Outer Limits 4x4 Board

What is the go with bias ply tyres "flat spotting" ?

How long does it take ?

How long do they stay like that after you start driving on them ?

Does it permanently damage them ?

How do you guys that run them avoid this (or isn't it a drama) ?

thanks

Dan

I've got a set of swampers running on beadlocks and had some pretty serious flat spots after 2 of them sat at 0psi for 5 days. As you would expect, the tyres were heavily bagged out but i was still able to drive (sensibly) the few hundred metres required to get me to the local servo to get some air into them.

There does not appear to be any ill affects to the tyres, and they are now holding air quite happily (after cleaning mud out of the beads)...

Once they had air in them, i no longer had any issues with flat spots.

Normally it only takes 3 or 4 minutes to get rid of any flat spots when driving the car - less time then it takes for your engine to get up to temperature...

I don't think it's an issue worth worrying about for these tyres - they are built to take some abuse

Cheers

Would you say the same applies for the JT2s ? ? ?

the rig in question is a fair bit heavier than a suzuki, they will flat spot overnight!

when I ran my claws, which don't do it as badly as the swampers, they would take about 500m to sort themselves out, a bit longer if it was really cold. Michelin 39"radials were about the same, work that one out

Too easy - i guess the suzuki is lighter and takes longer to cause flat spots, but it also takes longer to warm the tyres up and get rid of the flat spots too

do you blokes use the bias ply as daily driver if so how do you find them?

308LUX wrote:do you blokes use the bias ply as daily driver if so how do you find them?

My car only comes out on weekends, but considering that the swampers are not balanced and are on modified rims - i think they handle quite nicely... I must admit that i don't hoon around in the car though, so i'm not realy pushing them to their limits on the tarmac.

Thanks Guys

Yeah, as Carlton said, they will be on a cruiser (so a little heavier than a zook )

So if they will flat spot overnight and I only drive my rig on weekends what can I do ? Or more to the point what do you guys do ? Axle stands, change tyres to radials ???

Dan

Don't worry about it and drive the car sensibly when you start it up on Saturday morning until the flat spots go away - simple

yep, what he said.
and ROFL at yer sig!

AnthonyP wrote:Would you say the same applies for the JT2s ? ? ?

Yeah, they take a few minutes to warm up, they will flat spot quickly when hot though, but goes away pretty quick.

I couldn't see the need for axle stands though, just take it slow until you're driving on O's instead of D's

Cool. Nice and easy for the first 15 seconds then

I think I was over-estimating how "flat" these flat spots get

Thanks for the advice

Dan