Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

[sapradogxl Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close sapradogxl]

I am after some help.

I am heading of to WA at Xmas for 3 weeks in the Southwest region. I currently have the standard Grandtreks on the car, which have only done 27,000kms. I am wondering if they will be ok for some off-road work, or if I should spend the money and buy the car new tyres for Xmas. I am worried after reading a few threads on here that the Grandtreks are only any good for city and highway driving.

Can you please give me your thoughts.

Time is running out to finalise everything I need.

Dave

[HGMonaro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close HGMonaro]

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

I think the Grandtreks are probably critised more than they deserve. I wouldn't want to go through any serious mud with them but that is all about the tread pattern and depth, and could be said about many other tyres too (inc D694s I reckon). But for you're average tracks, they should be fine, unless you're looking for an excuse to replace them... Probably depends on what you consider off road?

My father-in-law is a farmer and he drives his Grandtreks anywhere he wants to go. Doesn't even consider his tyres are considered Grandcraps! Did Mitchell Falls & Bungles with us (we were on D694s) and he had the same punctures as us... none. Drives around his paddocks, including stubble paddocks and I've never heard him complain about punctures.

Nige.

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

I would suggest having a read thru the previous threads on this exact topic. There is a number of them.

I would not be going offroad with Grandtreks, unless you dont mind destroying them. At 27k they should be almost worn out, most of my mates are only getting 30k out of them. Makes it even more risky if they are worn.

[sapradogxl Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close sapradogxl]

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

The tyres are only slightly worn, and look almost brand new. Perhaps I should get a new set of rims and have a set for the trip and then swap them over when I get back from the trip

The rate the Grandtreks are wearing, it looks like I will easily get 45-50k kms out of them

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

My experience with GT's are that they are reasonable for sand and normal tracks. They are next to useless on wet muddy tracks. I have 50,000 km's on mine and there is still heaps of meat left on them probably another 15,000 to 20,000 km at the rate of wear. Actually I just took the spare cover off and compared it to the ones that have been on the rig since it was new and the ones on the truck are down to about 35% tread left.

[vx05 Member Find all posts View Profile Close vx05]

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

most of my mates are only getting 30k out of them

Wish I knew how they were doing this!

The previous set on our car did 75k, before we owned it. Current set now have about 20k on them and still have approx 5-6mm of tread left (8.5mm new) and the cfo will not approve new tyres till the grandtreks are just about gone

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

Gravel roads and farm tracks. Rips the shite out of them.

[fishnut Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close fishnut]

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

My experience agrees with you TP.

When we got the car, it had NEVER been offroad and had grandtreks on. I can't say when they had been replaced but to me they looked like they had heaps of tread. In a little over 7000km, including many WA PP trips :wink: they were stuffed. Not only did they get chewed up, but I found they wore very quickly.

As others have said, I think they are nice on the blacktop and given the correct pressure, suitable for sand. But they don't like it rough and are next to useless in mud. ...in my experience...

so, to answer sapradogxl's question...I'd guess at 27000 they might hold up if you don't do too much rough stuff, but don't expect them to help you if you find yourself in that position.

You can always get over here and if needed, buy some new tyres in WA and add to our state's GDP

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

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

Hi sapradogxl

We travel 90% highway and 10% forestry tracks. They slip a bit in the mud, however they have taken us over some rough tracks, stoney ridges, sand tracks and through paddocks.
Our Prado has done 50,000k and the grandtracks have 5 ml left on them.
They have been inflated correctly and rotated every 5,000 ks.
We will wear them out before deciding which tyre to go with.

If you are only doing light off road touring, you will get most places with them.

Cheers Bill

[sapradogxl Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close sapradogxl]

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

Thanks all for your responses. As I expected there are various comments, and suggestions.

I have noticed that since the $a has decreased against the USD that the Mickey Thompson tyres have increased dramatically in price.

If I can convince the wife to part with some extra cash I will go with the MT ATZ 4 rib, or MTZ. But with Xmas coming up and a newborn, I am sure that the resources will be diverted elsewhere. I am sure there must be a magic money tree somewhere.....

I am sure the boys in WA will give me grief for not having the Prado lifted and big tyres on......

All I need is to find a place in Adelaide that will give me a good pice on tyres

I can't wait for my trip!!!!

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

Re: UPGRADE!!!!!!!!!!

Man, some people have had some great mileage outta the Grandtreks!!!! :shock:

When I changed mine over for my Cooper ST's, they had already dropped 2-3mm in tread depth, and that was only with 6000k's under their belt. I had only driven off-road with them once (see 6th picture across in my sig for results :roll: ). I suffer OCD when it comes to frequently checking my tyre pressures and rotations etc and could not beleive how quickly they wore. Have now done 4000k on the new ST's (with a lot harder driving now) and they haven't even dropped a single mm in tread depth.

I now have a biased view on the Grandtreks and would swap them ASAP. 2c deposited.

Cheers,
AJ

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

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

Hi sapradogxl

We travel 90% highway and 10% forestry tracks. They slip a bit in the mud, however they have taken us over some rough tracks, stoney ridges, sand tracks and through paddocks.
Our Prado has done 50,000k and the grandtracks have 5 ml left on them.
They have been inflated correctly and rotated every 5,000 ks.
We will wear them out before deciding which tyre to go with.

If you are only doing light off road touring, you will get most places with them.

Cheers Bill

We drive a similar balance of black top and off-road ... some of our "forestry" tracks get fairly rocky and muddy ... and I'm very pleased with the Grandtreks. True, they are not quite as agressive off-road as the Maxxis they replaced. On the other hand, they are a great deal quieter on the highway and perform quite adequately, to my estimation, off-road. On balance, I find the GTs a good compromise. And they are an A/T.

I'm with Bill, I'd stick with the GTs and see how they go! Whatever you decide, trust you and your family have a great trip

Cheeze

Bear

[HGMonaro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close HGMonaro]

Re: UPGRADE!!!!!!!!!!

Man, some people have had some great mileage outta the Grandtreks!!!! :shock:

funny isn't it. Mine (sitting in the garage as I got a 2nd set of D694s for our big trip) have done 18K and although I haven't measured them compared to the unused spare, they are nowhere near worn out. My father-in-law had them on his previous Prado and on his current one. Current one's done 50K or so, including a 1/2 lap towing a large van. Only puncture he's had was a tek screw.

Nige.

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

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

I do run D694 on the Prado for road duties and light national park track work; :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I bought the D694 and I will go to some light off-roads in national park area.
What tyre pressure would you recommend for a typical unpaved road?

[Steve & Sandra Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve & Sandra]

Re: Will my Grandtreks do, or should I upgrade the shoes??

pressures and driving style and they should get you most places with out too much trouble. Alignment and balance with rotation will see you get many a mile out of them. I have been places with other cars that run GT`s and they have had punctures/blowouts whilst we had none.
Horses for courses.

Cheers

Steve