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Nankang muddies

Tech Talk for Suzuki owners.

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Nankang muddies

Post by wellsey »

Does anybody have any experience with nankangs 2 mud tyres? Mudstar is the more dear one at 180 for 31" and mud merit is 160 for 31"

Are these tyres reasonable for the money or are they just plain crap?

Cheers in advance guys.
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Post by Guy »

They are cheap tyres with a softish compound and a thinish sidewall .. perfect for a light weight 4x4 .. ;)
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Post by saffrett »

the mud stars are good i have them on my hilux and they drive round in the wet on road fine and my mate has them on his jeep and they go great on rocks and mud
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Post by Gwagensteve »

Sorry, (and no offence Guy , you did actually post some tech here) but this isn't helping anyone- really, "they drive round in the wet on road fine" what does that mean? can I buy square ones and what are they like in the wet? My swampers drive round in the wet on road fine too - for swampers.

"they go great on rocks and mud" Maybe..... compared to what? a simex? an all terrain? the stock tyres on that car?

There's not enough information here to assist Wellsey to make a descision.

Maybe they are OK, for cheap tyres. They're only marginally more expensive than retreads. If you are realistic about what you expect from them, I'm sure they will be fine. A sierra will be overtyred on either of them from an objective point of view, so the size will have far ore ffect ont he car than the type. (compared to stock)

Wellsey - have you run 31's on a sierra before? what are you running now? Do you want to change what you are driving based on the new tyres?

Personally, if that was my budget and I was looking for a 31 on a sierra, I would be looking for good second hand tyres - 31's are everywhere and you should be able to pick up a good clean set of high quality tyres for that money.

Can anyone actually post if they have run these AFTER having run a dearer tyre IN THE SAME SIZE.

Sorry for the rant, this board is only useful if proper tech is posted. Tyre tech is so subjective it gets pretty silly.

Steve.
[quote="greg"] some say he is a man without happy dreams, or that he sees silver linings on clouds and wonders why they are not platinum... all we know, is he's called the stevie.[/quote]
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Post by Guy »

For me .. I would take a "suck it and see" approach...

A hell of alot of people will make the mods becuase they saw it in a mag and thought it looked cool..

A sierra handles like a bullock dray at the best of times, the tyre choice will not really do alot to improve or detract fromo that.. The nankangs run small from what I have seen (really small). and not really that big of a step up tyre wise from a 29 .. .but they do have a more open tread any of the other MT's I have seen in the 235/75 or 30 MT range of rubber.

Personally I found alot of the higher quality rubber a bit to stiff on a sierra requireing some quite low are pressures to make em work. My old beaten up kumhos the I orrigonally had on my zuk work better now than they did new.

Alot of this will be lost on a newb driver as will the benifit of square shoulders on lugs, that some tyres will work better with more or less tread etc etc ...
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Post by saffrett »

sorry for the lack of real info im new to this. i dont have much experience with this. i have nangkang at's on my coily and mud stars on my work truck
i was trying to say that i have had no problems with on road handling at all. They are not noisy at all i havent had spun out or any thing like that in the wet and im not the most forgiving driver.
as for off road ive only had as small amount of experience with them
we had to dive up a steep realy loose rocky trail one day pulling 2t of trailer and they griped quite well
as for mud and rock compared to simex . i went for a run with my mate that has them on his jeep and a sierra with jt2 and they did just as well the sierra driver said that he wouldnt get simex again on a zook because they are to stiff and they not that good on rock. just by observation the mudstars seamed to have more traction on the same line of rock as the jt2
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Post by bigmick »

not teck but just my 2c.
i had 32 inch nankang mudstars on my lux with a welded and yoused to street it every day. they wore well for the price ive had bfg and the mudstars wore about the same in my oppinion.
good cheap tyre. but i still recon value for money is buckshots.
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Post by Gwagensteve »

Thanks Saffrett- that's heaps better info.

IMHO JT2's suck on rock and are way too stiff for a sierra, so you are right on the money there in your observation.

Not bagging the mudstars, but sometimes it is funny to watch a car with heaps of super aggressive tyre struggle and then a guy with, say, small all terrains just hook up and drive the same line easy.

sometimes the really aggressive patterns work against you.

Steve.
[quote="greg"] some say he is a man without happy dreams, or that he sees silver linings on clouds and wonders why they are not platinum... all we know, is he's called the stevie.[/quote]
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Post by built4thrashing »

yeh steve i experianced the exact thing on queens b'day weekend. all the cruisers and patrols had simex or orther super agro tyres and i had some 7yo silverstone SQ773 that drove everything without drama. the bigger trucks did it alot more easy than me in the zook but i did what was needed to get there with far less tyre grip.
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Post by wellsey »

I have 31 inch bfg highway terrains on atm. Do you guys think that 31 is too big for a mud tyre on the zook? What size would you recommend?

I have been offered a set of new simex pedes 32x10.5, but from what ive read above, these might not be too appropriate? They are at an excellent price. (under 1000 on sunnys)

Can people offer me some suggestions of what they think are the best brands/sizes for the zook?

I have 2 inches of body lift and 2 inches of suspension lift.

Thanks for all the advice guys, keep it coming.
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Post by Gwagensteve »

G'day Wellsey,

No, I don't think that a 31 is too big, but my point related to things like handling and noise - A 31 is so much bigger than standard that the effect of the tyre size on the car is greater than the effect of construction (in comparison to a standard size tyre, if that makes sense)

I'm not sure where you are or how your car is geared, but for the price, the 'pedes would be hard to beat.

Leave you raod tyres for road use, and swap the 'pedes on when you are driving offroad.

PS, the more traction you have he more gearing you need. The added bite of the 'pedes will highlight any gearing problems you might have.

Can you tell us a bit more about you setup - gearing/lockers etc?

Steve.
[quote="greg"] some say he is a man without happy dreams, or that he sees silver linings on clouds and wonders why they are not platinum... all we know, is he's called the stevie.[/quote]
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Post by vicelore »

wellsey wrote:I have 31 inch bfg highway terrains on atm. Do you guys think that 31 is too big for a mud tyre on the zook? What size would you recommend?

I have been offered a set of new simex pedes 32x10.5, but from what ive read above, these might not be too appropriate? They are at an excellent price. (under 1000 on sunnys)

Can people offer me some suggestions of what they think are the best brands/sizes for the zook?

I have 2 inches of body lift and 2 inches of suspension lift.

Thanks for all the advice guys, keep it coming.

Hey bud sounds like you have nearly the same setup as me. i went the 32 simex. been pretty good so far . but keep in mind you will need to go RUF or atleast move the front diff forward as they will hit the firewall badly. aslo if u run offset rims u will prob get more of this scrubbing. i would probaly look at offsets next time as i get a bit of tyre on spring before lock at the front.

ontop of this you WILL need gearing. which isnt cheap.

Cheers
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Post by wellsey »

The zook is a 96, so its coil. Will I still have clearance issues?
As far as gearing is concerned, she is stock as, no lockers unfortunatley. I am planning on getting lockers, but not for a while, so maybe I should look at a smaller tyre?
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Post by Gwagensteve »

In short, Yes and Yes.

Your gearing will suck heavily with 32's with that much bite. Coilers have the tallest overall sierra gearing.

IMHO you will desperately need a gear drive transfer and at least a 4.9:1 transfer.

You will need bumpstop spacers, and be careful with wheel offset - coilers are wider than a normal WT so you will need around 4" of backspacing with 7" rims to keep the width sane.

However, with this kind of gearing and bite, you will still have to hit things too hard because of your open diffs.

Unfortunately, there is a bit of a domino effect once you step up to this kind of tyre.

(even with 31's, I would recommend a 1.0 transfer even if you don't do much steep work or want to run reduction gearing)

Steve.
[quote="greg"] some say he is a man without happy dreams, or that he sees silver linings on clouds and wonders why they are not platinum... all we know, is he's called the stevie.[/quote]
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Post by wellsey »

Hey all, I just found out that those simex's are 31's not 32's, but you reckon I will still have gearing issues hey?

What sort of $$ outlay am I looking at for different gearsets and/or lockers?

What are your recommendations/advice on welded lockers?

Will 30's do the job and get rid of the gearing issues?

Cheers all, so much to learn...........
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Post by sanger »

With 30's your still going to want gearing of some kind whether it be tcase or diff. Depending on what terrain you plan to drive will ultimately be the deciding factor on which way u want to go. Personally i drive alot of rock and at the moment run 31's with series 4 rockhoppers and its awsome for crawling.
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Post by Gwagensteve »

Wellsey, Where are you? If you are in the eastern states, you will need more gearing than is SA or WA, we drive steeper terrain and the driving is less sandy so we don't need the wheelspeed. I am very surprised you are running 31's now with stock gearing.

We had a member in the club here in vic with a coiler for some years. He is a sensitive driver (i.e slow and steady) and ran 215/75/15 Mud terrains intitially, with stock gearing, and the car was OK.

He then went to 7.00X16's, about 30" tall, and his gearing was very marginal. At this stage, he put a 1.0litre sierra transfer in the car. This dropped his high range about 12% to offset the taller tyres and in low range he gained 26%, which is like having a whole new gear lower than low 1st.

The next step was to 31 10.5 Simex centipedes, along with a welded rear diff. Once he did this, his gearing again became marginal, and he went to an old series 1 rockhopper - 4.16:1 low range. This had no effect on his high range as he already had a 1.0 transfer case, but the lower low range gearing made the car very drivable with the added grip and the locker.

The car certainly wasn't overgeared and was still very usable in general off road work. (ajd on road, he drove heaps of highway running wrangler MTR's in 31X10.5)

There are aftermarket gear options for the chain drive transfer case you have, but IMHO the best solution would be to fit a 1.0litre "shift light" transfer case, about $400 give or take from a wrecker. There are some shenanigans with drive flanges and a 1.3 WT front driveshaft, but it is not a hard swap.

Try the gearing with 31's and just the 1.0 transfer, you might be OK, but the shift light transfer allows the fitment of any crawler gearset. There are threads on both transfer swapping and low range gearsets- there are a heaps of options.

IMHO even 30's are not really viable with stock coiler gearing, especially if you fit a locker or drive steep terrian.

Yes, you can weld the rear diff, it works well, however, if you have the $$$, an airlocker is the best option.

There are relatively few options for the front. I think a lock right can be fitted but have not done it. An Airlocker can be modified to work in the front (apparently)

Steve.
[quote="greg"] some say he is a man without happy dreams, or that he sees silver linings on clouds and wonders why they are not platinum... all we know, is he's called the stevie.[/quote]
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Post by wellsey »

I am on the sunny coast, QLD.

I dont want to take the zook that far yet, mostly held back by budget and inexperience. I think I will get some 31's and see how I go, and do the necessary mods as I can afford them and as they are appropriate.

So the gearing mods wont affect the zooks gearing in 2wd, only when in 4wd? It will still behave the same on road?

Does welding the diffs ruin the cars on road manners at all?
What are lockers going to cost?

Cheers all, and thanks for your patience, I am pretty new at this!
Last edited by wellsey on Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Gwagensteve »

Yes, even changing the transfer case to a gear driven case will lower your gearing in 2WD.

Have a serarchm there was a very good list of ratios for afermarket gears posted by cj (and should go into the bible)

Can't recall if he listed stock coil ratios.

You can use a calculator such as the one on the novak conversions website to work out revs/speed

IMHO it will behave much better on the road once geared to suit the bigger tyres- 31's are way too tall for stock gearing, you muct be murdering the clutch and your speedo will be reading about 85kph when you are actually doing 100!

Welded diffs cause some unusual handling traits. you do get used to it, but the car will want to "push" heading into a corner and drift going out.

Auto lockers run from about $500-$1000 depending on what you buy. Airlockers are about $1500 for one.

Steve.
[quote="greg"] some say he is a man without happy dreams, or that he sees silver linings on clouds and wonders why they are not platinum... all we know, is he's called the stevie.[/quote]
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Post by wellsey »

Ok I am looking more into the 1 litre transfer.

Heres a different angle. What about if (when) I do a 1.6 efi vitara swap?

Will the extra grunt make up for the poor gearing?

This is something that is high up on the to do list, probably before I spend money on lockers and gearsets. Last weekends camping trip has highlighted the need for more power if we are going to be getting away on a regular basis, and that was only with enough gear for a couple for 2 nights.

ARRGGHH so many mods and so little money!

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I know how frustrating it is to have newbies asking seemingly obvious questions.
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Post by want33s »

wellsey wrote:I am on the sunny coast, QLD.

I dont want to take the zook that far yet, mostly held back by budget and inexperience. I think I will get some 31's and see how I go, and do the necessary mods as I can afford them and as they are appropriate.

So the gearing mods wont affect the zooks gearing in 2wd, only when in 4wd? It will still behave the same on road?

Does welding the diffs ruin the cars on road manners at all?
What are lockers going to cost?

Cheers all, and thanks for your patience, I am pretty new at this!
I'm at Pacific Paradise, want to go for a drive?. Mine has 31's with stock WT gearing (unlocked). It's not ideal but I've gotten used to it. I keep up with Cruisers and Patrols with 35's. I want to fit 33's soon so I'll need 6.5:1 transfer gears.
Transfer gears will affect both high and low range. Depends which kit you buy as to how much.
Welding a diff is not a good idea IMHO. Buy a spool if you must lock it or better yet a Lockright or ARB air.
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Post by Gwagensteve »

wellsey wrote:Ok I am looking more into the 1 litre transfer.

Heres a different angle. What about if (when) I do a 1.6 efi vitara swap?

Will the extra grunt make up for the poor gearing?
In a word, no. No amount of power will make up for a car that is geared to tall. On road, it might cover the problem (but not actually fix it - you will still have to be heavy on the cluth off the line etc), off road it won't help- you'll just be going too fast to have good control.

If you are running 31's with stock gearing, it will feel WAY underpowered. Get your gearing right first and then you will know how much power you need.
[quote="greg"] some say he is a man without happy dreams, or that he sees silver linings on clouds and wonders why they are not platinum... all we know, is he's called the stevie.[/quote]
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Post by Guy »

wellsey wrote:Ok I am looking more into the 1 litre transfer.

Heres a different angle. What about if (when) I do a 1.6 efi vitara swap?

Will the extra grunt make up for the poor gearing?

This is something that is high up on the to do list, probably before I spend money on lockers and gearsets. Last weekends camping trip has highlighted the need for more power if we are going to be getting away on a regular basis, and that was only with enough gear for a couple for 2 nights.

ARRGGHH so many mods and so little money!

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I know how frustrating it is to have newbies asking seemingly obvious questions.
The motor swap is a good idea, but the extra torque will not really make up for the extra tyre (it will help a bit though).
The low gears etc are great in the bush, but most of our trucks dont spend all their time in the bush, and being able to overtake is really nice.. for my money it is one of the best single upgrades you can do to the general driveability of a sierra.
For bush driving I would not mind a set of 4.16's or perhaps even just lowering the diffs to 4.3's (I am not planning on running anything more than the 29's)
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Post by Guy »

Gwagensteve wrote:
wellsey wrote:Ok I am looking more into the 1 litre transfer.

Heres a different angle. What about if (when) I do a 1.6 efi vitara swap?

Will the extra grunt make up for the poor gearing?
If you are running 31's with stock gearing, it will feel WAY underpowered. Get your gearing right first and then you will know how much power you need.
Steve I disagree with this part, haveing driven for quite a while with 32's and no gears (after my early series one grenaded) I was quite pleasntly supprised how well it actually went on the hiway (offroad is was prett ordinary) and didnt feel terribly underpowered at all .. it still had better acceleration and crusinng capabilities that the 1.3's I have driven with stock or slightly upsized 215 profile rubber . (that was with a 1.6 and extractors)
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Post by vicelore »

love_mud wrote:
Gwagensteve wrote:
wellsey wrote:Ok I am looking more into the 1 litre transfer.

Heres a different angle. What about if (when) I do a 1.6 efi vitara swap?

Will the extra grunt make up for the poor gearing?
If you are running 31's with stock gearing, it will feel WAY underpowered. Get your gearing right first and then you will know how much power you need.
Steve I disagree with this part, haveing driven for quite a while with 32's and no gears (after my early series one grenaded) I was quite pleasntly supprised how well it actually went on the hiway (offroad is was prett ordinary) and didnt feel terribly underpowered at all .. it still had better acceleration and crusinng capabilities that the 1.3's I have driven with stock or slightly upsized 215 profile rubber . (that was with a 1.6 and extractors)
Mines on 32s right now with stock gearing and its horrible. top speed of 90ish up hill its lucky to hit 80. 5th gear is totaly unusable.. offroad all i do is burn out the clutch. 1.6 might be different.
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Post by Gwagensteve »

Yes, a 1.6 makes more torque and as such will cover taller gearing. they do "hang on" longer when dying going up hills etc and will hold 5th better, but they are still really happiest in the same working range as the 1.3

I will always say get the gearing right before you build power- especially as it is pretty easy to gear a sierra and this reaps big gains offroad too.

Steve.
[quote="greg"] some say he is a man without happy dreams, or that he sees silver linings on clouds and wonders why they are not platinum... all we know, is he's called the stevie.[/quote]
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Post by Guy »

vicelore wrote:
love_mud wrote:
Gwagensteve wrote:
wellsey wrote:Ok I am looking more into the 1 litre transfer.

Heres a different angle. What about if (when) I do a 1.6 efi vitara swap?

Will the extra grunt make up for the poor gearing?
If you are running 31's with stock gearing, it will feel WAY underpowered. Get your gearing right first and then you will know how much power you need.
Steve I disagree with this part, haveing driven for quite a while with 32's and no gears (after my early series one grenaded) I was quite pleasntly supprised how well it actually went on the hiway (offroad is was prett ordinary) and didnt feel terribly underpowered at all .. it still had better acceleration and crusinng capabilities that the 1.3's I have driven with stock or slightly upsized 215 profile rubber . (that was with a 1.6 and extractors)
Mines on 32s right now with stock gearing and its horrible. top speed of 90ish up hill its lucky to hit 80. 5th gear is totaly unusable.. offroad all i do is burn out the clutch. 1.6 might be different.
It's a good thing that 5th is useless as you would be rebuilding your gearbox a few times a year .. it is a really really weak gear .. I tended not to use it except on the flat road (on purpose) I could quite comfortably do the speed limit on the hume from essendon to wangaratta
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Post by havoc_customs »

ive had a 1.6 in a sierra with stock 1.3 gears. never had a problem on or offroad, now ive got the 1ltr with the 1ltr transfer and im still running the same 31's with absolutley no problems. in my opinion (and it is only an opinion) the centipedes wellsey was looking at were the MT, not the extreme trekker style in a 31 inch. and the kind of wheelin he will be doin, coily low range will put him anywhere he wants to go.
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Post by dano80 »

Me mate Zookstock runs 29 x 7.5 baby 'pedes. These things are a great tire to "build your skill." Have been out wheelin' quite often with him, great in mud and rock. No need to change gears or nuthin'........just sharpen your skills. I think he picked his off Ebay for $400. Cheap fun.
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Post by spamwell »

Gwagensteve wrote:
There are aftermarket gear options for the chain drive transfer case you have.


Steve.
hey steve i am very interested in what these aftermarket options are, i have not come across anything yet, i will only ever be running 30 inch tyres and don't care to much for steep hills but i would still like to get some info on this.

Sam
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