Hi all,

After much research not only on this forum but all over the net and discussions with actual real people. I still have not come to a comfortable conclusion as to which tire size would be best for out planned trip. It's starting to become frustrating!!!

We are travelling overland in a 75 series land cruiser troopy from India to London then on to Cape Town.

So I have pretty much narrowed down the brand to a BFG MT KM2.

I'm really getting stuck on what size tire to choose. Mainly because I don't want to get caught out with lack of availability due to an odd tire size. We will be carrying two spares and a puncture repair kit, but even with this I've been caught out before.

I was thinking of going with the standard Land Cruiser 100 & 80 series tire size of 275 70 16. These cars seem to be fairly common in most parts of the world so I figure the standard tire size shouldn't be too hard to find. Problem is the more searching I do the less options there are for this size. You can't even get a BFG MT tire in this size.

I was then leaning towards a 265 75 16 which seems to have many more options between the different brands I was considering. I know this is a common size here in oz because the patrols use them standard. However the patrol is nowhere near as popular abroad as it is here in oz, leading me to believe that this tire size may be harder to find outside of oz.

Personally I would like to run a 285 75 16 (33") but even here in oz we had trouble sourcing them in some more remote locations.

If anyone out there has some advise or recommendations it would be much appreciated.

Thanks!!!

At least you have though about it!

Landcrusiers are not popular in the UK because of there width down those narrow roads they have.

Where would you be looking at replacing the tyres? If you do it in say Andora then you might get them cheaper (less taxed country)... Ideally you want somewhere where the tyres are popular (thus available and probably cheaper than if they are rare).

Once you decide on where then check on the availability and price? Possibly use a HU community for info?

I'd think South Africa would have all the tyre sizes you could want .. probably Morocco ... Spain? But I'd think you want to stay away from places where they don't have many 4WDs?

Good Luck.

I'm looking at buying the tires here in oz before we set off.

Just want to get the best idea of what's common in any given part of the world in case we need to replace a damaged tire.

Don't want to get caught out with a rare size that's hard to find.

Case Patches. 2 words.

------------------ What ever you chose ... it will probably be expensive to replace at some small place where the tyre has been damaged. That is why you carry spares. You may not get a replacement in exactly the same size/brand/tread that you have... I'd not worry about it. You cannot predict where you will brake down nor what will be required. If you could you'd carry the spare or have it sent out to you before the failure and replace it as part of regular maintenance.

Don't worry about the things you cannot change. Select something that will;
go the distance required
perform adequately
is not costly
is reasonably common

Perhaps a 'standard' toytoa tyre is good - at least you might be able to get a toytoa dealer involved?

Personally I'd go for the tyre that performs best on bitumen - longevity and low noise, the 10% of the time that you can drive off road you will just have to take extra care. Africa maybe different in parts - I dont have any experience there. Bear in mind that the vehicle manufacturers will have spent a good deal of time testing their vehicle with the standard tyre sets - have a look at the tyre placard and see what range of tyre sizes they have approved. I know that tyres are always a compromise as there are so many different conditions that you can meet espcially in the overland trip you are proposing. Look for the tallest approved tyre you can get to fit the rim as this may give you upto 5cm more ground clearance which will come in handy at times.

The other thing you can do is have a look on the 'net and see what tyre sizes Toyota offer on their vehicles in the countries you will pass through - I doubt there will be a great variance as Toyota really do build World vehicles nowadays.

General advice is stay as close as you can to 750r16 as these and their direct substitutes (ie diameter of the casing ) eg 265/75 r16 and 235/85r16 are more commonly available pretty much anywhere. , and if the exact tyre isnt available in an emergency with care you can substitute one of the other compatible sizes . Many SUV are supplied new with a very road biased tyre, as that is where 99.9% spend most of their time. The size choice is often optimised for aesthetic appeal rather than bush use. In OZ the early 100 series were a classic case and suffered at lot of punctures out bush.
I have always used the BFG MT , as it lasted well and I was prepared to put up with the noise and slightly less grip on wet roads for the extra traction where i really needed it . In the end its a personal choice on what your balance of priorities are . "overtyreing" is a easy trap to fall into , and from the point of view of extra flotation , you have to go really big to make any noticeable improvement , and be in just the right terrain to make use. HTSH

as above, go for a 7.50x16 equivalent. tyres around that size are standard fit on landcruisers, hilux and of course landrover in many markets.

You would struggle to get a 265 on a rim suitable for a 7.50x16. If you fit too wider tyre on a rim you run the risk of it coming off the rim when it's aired down.

I would suggest (on 7inch rim I think) go for a 235/85 (what I use, but BFG AT as most mileage is on tarmac but the extra ground clearance may be useful) or 235/75 or, of course, 7.50x16

you might find this useful for comparing sizes

Tire Size Calculator - Compare Tire Sizes

airing down a narrow tyre (i.e. standard) will provide better floatation than a fat tyre, which will also put more strain on bearings and suspension. A FAT tyre also fails to bite down through crud to get grip so suffers poor lateral stability and poorer grip.

There must be a reason why most off road racers, including desert racers, use BFG mud terrains!

We drove a transafrica with just one space and an repair kit. Because we had 33" - the spare tyres are too heavy to carry two of them.

We killed one tyre (sidewall) and got it repaired with a tube.

We dont thought much about: any Service like TNT or DHL will sent a set of new tyres to you.

That isnt cheap i know. But how height is the probability - that you kill two tyres completely?

Surfy

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Hey yeah that's a thought, could always get a tire couriered down. Although not ideal, the lead time may not help. Guess if we carry two once we get a puncture that's unrepairable we could always get a tire couriered down to a destination we plan at visiting in a weeks or so's time.

One thing about having such a large tire is the difficulty removing it from the rim. Most places in Africa remove tires manually from what I understand. Rather than the pneumatic tire machines used in more developed countries.

The more common sizes like the 235 or 7.50 may be the go although I would like to run a 265 in case of more muddy terrain, or during early spring while we are crossing the Himalayas, where there will still be a fair bit of snow/mud.

Main reason I want to get this right is because even thought you mentioned you only managed to kill one tire on your trip. We killed 3 in 15 000km across oz.

I'm thinking even a 265 75 16 may be hard to find in the less developed country. So the standard tire that's on there now the 235 85 16 may be more viable.

Dam still undecided. Narrowed it down to two options at least.

I should add that I bought the troopy with out the split rims. It's fitted with 16x7 sunraysias.

pretty high, I killed three going to Gambia and back and 2 going to Russia, one puncture, one punctured by some local with a knife!

personally I would advise against taking such non standard wheels and tyres, they will put additional stress on your vehicle and be difficult to replace, and DHL don't deliver to the middle of the Sahara!!

Of course a lot depends on your route and how much off roading you intend doing, although my Russia trip was all tarmac.

OK, you got away with it. You can get away with playing Russian roullete once as well, but I wouldn't recommend making a habit of it!

As per my reply above, unless your on a bottomless bog or a glacier in Iceland a skinny tyre will give you more grip. personally, on a muddy/icy road in the Himalayas, I would want to know my tyre isn't going to slip sideways under me, and that means going skinny.

If there is any kind of surface underneath you need skinny to bite down to it and give you the grip. If there isn't then just air them down.

We carried about 3/4 ton of schoolbooks plus out own gear, tools and spares through the Sahara, and airing down the tyres got us out pretty much everytime we got into the soft stuff, but sometimes we were down do 10PSI to do that (that wasn't what caused the punctures before you ask! That was sharp rocks in Morocco)

The workshop in Switzerland where i store my 33" tires, can not raise them
In Africa they did it manually, without a problem. Ok, they don't care about the aluminum rim, but who care some scretches?

Usually is a sidewall crack a kill of a tire. In europe not allowed, but usual in africa. Fixed with a tube and some vulcanizing stuff - ok for offroad and dirttracks, maybe not ok on the german highway with 200km/h.

I love to drive offroad and also to push on dirt tracks (also with near 4to weight), our avaerage speed was 64 km/h



Just look for the right tyre pressure and lower the speed on sharp rock underground.

To be honest, when you want to get more than 30`000km out of your tires, you should slow down a bit more than...

Maybe we would have more killed tyres with more weight (added through an additional rim&tyre (near 50kg)?

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub.../what-if-68655

post 8

Congratulations on using someone elses country as your personal rally stage

Hint: You can link a special Posting number, when you link to the #Number tag (on the right side).

Maybe you missunderstand me. I did not drive at speed, i dont had time for repairs. I just drove relaxed, at an optimal speed for the given underground (washboard) and so on.

We 4x4 Overlanders have spent much money for they car and equipment, never ever one of us will harm his baby with over-speeding in the bush during extended trips

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast