AT3, Pirelli, BFG who has changed from 1 of these brands to 1 of the others?

[kieranu Member Find all posts View Profile Close kieranu]

Seems like a good result for a "Ferrari" tyre but they do not make a LT tyre in a 17inch size. http://www.pirelli.com/tyre/au/en/su...MMER%26use%3D1

They make them you just can't them in Australia for love nor money. They had only one at my local tyre dealer so I got the AT/3s instead. I was looking for R70s you might have better luck with R65s.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....ROWL&tab=Sizes

It's also worth noting that I've been told the Pirelli's don't wear well on Australian roads.

[Bellyup Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bellyup]

You need to remember that when you go from standard off road tyres to LT tyres you are going to loose some of that smooth ride - being LT the walls won't flex like a standard tyre and soak up some of the bumps. I forget how many punctures I had in the OEM Grandtreks when I went off road around here - usually very small sticks would go in through the side wall and back out again, when I would get home it looked like there was a piece of straw stuck to the side of the tyre.
Since fitting the BFG A/Ts not one puncture. The Coopers bloke here reckons there is an AT3 tyre to suit Prado 17" ie not taller like before.
Arkaroola is about a days drive from here and I'll take the little bloke and camp there - if you want to see how much rubber you can shed in a week then you need to visit Arkaroola - all of the rocks on the road are the shape of a piece of coal - a squarish block with sharps edges all around. Unless you drop tyre pressure and speed you will loose great chunks from the edges of the tread. DAMHIKT
Strangely, the local tyre bloke there swears on Kumho - and he does a roaring trade.

[Milti 1974 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Milti 1974]

Got 90K on my BFG's, still got tread but hardening up. $340 at Jax per tyre local, will be going back for the same. Havent had anything else, little bit of tyre noise on highway but get use to. Finding in wet they are getting a bit slippery but you drive to the conditions. As posted earlier, someone said 1 out of every 2 4wds had BFG's, that might be a perception but it cant be far from the truth. Much capable for 4wding!

[lqqk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close lqqk]

So what is the difference between LT and P tyres?

Bellyup said LT just won't flex much as P tyres. So in that case P is better and cheaper too.

[braddo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close braddo]

So what is the difference between LT and P tyres?

Bellyup said LT just won't flex much as P tyres. So in that case P is better and cheaper too.

LT Tyres have a thicker, stronger sidewall to carry greater loads and resist punctures and staking. They still seem to flex enough for 4wding from what I've seen.

[pjtaylor3 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close pjtaylor3]

Has anyone used the Yokahama Geolander ATS. I was talked into puting them on my hilux and so far no complaints but only done 5000km on them. So quiet on the road it sounds like the engine is louder now. I ran BFG AT on it before them (only had one puncture but they had travelled 85000km at the time) but when it came time for rego there was at least a month wait on BFG's so had to go something else. Aparently the warranty on the yokahama is pretty good. Even puncture repairs are covered.

Just clocked up 30000km on the prado and the grantreks are wearing on the front a fair bit. I don't think my Toyota dealer has been rotating them like they say they do on the service report.
I was wondering what tyres i would put on it next.

[johnnydrama Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close johnnydrama]

I have just gone from Pirelli Scorpion ATR's to BFG All Terrain KO's (LT stamped as USA made) in 265/65/17.

To say that the Pirelli's had the upper hand when "on road" is an understatement. Those tyres made you think you were driving a sedan. The switch to the BFG AT's really lets you know you're driving a 4WD. No where near as much grip at new as i had with 60K on the Pirelli's. Really don't have to be pushing it to start getting squealling around corners etc

In terms of road noise you couldn't hear the Pirelli's - the BFG's are noticeable - but not bad at all (the mrs didn't even comment on it).

Having said both of these - I expected the BFG to not be as good on road. It was an expected compromise.

Haven't been offroad in the BFG yet (hopefully next week). Pirelli's were great for what I'd done (mostly dry weather - no mud). Had had a puncture with the pirelli's on the back road from Arkaroola back to Parachilna - a small stone slither went straight through a lug. The rears got chipped up pretty bad on that trip. Doing Saunders gorge when they were brand new ended up in gouges in the sidewall and chips as well.

Summary - Pirelli are GREAT on road - hands down in another league from the BFG. When combined with the traction control capabilities of the GXL with TC + VSC they were very capable for an intermediate - once every few months 4WD'er (me). However - i was always paranoid about punctures / tyre damage when doing anything other than beach driving.

WHich is why despite the onroad compromise I'm hoping to be happy with the BFG when i get 'em off road.

[braddo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close braddo]

I am planning to do exactly the same when I have the cash and I know that I will miss the on road performance of the Pirellis! This will hopefully be outweighed by the off road performance of the BFGs. The Pirellis still have life in them @ 50k, but I'll probably upgrade before the GTG!

[johnnydrama Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close johnnydrama]

Yeah i should say that at 60,000 KM's i reckon i would have easily had another 20,000 on road KM's in the Pirellis too. But thanks to the puncture I was down to 3 of them so thought i might as well get 4 newies.

[Pete67 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pete67]

I posted in this thread recently, but I have just returned from doing the oodnadatta track, painted desert, Googs track and Gawler ranges, and thought i would give an opinion of the Pirelli tyres performance under these conditions.

I have had them off road quite a few times including the mud. On the road they are difficult to fault as they make you feel you are driving a sedan and in the gravel/dirt they handle great.

But I was nervous going over gibber stones but found they performed well with no chipping or punctures.

The most worrying moment though with these tyres is when you air them down to below 20psi. I had lowered them to 18psi front and 20psi rear for the Googs track, and this was a perfect pressure for my set up but the side wall bulge was very concerning!!!

It isn't just sand on this track as there is a few rockier sections mixed in with the sand where I was nervous about the side walls. These are passenger not light truck .

I feel these are good tyres for drivers who do a lot of highway k's and an occasional off road excursion, but if you are thinking about the outback and remote driving I wouldn't be recommending them. Mind you I find it hard to fault them as an all purpose tyre.

But I'm looking forward to them wearing a bit more so I can replace them with something a bit more appropriate for what I want to do.

[Sozjot Member Find all posts View Profile Close Sozjot]

I have had the Pirelli's on since new -about 44000 k's to date. There is about 3 mm remaining before the tread bar is fully exposed and from memory we started at about 11 mm. So I'm thinking 60k will be about it. On road performance is outstanding as many others have said. Off road they haven't let me down though one tyre does exhibit a small area (10 cent piece size) of damage from a stake encountered at Fraser Island. The wear is pretty even, no noise whatsoever and are very good in the wet. If I could get them in LT I would buy them again but I'm leaning towards the Cooper AT3 for the peace of mind in the heavier sidewalls. I just know whatever replaces them will be noisier unfortunately.
Cheers,
Soz

[REV Find all posts View Profile Close REV]

Has anyone used the Yokahama Geolander ATS. I was talked into puting them on my hilux and so far no complaints but only done 5000km on them. So quiet on the road it sounds like the engine is louder now. I ran BFG AT on it before them (only had one puncture but they had travelled 85000km at the time) but when it came time for rego there was at least a month wait on BFG's so had to go something else. Aparently the warranty on the yokahama is pretty good. Even puncture repairs are covered.

Just clocked up 30000km on the prado and the grantreks are wearing on the front a fair bit. I don't think my Toyota dealer has been rotating them like they say they do on the service report.
I was wondering what tyres i would put on it next.

Just wondering how the yoko's are going?