road tyres" to put on my alloy rims. I am cuurently running around on my offroad set which are Simex Centipede MTs (not the ET), which surprise me in their onroad behaviour .

I keep putting "road tyres" in inverted commas, because I don't want H/Ts or even most of the A/Ts available, I want something which can perform when required. I intend on keeping my Simexes for weekend warrior/ play time, so I can cut them to ribbons on rocks, puncture them etc etc, and not care too much, and have another set at home ready for work or uni (yes my car is a daily driver). But if I go on holidays, camping etc I will most likely use my road set, so they will need to be able to be reasonably usefull offroad. My budget is roughly $200 per tyre max, although lower cost would be better.


I think I've given enough info, so here my current thought train, I like the look of these for a road set, has anybody had experience with them?:
http://www.bridgestonetire.com/tiresele ... uctID=1058
(Even though Firestone's website doesn't mention it, according to my tyre dealer you can buy them in Australia).

As far as AT tyres go what about these:
http://www.silverstone.com.my/tyre_at117.asp
They look like too shallow a tread depth to me???

My Tyre dealer belives some thing called a "Merrit Electra" is what I want. They say they have fitted them to heaps of cars for a fair few years now and everyone is happy with them. Only online link I found usefull was: http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/244 ... Tyres.aspx
A bit inconclusive...
I have seen them, they do look a little on the mild side, but are a similar tread pattern to my old 205 ATs I had and they did alright offroad.


I realise thats only 3 tyres, but they are 3 of the tyre in my current consideration list that I cannot gather very much info on the internet about, so thats why I've posted about these couple only (I dont see the need to list about 8 or so tyres that have already been covered before to some extent). All comments are welcome, and If you really want to recomend another tyre to me, I'm fine with that.

Sorry for the long question, but I dont want to be ambiguous.
Cheers.

[mrw82]

pirelli scorpions are a good AT tyre if you can get the old tread pattern, my mate has the new tread pattern fitted to his hilux and got bogged on wet gravelish mud!!! so stay away from the new tread.

in saying that i happen to have 3 scorpion old tread in 31 x 10.5R15 with very good tread which i would be happy to roll out of my way for a few dollars. you'd just need to get 1 more. 2 if you need a spare.

[macca81]

i know i will be shot down in flames by some, but i think that baja claws are excelent on road. if not them, the baja mtz would be a very good tyre. or bfg or hankook muddies, which wear realy realy well onroad aswell

[waxhead..]

Both the Baja Claw and MTZ are more aggressive than a simex MT, just wear them all the time, they are an all terrain anyway...

[HotFourOk]

I think the pick for an off road tyre that's pretty good on road comes down to a few such as Goodyear MTR, Mickey MTZ. They handle very well on the road and also get you further offroad than most!
For kms wise, BFG MT and Cooper ST also perform well in both situations.

[Highway-Star]

mrw82, I agree new ones a crap, don't know about the oldies, but getting ahold of 1 outdated tyre can be painfull. I've already got 2 spares, one is an old BFG MT, the other some Falken landair thing, I'm only after a set of 4.

Mickeys are nice, but out of my price range, Bajas are not what I'm after, I'd use them offroad and swap me Centipedes to my alloys in that case.

I have thought about putting the Centipedes on my alloys for road use, but 2 of them are getting worn down a bit. My intention is wear them out and swap them for something better offroad. So I want something new for my road tyres, that will last a long time (its a Zook so almost anything will).

The Goodyear MTR, and the BFG MT both sound about what I want, but probably out my price range too. The coopers are too exy for me as well I reckon. My father one had a set of Hankook's and liked them, if slightly too hard a compound...

OK so we have just concluded that I'm cheap . I can do some more thorough pricing on these tyres to confirm if they actually are as expensive as I've been led to believe tough.

Thanks guys, no-one used any of the tyres I mentioned above?

[-Scott-]

The Goodyear MTR, and the BFG MT both sound about what I want, but probably out my price range too. The coopers are too exy for me as well I reckon. My father one had a set of Hankook's and liked them, if slightly too hard a compound...

OK so we have just concluded that I'm cheap . I can do some more thorough pricing on these tyres to confirm if they actually are as expensive as I've been led to believe tough.

Thanks guys, no-one used any of the tyres I mentioned above?

I used to wheel with a Rodeo owner who had the Silverstone A/Ts - I thought they did well for an A/T, appearance wise they reminded me of BFG A/Ts.

I had S/Ts in 31x10.5, happy with them offroad and on-road wear was excellent. You should get better again in a Sierra.

Keep an eye on the OL Classifieds section. Bargains come up all the time - I picked up a set of 5 285/75-16 MT/Rs with 90% tread left for $900. I sold my set of 6 31" S/Ts with 70% tread left for $1000 - including six Pajero factory alloys.

[spongerx]

Have a look at Maxxis Buckshot Mudders

They should be fairly cheap and worked suprisingly well onroad on my Hilux. Not great in wet clay mud but they'll work for most lightish offroading stuff. They also have great wear characteristics.

The 31x10.5 R15 size measures closer to a 30x11 on an 8" or wider rim.

Bridgestone Dueller MT's are also a great daily driver MT but can be a bit on the pricey side (they are over here). Same price range and tire tech as the Firestone MT's

[ShadoZJ]

x2 on the Maxxis Mudders, they are around $200. Wear well onroad.

[roverrat]

I think the pick for an off road tyre that's pretty good on road comes down to a few such as Goodyear MTR, Mickey MTZ. They handle very well on the road and also get you further offroad than most!
For kms wise, BFG MT and Cooper ST also perform well in both situations.

and should get ay more than 80K out of them on a zook

[Highway-Star]

Thanks everyone for your replies, much appreciated.

It turns out my tyre dealer was confused those firestones I pointed out above are not available in Australia, he thought they were the Firestone RMT, which I'm not anywhere near as keen on...

There does seem to be consistant reports of people liking the ST and MTR. My reservations with the Maxxis tyres (particularly for road use) is they are a PITA to balance (or so I've been told by a few now).

As for my rims size it is either a 15x6.5 or 15x7 alloy (I already own them) my road tyres will be going on.


Another option which I am warming to, is to swap my Simex MTs over to my alloys for road use, and buy something 'full-on' for my weekend set.

Luckily I'm not really in a hurry.
Thanks again.

[j-top paj]

BFG muddies if you want something that will last a lot of hwy Ks
i got them on the GU and i punnish them all the time 50K on them and they still have plenty to go

[j-top paj]

Another option which I am warming to, is to swap my Simex MTs over to my alloys for road use, and buy something 'full-on' for my weekend set.

probably the best/cheapest option.
you could get a second hand set of tires for weekends.

[Highway-Star]

probably the best/cheapest option.
you could get a second hand set of tires for weekends.

My Simexs are second hand anyway .

I've managed to find one or two offroad tyres that I can buy new for less than most of the AT/MT tyres are new (even 2nd hand ), so thats a big motivation!

Question: How bad are Bias Ply tyres on road? I mean if I did buy them as a second set to play on. I'd sill need to drive to places on road with them.

[me3@neuralfibre.com]

Lets hear the screams

Nexen MT's

About $150ea from Motor Trade Machinist Goodna - (07) 3818-1208
Fourby's sells em too, at 20% more price.

He's nuts, but he's cheap.

Mate has them, they are fine. Relaible, grip ok, wear ok. Nothing outstanding, just ok everywhere. Older BF Mud ripoff pattern

Paul

[roverrat]

Lets hear the screams

Nexen MT's

About $150ea from Motor Trade Machinist Goodna - (07) 3818-1208
Fourby's sells em too, at 20% more price.

He's nuts, but he's cheap.

Mate has them, they are fine. Relaible, grip ok, wear ok. Nothing outstanding, just ok everywhere. Older BF Mud ripoff pattern

Paul

no screams here just the sounds of silence

[spongerx]

The Maxxis Buckshots I have balanced ok. One of the Bighorns I have on now took quite a bit of weight to balance but the others were ok.