Low profile Tyres

[merseybluenose]

Ok so recently purchased GLX-R, it came with 20" rims and low profiles (no this is not what made me choose the vehicle, was talking to a fella at a tyre mob about how these tyres will perform offroad and he reckons they will be fine and no need to drop the pressure. Heading to Moreton at the end of the year and using this car as a tow vehicle so want to make sure I get it right. Anyone with experience driving/towing with low profiles offroad would appreciate your thoughts and advice.......

[Moffy]

Depends what you mean by offroad.... the low profile will not be very puncture resistant at all once you are in any sort of rocks (even bad gravel road - bloke i know punctured 2 of his low profile tyres on the coast road to Cooktown - just a gravel road - stone bruise punctures not road hazards too by the way) - and you would most likely ding your rims up pretty bad to boot.

If you are just talking sand - then that may be a different kettle of fish - I have no experience with low profile tyres on sand to provide any feedback on that use.

[morphias]

Hi merseybluenose,

You don't need or want an aggressive tread pattern for soft sand - some of the locals on FI run old aircraft tyres. Sand is all about surface area so that you stay on top of the sand rather than dig or sink into it.

The whole purpose of dropping the pressure is to allow the side walls to balloon creating a larger footprint. With a low profile tyre, you will not get this. That said, If I am only day tripping to Rainbow Beach/DI, I don't bother dropping the pressures and just take a bit more care in the soft stuff. I laugh at guys in their jacked up monster trucks on beach crossings that are sunk down to their chassis rails because they are running big mudders or similar and drive past effortlessly in my stock vehicle on my road oriented tyres at 40psi.

The other big disadvantages of low profile tyres is that you rims will take a caning because they will be running in the sand, rocks, etc - effectively running them on a belt sander and you will also suffer chips and gouges. You will also experience a much harsher ride as there is little side wall which adds significant shock absorption. A greatly increased chance of side wall staking of the tyres from roots and rocks on the tracks will also be an issue as there is no 'give' in the side wall, nor is the side wall construction on a low profile tyre designed to resist lateral penetration.

Long story short - low profile tyres on a 4x4 are for posers and city only vehicles - they will give you much better handling and a quieter ride on the road, but that's about it. You could get a cheap set of steel rims for offroad if you go offroad on a semi-regular basis and just do a changeover before you leave.

Hope this helps...

Ben.

[CruiserV8100]

Ditch them straight up see if you can trade them in with your purchase, chuck on a set of good steel rims and some bf goodies A/Ts, steel rims easy to repair when you ding them and Bf goodies will give you a silent tyre on road and plenty of traction offroad. You got ask yourself, do you want it to look good offroad or go good offroad. Remember once your bogged with low profile tyres in sand you cant really air down and get the same affect as a proper 4wd tyre.

[Muddy Toes]

Go down to Surfers on a Saturday night and sell em to first white pointy shoe wearing cool kid that comes along.

[Andy H]

Low profiles are for mall crawlers. You'll likely lose any paint on the rims on the sand too.

[merseybluenose]

Cheers fellas great reponse, exactly what I was after. Hadn't considered the wear on the actual rim or the type of ride they will give in the lumpy stuff on Moreton. I think the best option might be a cheap set of stocko rims with a secondhand set of tyres that I put on just for going offroad, only do 2 or 3 trips a year so think this will work well. Cheers.

[Mike Delisser]

That might be a good move Mersey. My neighbor had a set of low profiles on his Hilux duel cab and was getting some grief from the cops. Something to do with it being a ute and the load bearing capabilities of the tyres. But they were very very low profile.

Cheers

[merseybluenose]

Yeah you have to make sure the load bearing capacity of the tyre is up to spec, it's one of the set of numbers on the outside of the tyre, pretty sure for my size rims I needed to have 104D or something like that but turns out these are rated to 111 so all good.

[Mike Delisser]

Yeah you have to make sure the load bearing capacity of the tyre is up to spec, it's one of the set of numbers on the outside of the tyre, pretty sure for my size rims I needed to have 104D or something like that but turns out these are rated to 111 so all good.

I could be wrong but I thought he said the issue cops and transport inspectors had was the load rating of his tyres was considerably less than the load rating of his ute.
Cheers

[WalrusLike]

Yeah wreckers will supply a Cheapo set of steel with ok tyres.

Swap em on before going (don't forget a spare)

When I did beach driving I liked to have it at say 22-24 so I had plenty more to go down if I ever looked like getting stuck. (Important you stop immediately and try and reverse out first..., wheel spin is your enemy). Also that makes em less likely to roll off rim in a sweeping turn while at speed. (Don't get me wrong... don't speed on beach its a recipe for disaster... patience is your friend)

So soon as a problem, reverse out. If that isn't going to work don't spin your wheels, drop the pressure and try again. That will get you out of most things unless terrain forbids.


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