Any_weather, I am pretty happy with my Cooper ST tyres. They perform well offroad and geberally good onroad. I have found them to be a bit slippery in the wet, locking up dangerously on one occasion. I have been driving 4WD's all my life and wouldn't consider the lockup a driver error. I am probably going to try the STT's after these ones.
I have been told that the warranty is very good, however I won't get the 60000km out of them. I am in construction/earthworks and also love my offroad driving. So my car is probably driven offroad about 60 - 70% of the time, and can be on some very sharp and rocky ground.
If you only drive on sand once a year I would go for a good HT tyre with a good wet weather tread pattern. If you let the tyres down on sand you shouldn't have a problem. I let my tyres down to 19psi and wouldn'r recommend any lower unless you have bead locks (external are illegal but staun make some brilliant internal bead locks). If you have the back loaded pretty heavily it pays to have a bit more pressure in, say 24psi.
May 2006 Order New Hilux - June 2006 Order ARB & Other Goodies - August 2006 Organise fitting of ARB & Other Goodies - 2nd September 2006 Delivery of New Hilux with Goodies - 2nd September 2006 Break Goodies - 3rd September 2006 Use Angle Grinder to Modify New Goodies - 4th July 2007 BEND ARB rear protection bar (Big Rocks) - 31st July 2007 Notice cracked welds in the ute tub. TWIST!! - September 2007 Bend Alloy Side Steps - Feb 2008 Install steel side steps - March 2008 Bend Steel steps & Punture Diff Lock Air Line
Brett - To the best of my knowledge internal beadlocks are also technically illegal, as they require a second hole to be drilled into the rim for the second valve stem.Originally Posted by Brett1907
However, I may be wrong. I will confirm my thoughts with Staun's owners later in the week, as we (the team I navigate for) have been sponsored by them for 2 years now. And yes they are brilliant and a great safety investment/insurance for any 4wd.
I would personally prefer the bar tread like me old Suzuki, 2 banger.
Never let the air out and it went up some bloody big dry sand hills.
And they worked heaps better new than they did half worn.
On the other side me Pajero with it's desert duelers are pretty useless, as there smooth.
So I would draw the comparison like riding a dirt bike with knobby tyres on sand you will actually get some where. Compared to a trail bike with smooth tyres.
Hi Fat Chilli, thanks for the heads up. A Staun rep was at the December 4WD club meeting to show off their new beadlocks. Apparently they are better then the previous ones (not that they weren't great). I think he said they are OK on the road, but I didn't get to talk to him in depth. I did get out of him that they are ok to use on alloy wheels, which was a pleasant surprise. If they are legal on road I will be more inclined to get a set.
Brett
May 2006 Order New Hilux - June 2006 Order ARB & Other Goodies - August 2006 Organise fitting of ARB & Other Goodies - 2nd September 2006 Delivery of New Hilux with Goodies - 2nd September 2006 Break Goodies - 3rd September 2006 Use Angle Grinder to Modify New Goodies - 4th July 2007 BEND ARB rear protection bar (Big Rocks) - 31st July 2007 Notice cracked welds in the ute tub. TWIST!! - September 2007 Bend Alloy Side Steps - Feb 2008 Install steel side steps - March 2008 Bend Steel steps & Punture Diff Lock Air Line
i ran 34 inch simex bias ply jungle trekker 2 's on my 110 defender for two years and did countles fishing trips on double island/ rainbow and fraser beaches. for those that dont know what they look like imagine strapping a tractor tyre on your truck.
yes agressive tyres do tend to dig in a bit more then smoother tread patterns however i ran these tyres at about 15 psi and they were unstopable on the beach. in the two years i had them on the truck 70 % of the time they were deflated to around 15psi and were on the beach or dirt roads. i never had one problem concerning peeling a tyre of a rim or them heating up however i didn't drive like a hoon.
no matter what tyre you have it is all to do with the size of the contact area.
tyres with stiff ( straight ) side wallS benifit greatly from droped pressures even if they dont look like it. the grow in the length of the tread which is far more important then the width. i drove with the standard skinny landie wheels on the defender for a few years and with pressure dropped and the length of the tread larger i never met sand soft enough to stop her.
what i have found from my time on the beaches over the years that most highway tyres have thin or limited side walls and damage very very easyil when even slightly lowered. they also are efected by the build up of heat and these tyres normally have far smaller beads lending them to peel off the rim much easier.
on my newest landie which is a 100% beach vechicle i run 265x 85 michelin xyz. these are an awesome beach tyre. i normally run them at approx 25 psi and they just glide over the sand like a big limo. they have strong side walls and deep tread similar to a allterain tyre. they are exspensive thou at about $360 per tyre but well well worth it.
summary.... all tyres can be good on the beach some better then others. the big thing is getting the right pressures for your tyre to make the tread length grow to it max.
Just got the latest 4WD MONTHLY on the weekend and started watching the Fraser Island DVD that came with it. I will relate the info from the man responsible for bringing Cooper tyres into the country. I'm sure everyone here will agree that he would have to be considered an expert in the tyre field. Here is what he said, and this is assumiong the tyres are good quality and not a cheapie taiwanese set.
Highway terrain are definately the best for soft sand. The smooth and rounded tread pattern allows the tyre to 'float' over the soft sand, preventing them from digging into the sand and getting the vehicle bogged. As you progress through to more aggressive tread they are less suited to soft sand driving. However, if you understand this and use the pressures properly you are able to avoid problems due to the aggressive tread patterns.
Also
The whole point of letting down the tyres isn't to get them to 'bag out', that is just a side effect. The reason is to increase the length of the contact area of the tread. By doing this it makes it more dificult for the tyre to start digging in.
Please don't crucify me for the post, these are the opinions of someone else. I can see the merit in them, although I won't be changing to HT tyres. I love the mud and dirt and rocks too much for that.
Brett
May 2006 Order New Hilux - June 2006 Order ARB & Other Goodies - August 2006 Organise fitting of ARB & Other Goodies - 2nd September 2006 Delivery of New Hilux with Goodies - 2nd September 2006 Break Goodies - 3rd September 2006 Use Angle Grinder to Modify New Goodies - 4th July 2007 BEND ARB rear protection bar (Big Rocks) - 31st July 2007 Notice cracked welds in the ute tub. TWIST!! - September 2007 Bend Alloy Side Steps - Feb 2008 Install steel side steps - March 2008 Bend Steel steps & Punture Diff Lock Air Line
i had run both sets of my tyres on a beach and the smooth set wins hands down,
the creepys just dug in way too much
if you want good traction on soft sand, go a set of Paddles
On the beach ive all ways run bfg all terains at 12 pound on a hilux and never had any trouble.
I have ran an aggressive tread on my VW BAJA and also a road going tyre.
On the beach the the road going tyre was better due to the rounded edges (when you let your tyre pressures down you edges play a large role in how your tyre will perform.)
By the way when in the soft stuff i run my tyres at 5psi(whole car only weighs 800kg full of fuel one tyre can carry that weight)
10psi the side walls only just start to belly. i run them at a huge 20-22psi all day every day.
neil
Lee
Mate it really depends what your doing with your vehicle on the beach. If you are just driving on the beach without towing anything heavy i would go for less agresive tread pattern, this works fine.
But if your going to tow a heavy trailer or boat you will find that crossing soft sand the less aggresive treads wont have the bite and your wheels will start to spin in the lose dry sand. In this case i use a agressive tread cooper STT's combined with a lift kit and diff lockers.
When crossing the soft stuff the trailer will bog down and your aggressive tread will cut through the loose stuff to the hard sand underneath and give you traction and pulling power but you need a lifted vehicle so you dont rest on you pan and lockers so you just dont spin one wheel. This works very well but you need the cutting power of an aggresive tread , road treads dont work as they just spin it the soft stuff as the boat trailer starts to drag in the sand. With a well set up vehicle it's amazing how large a boat or trailer you can get across the Indian head blow with little effort.
Ian
Ps It really helps to ATTACK the crossing and have a heavy right foot.
Ian, mate thanks for that, I do understand what you are saying. The only thing other than the aggressive tread that I am missing is the lift kit. I have a front locker and a heavy right foot in the right situation. I am taking a support vehicle for the real heavy going so now I am praying for rain for a week just before we go.Lee
The wait is finally over.........was worth every minute..........let the RIPTIDE rip..........hell yehhhh
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