Outer Limits 4x4 Board

questions about swampers.

Whats the wear rate on them on the road??

I have some 36's and was wondering .. how fast do they wear out on the road?? and whether its worth drivin to and from a 4x4 park wth them on.. or should i stack them in the boot and drive with some daily drivers until get there then changeover??

TOM

I voted yes, but I also thought that swampers were illegal on the road, but given a choice I would drive with them on to get to a 4wd spot, be at a park or someplace else. If i was going to be on the road for a bit, I'd probably just stay with my muddies until such time I was going to be 4wding for a extended length of time.

Swampers were fast on the road,specialy at 12psi

Swampers are the only set of tyres i have, and the car is only used for weekend driving so i answered yes.

Mine show very little wear after about 16 months, but my car is only 1200kgs which probably has something to do with that. And it's only clocking up 400kms every month i guess.

Note: I've been pulled over before and threatened with a $165 fine for running a non-speed-rated tyre on the road. That could be worth considering for you.

Cheers

4sum4 wrote:Swampers were fast on the road,specialy at 12psi

I remember that

GQ wrote:questions about swampers.

Whats the wear rate on them on the road??

I have some 36's and was wondering .. how fast do they wear out on the road?? and whether its worth drivin to and from a 4x4 park wth them on.. or should i stack them in the boot and drive with some daily drivers until get there then changeover??

TOM

the wear is fast enough that after a big weekend of 4wding, and about 1500km, you can visually notice the tread wear

No Option for me .....

Mine live in the shed then get fitted for the run and then removed when i return.

Long live 38.5 TSL's

when my car is working I run the swampers on the road. had them for about 4 years now and they are starting to wear abit but like greg it is on a Sierra so they wouldn't wear as fast as say on a Cruiser/Patrol.

They are illegal on the roads so theoretically they should be trailler there and then swapped on

grimbo wrote:They are illegal on the roads so theoretically they should be trailler there and then swapped on

Of course.. but i like the bling bling look of em

Soon as i find a TD42 head.. ill be back on the road

Forget the bling bling look - it's the hum I love heck I like having 'em on road just to see people get outta yer way just hearing you coming.....

As to the actual answer - Short drive - no worries, but if I'm going somewhere that's more than say 100km - I'll chuck 'em in the trailer.....

interesting...... here in the us its legal.. they seem to last pretty good.. some brands that is... some of last as much as 50,000 miles.. depends on the rig, weight, and how u drive....

Yes officer 42's are ok on the road arnt they Also the roll of lead on the side of the rim to ballance them looks cool.

I drive my 39.5 TSL on the road to & from track. Have been on for 2yrs now, i reckon more wear from offroad (edges rownded of big time) rather than tred depth lowering from tar use. They seem to handle the road k's ok and this is on a cruiser, tho not driven every day only on weekends.

i drove my 38.5 x 14.5's on the road, were no louder than my all terrains. the less tread you have, the quieter they are. after about 2000km of road k's, i still have the casting line down the middle of the tyre. they are tsl sx.

CRUSHU wrote:i drove my 38.5 x 14.5's on the road, were no louder than my all terrains. the less tread you have, the quieter they are. after about 2000km of road k's, i still have the casting line down the middle of the tyre. they are tsl sx.

your either deaf, or have some LOUD All Terrains!!!!

I drive mine to and from the track.

I have only once transported the tyres and done the swap over for the trail and then swapped back to roadies for the trip home - Once was enough

Basically, too lazy to keep swapping them

BTW - I didnt notice much difference with tyre noise going from 35 BFGs to 38 TSLs

But the 30 year old rig, soft top and V8 may have something to do with that

srowlandson wrote:

CRUSHU wrote:i drove my 38.5 x 14.5's on the road, were no louder than my all terrains. the less tread you have, the quieter they are. after about 2000km of road k's, i still have the casting line down the middle of the tyre. they are tsl sx.

your either deaf, or have some LOUD All Terrains!!!!

He's not deaf ... I AM

So NOISE definitely isnt a problem

srowlandson wrote:your either deaf, or have some LOUD All Terrains!!!!

i shit you not. the all terrains are new kelley awr's. they are pretty quiet. the truck weighs 2 1/2 tons. tyres on 15 x 10's. the exhaust is pretty loud, only a bit over legal. but still not as loud as most muddies i hear on the road. dunno why.

Quick question are Swampers directional im getting 38 x 12.5 x 15 TSLs never thought to ask

yep , the direction you point them you will go

q78's on and offroad.
sold them and the truck to the then rich nauruans.
40,000 klms and still had 10-15 mm in the middle.
the outside lugs were worn and rounded but still very7 deep.
35psi on road 15psi offroad.
i wore out 34"swampers years ago and had them grooved at stuckey tyre service.
10 mm can be cut from the 34" swampers before you hit cloth.
man did they flex then

duncan wrote:Quick question are Swampers directional im getting 38 x 12.5 x 15 TSLs never thought to ask

nah they are not directional.
my 38's have worn a fair bit for about 4000kms [comps, road and 4wd parks ] just about to do a cape york trip on them so will see how much they wear on dirt roads

big red wrote:

duncan wrote:Quick question are Swampers directional im getting 38 x 12.5 x 15 TSLs never thought to ask

nah they are not directional.
my 38's have worn a fair bit for about 4000kms [comps, road and 4wd parks ] just about to do a cape york trip on them so will see how much they wear on dirt roads

Not technically.

BUT...........................................

If you have a look at the tyre, there is an optimal way to mount them. The outside lugs (left and right of the same tyre) have differnet curves, that is, they 'cup' in opposite directions. To me, the outer lugs (when mounted on the vehicle) should be 'cupped' pointing forward.

We are probably talking about negligible differences in performance, but I reckon every bit counts.

I could never get them balanced enough to get over 80km/h...(33" TSL's) Being the lazy pos i am, i am not keen enough to change tyres at the park. claws balanced fine and can handle 120kmh no dramas.

Do the radial ones balance well? Someone with 1st hand experience?

Grantw wrote:I could never get them balanced enough to get over 80km/h...(33" TSL's) Being the lazy pos i am, i am not keen enough to change tyres at the park. claws balanced fine and can handle 120kmh no dramas.

Do the radial ones balance well? Someone with 1st hand experience?

I had my 38 TSLs balanced. And they worked very nicely until I spun them on the rims

You need to get them done by a place that deals with big treads. I took mine to ORI and it took ages to balance them. Basically, they spin the tyre/rim combo up on the machine and see where it is out. They then take the tyre off the rim and place internal weighted patches to the inside of the tyre. It goes back on the rim and spun on the machine again. This process is repeated until the tyre is balanced. External lead weights are used to fine tune.

As you can see it is a very time consuming process if done correctly. And not all that cheap compared to a standard car tyre balance But if you want to get the most out of your tyres onroad, you have to pay the price.

Others I have spoken to have had some success with the tyre powders (such as "equal").

Having said that, I dont bother doing mine anymore

Shorty40 wrote:

big red wrote:

duncan wrote:Quick question are Swampers directional im getting 38 x 12.5 x 15 TSLs never thought to ask

nah they are not directional.
my 38's have worn a fair bit for about 4000kms [comps, road and 4wd parks ] just about to do a cape york trip on them so will see how much they wear on dirt roads

Not technically.

BUT...........................................

If you have a look at the tyre, there is an optimal way to mount them. The outside lugs (left and right of the same tyre) have differnet curves, that is, they 'cup' in opposite directions. To me, the outer lugs (when mounted on the vehicle) should be 'cupped' pointing forward.

We are probably talking about negligible differences in performance, but I reckon every bit counts.

HUH? do you mean they should make swampers directional? because im not seeing how you can make both sides 'cup' the outside.

when mounted on your rig. the outsides of the tyres would be: right hand side is always gonna 'cup' forward. left 'cups' rearward.

MaccA

383FJ45 wrote:HUH? do you mean they should make swampers directional? because im not seeing how you can make both sides 'cup' the outside.

when mounted on your rig. the outsides of the tyres would be: right hand side is always gonna 'cup' forward. left 'cups' rearward.

MaccA

Mmmmm - I thought it would be difficult to explain

No - I dont think the TSLs should be directional - IMO their mounting can be optimised

If you look at the pic above........

Imagine you are looking at a vehicle from behind.

Imagine the tyre in the pic is mounted on the passenger rear of a vehicle

The lugs on the outer left cup forwards. (Which is good)

NOW

If you kept the tyre facing the exact same direction as in the pic and moved it to the drivers side rear of the same vehicle the outer lugs will have the cupping facing rearwards.

The only reason I mention this is, I have noticed on my swampers that the outer lugs do a LOT of the work. So make them work as hard as they can.

I hope that made a little more sense

but the outside becomes the inside when moving from the left to the right, no matter which way you mount the tyre. the tread will look the same on all 4 tyres. forward cups to the left of the tyre. rearward cups to the right of the tyre. looking from the front or back.

MaccA

or is this a hypothetical situation that makes the outside lugs cup forward?