Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I have been told to come here and post this as you guys would be able to help me out.

I have a 92 surf and over the past few months have developed a love of 4wding. I had a 2 inch body lift last weekend, getting a 2 inch spring lift tomorrow.

I want new tyres and was gonna go 33s, but nearly everyone I have talked to said not to and to stick with 31s.
Their reasons were that cos its an auto it will stuff up the auto transmission or somethin and cause a lot of other problems I cant remember. They said if it was a 3 l manual it would be ok, but cos its 2.4 auto dont do it.

So now I am thinking of going 32s but again most people are telling me not to go to a bigger size.

I wanna also know about diff ratio......mine is 4.875, does it matter what diff ratio you have as to what tyre size you have? Noone seems to be able to answer this question for me in great detail.

Ok thats that bit...now I am sure you have had this debate before.....I wanna know what tyres to get. After ringing 20 tyre places I basically got 50% telling me to go BFG ATS and the other 50% telling me Coopers ST

I didnt realise getting tyres could be such a nightmare! I am very confused about all of this and need some help!

I have talked to a lot of people with surfs about this however the people I have talked to that have bigger tyre size either have 2.4 manual or 3l.

Thanks in advance

Michelle

You have come to the right place to get the info you need.

Your surf will be a lil slower off the mark and brake performance will be affected slightly. So long as you don't mind the slight differences you shouldn't have any troubles in my opinion.

My 2.8td hilux has 33's and those are my comments on it however the surf is a different setup being auto and a smaller engine plus IFS.

Saint
I run 33s as my street tyres with 2.4 auto no problems and all i found was a little slower off the mark and a touch of crawl in low range but she goes evrywhere the others went!
I now have 35s and opted for 5.7 gears kus was a bit tooo slow on take off and offroad now the 5.7 have got me back to just over stock.
My tranny has had no probs yet with over 30,000ks of 33s and 35s combined

Also look for Goodyear MTR's as a tyre choice, they are very popular

thanks for your replies.

Bulldoggy, why arent you on the surf site?
I need to know about diff ratios too. What diff ratio do you have?
What state are you in? If youre in Vic why havent u been on any trips with us? haha

High n Mighty

I have no idea how to change a tyre so there is no way I could get muddies. Thought about it for a while, but I dont even have a jack haha
I thought the bfgs and coopers were the two to choose from (that I dont have to change)

Go the coopers in the st variant in a 32 or 33 inch

can u give me a reason why to go coopers over bfgs?
I have heard that coopers are known to fall apart/lose lugs...i think that is the right word.

Dont know where you heard that from as i used to have them on the kroozer and only went up to them from them to the baja claws cause i wanted a more aggressive tire the old mas has them and has done over 50 thou on them and they are only starting to show the signs of abuse...

Plus i have heard that they have a 60 or 80 thou gurantee correct me if i am wrong

i heard that even on stock with 32`s go gr8 off road. but u have a 2 b-lift and a 2-susp so it must b alot better. keep me posted i have recently seen wo those ifs hiluxs are capable of yours is a hiulx isnt it

When i had my hilux i had a ifs model and only a 2 inch body lift had the torsion bars wound up a little and could accomadate 33 no worries at all they tucked up nicely ( down side of the ifs)

Don't listen to all those that say don't go bigger, if your getting into 4wheeling then you'll want the bigger more aggresive tyre. I ran 33x12.5 when I had ifs with just a 2" body lift and had the bumpstops cut down. Don't crank the torsion arms otherwise the ride and the ability to flex will suffer. The only thing will be the requirement to flatten the body seam at the back of the wheel well , and the tyre will still rub alittle when its stuffed up on full lock.
There are also alot more tyres out there besides bfg and cooper, check out Kellys awr for a reasonable offroad tyre that has good onroad manners.

John

Thanks for your replies again

James sorry I had you confused for someone else.
A few people told me about the lug thing including the guy from 4wd tv, apparantly they tested about 5 sets and said they werent any good. One tyre place had 2 sets that had been returned under warranty for the same thing.
On saying that I do have a friend who has them and swares by them and I have had them on my surf for a trip and they were a nice drive. Its just this lug thing scares me a bit, will have a look at the kellys too now.
I have also had someone offer me their tyres to try out(33s cooper sts) to use at Cobaw on the 12th Dec. I wanted to get them this week, but think I will do that and see what I think.

Dumb blonde question time........what are ifs?

As for the torsion bar I was told to have that cranked up? Am I better off getting new front suspension?

Michelle

I've just been deciding on tyres during this last week and I'm not going to try and influence your decision based on what I decided was best for me.

Search this forum for several brands at a time: BFG, Goodyear MTR, Cooper, Procomp etc etc etc

By searching on several at a time, you'll find threads with people comparing them. For every tyre there'll be someone who loves them, someone who hates them so the info can be a little confusing but write down points for & against for each tyre on a piece of paper and you should find one that starts looking like the best option for YOU and the terrain YOU drive.

Then, ring a few bigger retailers and get their opinion on your choice, price match and go play!!!!!

Also, don't be scared to go for a more aggressive tread. I was thinking, I'm on the HWY 95% of the time, I'll just get an A/T. A friend of mine convinced me that you can HWY cruise in any car and the reason I bought the truck was to go wheeling so I might as well set it up for that. (Within reason of course) Food for thought.

Happy searching!!!

saint_she_aint wrote:Thanks for your replies again

James sorry I had you confused for someone else.
A few people told me about the lug thing including the guy from 4wd tv, apparantly they tested about 5 sets and said they werent any good. One tyre place had 2 sets that had been returned under warranty for the same thing.
On saying that I do have a friend who has them and swares by them and I have had them on my surf for a trip and they were a nice drive. Its just this lug thing scares me a bit, will have a look at the kellys too now.
I have also had someone offer me their tyres to try out(33s cooper sts) to use at Cobaw on the 12th Dec. I wanted to get them this week, but think I will do that and see what I think.

Dumb blonde question time........what are ifs?

As for the torsion bar I was told to have that cranked up? Am I better off getting new front suspension?

Michelle

IFS Stands for Inderpendant Front Suspension where as you have wishbones and no axle that goes from one side of the car to the other, the other type is RFS Rigid Front Suspension you have a beam axle that gose from one side of the car to the other, hope this helps

Yeah thanks for that.....had the spring lift done today and asked the mechanic what it was and he said i had IFS

Decided I cant wait til the 12th to get new tyres now so opted on BFG ATs 32s, figured I can always go 33s next year.
So I went to the tyre place cos I wanted them on today and they didnt have any!!! I was mad cos if I want something I want it now! anyway its now booked in for Wednesday.

Nice one you should have some good fun with them for sure (Get you places that you wished your car couldnt sometimes ever get that sinking feeling lol)

saint_she_aint wrote:its now booked in for Wednesday.

Thats a good thing, we all have 5 more days to help you realise you need to go bigger!!!

i wouldnt go any larger than 33" tho

I figured I would get use to 32s first......where I live everywhere I go there are hills, big hills.....and the way I am taking this is that 33s will slow it down, it is a nightmare doing hills now as it is (onroad)......so figured if I get 32s I can get use to being a bit slower, and then go 33s
But if you give me some GREAT reasons (besides getting further offroad, cos part of the fun is gettin stuck right?) I will consider it ......like u said u have 5 days to change my mind haha

They reckon I will get 80,000 kms out of the BFGs

I'm facing the same decision with my bundera (2.4 Turbo diesel).

far too hard a decision.
Its either 33x10.5 bfg's or a 32" tyre. Not sure how the extra diameter will effect stresses on things.

I know EXACTLY how ur feeling!!!!!!! hahahaha

also want to try to avoid the full wheel arch/no articulation look..

its all fully stock so the 33's will probably give me that

You should do a body and suspension lift then it will look REALLY good!

the only quote i bothered getting for that was about $1200 for a 2" suspension lift.

seemed too much to me so i canned the idea

Where are u?

I just had a spring lift done today and it looks FANTASTIC!!!!!!!

springs were $120 each, only got the back done and had the torsion bar wound up.

Getting new suspension next.....quoted $600 for front and back fitted (old man emu)

Hey Saint, you should call me before you go and book in shocks and springs girl!!!! You know that!
Anyway, I would have gone and looked at the NanKang tyre range before you buy the BFG's.
I can also get a good price on the EFS range of shocks and Carrols Springs.

Depending on where you get your tyres you may even be able to test a pair first. The place I'm going used to rent out tyres for the weekend. They say they don't do it so much any more but they have a set of 33's I can take for a drive to see how it goes with gearing etc, the I can decide if I want those, or go up to 35's.

Keep in mind that 31 to 33 is a 6% increase, 31 to 35 12%. If you're bored while you're driving, have a look at the tacho and work out where it will sit with the new tyres.

Also, I wass looking at gear ratios cos 1st is really low (obviously) but then 2nd was a little too high to be starting in all the time. With the new tyres, 1st will not even be 1/2 way between where 1st and 2nd are now so I figure that'll drive well on the road and I'll just deal with not having super low low range. (this is based on going from 31s to 35s on 5 speed manual. Effect will be less with 33's but maybe if its a 4 speed auto it'll change it)

The tyre size of a particular brand often isn't what they claim, with some 33's only being 31 inch in diameter, and less when they wear down. I've had 31 and 32 BFG AT's, and 33 and 35 Goodyear MTR's. The latter is a better tyre at everything, even on road, IMHO (especially in wet).

So as said above, don't be afraid of the more agressive tyre's, and if you are considering 32's you may as well go for the 33's.

I don't know Slosh,

I have your outcast 32" BFG A/Ts and they work a treat ( and look good on the surf as well) although I had to do a 2" suspension and body lift to fit them in without any scrubbing. The next set will definately be 33" as the 32" s look a little small now

Hey Gopies!

I told you I was getting the spring lift done when I talked to you on the phone last week, so dont go there!
I will let you know when I get the suspension done, been quoted $600 for OME, so if you can get better let me know (thats all round and fitted)

Slosh as I said up there somewhere, I cant even change a tyre, so muddies are out of the question. I had thought about it and was gonna buy Gopies muddies off him (BFG MTRs 33s) but figured I would spend 6 hrs trying to change them the night before a trip and end up having to call the racv as I will have all the tyres off and no idea how to put em back on

I live kinda in the middle of nowhere and noone I go out with lives near me to be able to help do it, so realistically I cant even consider muddies right now.

V8middy I was offered to test run a set of 33s on the 12th, but decided I cant wait that long cos I WANT NEW TYRES NOW!

Michelle