BF muddies versus other good quality brands

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Hi all, I called in today to order some BF muddies for the prado, $374 each and at least a 3 month wait. 90 on order and only 23 been delivered in the first delivery with the others not far behind so will definately be more then 3 months I reckon. I also want to keep the same diameter tyres that it runs from the factory which is 265/65 17, but they can only supply 265/70 17, which is a bigger rolling diameter.I dont want the bigger size as firstly it will put my low range gearing out (worse off) speedo out by approx 6k (eg speedo will show 100 but Ill be doing 106) I can cope with that my main concern is low range and also extra fuel pushing bigger tyres round and also will have to buy a fifth tyre as been AWD 120 prado I was informed must all be exactly the same size also if I go a bigger tyres I wont be able to fit the cover over spare wheel on rear door. Does any one reccomend a good quality mud tyres that is as good as the BF's in side wall strengh etc and apparantly the BG muddies are supposidly the best on road as far as noise goes ( i no they will be noisier any mud tyre will be but some more then others) Heard some wranglers on a jeep the other day wholy hell they were noisy and that was with my window up. Any help appreciated, dont want to wait 3 months or more but am after quality. (one tyre Im not interested in is the coopers) Dont want to start a war over coopers virsus BF's like nissan or toyota. I am also running a seperate set of steel rims for the muddies and keeping the alloys with road tyres for around town.................Regards Steve

[RED T UTE Member Find all posts View Profile Close RED T UTE]

GOODYEAR WRANGLER MT/R KEVLAR 265/70 17 they were $430 and if you buy 4 you get one free thats what I got 6 months ago wearing ok very good in mud and quiet.

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Hi Steve,
Going from 265/65 to 265/70 would only throw your speedo out by a hair over 3%

And being an auto, you shouldn't really need to worry about your low-range gearing, your torque converter can take care of that I would think

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Hi Declan, actually just found this so I wont be fitting the bigger tyres anyway, will make it ilegal...................

Only about 27mm difference, but the maximum allowable by the RTA is 15mm...

265/65/17 BFG A/T are 30.7" OD
265/70/17 BFG A/T are 31.8" OD

[don1 Member Find all posts View Profile Close don1]

Grandtreks is best suited for the prado, no road noise, easily available and comes in standard size 265/65/17. Nothing to worry about.

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Mate going by what I have read I wont be able to fit any thing bigger, found this on PP

Only about 27mm difference, but the maximum allowable by the RTA is 15mm...

265/65/17 BFG A/T are 30.7" OD
265/70/17 BFG A/T are 31.8" OD

This could cause insurance issues if I needed to claim for what ever reason, dont need insurance company having any thing that could reject a claim, especially if its illegal by the RTA. Regards Steve

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Yes Don, as mentioned in my first post I have them on the vehicle already which will soon be due for changing as well. I want off road tyres (muddies running on a seperate set of rims,) I will be keeping the alloys and grantrecks for around town and changing over the wheels when I will be going off road, grandtrecks will not cut it in the ruff stuff, I will tear them apart, fine for beach and maybe a fire trail but that would be it Regards Steve

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

buy staying with the 65 profile steve you limit your choices as to the mudders you can get, but i see your point to keep it legal. cheers samo

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

While not mud tyres I know, BFG A/T come in LT265/65 and also in LT275/65 which would only be a 13mm increase in diameter.

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Hi Declan, yeah mate had them on all 3 previous 4wd's, 2 previous prados and my old lux, but they were also my everday running around tyres. As I am going to have another set of rims this time I thought I would go the muddies, BUT if I cant get them in the 65 series then I may revert back to the A/T's as I wont be taking any chances when it comes to the vehicle been not legal. I especially dont need any issues with insurance if I need to make a claim. I will ring the RTA and insurance companys tomorrow and ask a few questions to be sure. I did run bigger profile on one of the previous prados and the hilux but at the time was unaware about the increase in rolling diameter been an issue. Only found that out tonight reading a post on here from a while ago.......Regards steve

[croozza Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close croozza]

Do a search on the web, there are plenty of quality tyres out there, ie, kumho, Dunlop, Bridgstone, Silverstone, ect, they all do a good MT tyre, with the BFG and Coopers, your paying a premium just for the name.
In regards to your speedo being out, you will find it will actually put it close to spot on, if you went one profile bigger. All Prado speedos, from factory are 5% over what your actually doing, ie, speedo says 100, you are actually doing 95. Different brands of tyres have different RD's, so when you do the web search, check out the specs on the tyre and compare, you will find one that is only 15mm larger.

[Peterpilot Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Peterpilot]

To stay within RTAs 15mm limit, your choices are restricted to 265/65/17 and 275/65/17. Unfortunately I don't know of any mud terrain tyres yet in those sizes, but plenty of all terrain tyres. I would suggest if you really want muddies, you need to go up to 265/70/17.

As far as your speedo is concerned, check yours with a GPS to see how accurate it is with the standard tyres. Mine actually reads exactly correct with standard rubber, others report a 5% discrepancy. It would be prudent to check your vehicle individually.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

The early Prados the speedo reads correct with standard rubber (my 2005 did) The laws were changed at some point and now all cars have speedo's that read fast, putting the 265/70/17 BFG AT's on my 2009 Prado brought the speedo back to reading correctly, about 5% difference. The other bonus of the larger tyres is that your odometer reads slower, so you get an extra 5% between services and the car has 5% less K's on the clock than it has actually done.
The larger tyres can be legal with an engineers certificate, although I am led to believe if the new rules regarding modifying vehicles ever gets passed a 50mm increase will then become legal.

Cheers Andrew

Cheers Andrew

[Madkore Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Madkore]

My speedo is 5k off with 265/70 tyres according to GPS.

GPS reads 105km/h whereas speedo reads 100km/h, suggesting standard size would read correctly as per AJ's post.

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Hi All, after doing a bit of searching and asking questions the other way around it for me is to get some 16x7 off a 90 series prado then fit up 265/70/16 which will only be 2 mm bigger rolling diameter. Only problem is no one I know of has these fitted up to a 120 series and not sure where or how you work out the offset to make sure everything will be ok. The only other option is an engineers certificate to ok the bigger tyres. The bloke at the RTA said they are clamping down big time on 4wd's running bigger then legal tyres. ( I would presume this would be like patrols and cruisers running 35/37's etc) He said if I was to have an accident and it was noticed I was running bigger tyres then legal I probably would be up the creek without a paddle so to speak in regards to greenslip coverage and also possible charges if anyone was to be killed let alone my comprehensive insurance.....virtually saying my vehicle shoudnt be on the road as it doesnt comply.... Regards Steve Also just to let you know my speedo is dead spot on with the GPS running the standard grantrecks, both my old 90's were out by around 4k but this one is to the dot spot on.