The best "proper" 4wd tyres I can find at the moment.

[Trex]

My PHEV has just had its latest service (yesterday) which was 45,000km. The tyres are at roughly about 5% remaining before they should be changed but as my wife mainly drives it (then my sons and then finally me :roll: ) I will get new ones.

If it was just me I would probably push it a bit further.

Now everything here is IMO.

So as always I will put a decent set of 4wd tyres on it. After all it is a 4WD.

It does still annoy me (just a little :lol: ) that a lot of 4WD cars come with poor 4wd tyres. This include Mitsi, Toyota, Mazda, Landrover etc etc. They are definitely more on road orientated. But I can sort of understand why as the majority of users probably never go off road. But the tyres will not let you go off road with confidence . So you do not go off road etc etc. Talk about a vicious cycle. :roll: :lol:

Now after going through this with my last Pajero which I consider a fairly serious 4WD which had on road orientated tyres on it from the start :roll: I am not new at this.

Now the problem with my last Pajero was they just went to 18" rims from 17'" rims on the previous model. Talk about a hassle to get a decent tyre for those new rims. Now it is a more common size because other car manufacturers started using that rim size including Toyota Prado. So more tyre manufacturers started making decent tyres for that size.

Well these rims on PHEV are the same. There are very few "proper" 4wd tyres for it. Car manufacturers like to use low profile tyres (because people think they look good) so are making larger diameter rims which I think are bad for off road driving because when airing down they can be more susceptible to sidewall damage etc.

The best I can find for me are Yokohama Geolandar ATS G012 225/55r18 98h.



They are the same tyre I could only find for the Pajero, when I had that hassle, I was writing about before. :lol:

Anyhow ordered 4. Will come in 2 days. A little bit dear but had a good run with them last time.

Now I get to test the PHEV off road.

 

[Muddywheels]

Coming from Land Rovers I too have seen the change from small diameter alloys with big side walls to low profile tyres and the compromises this brings

From 2000-2010 I never faulted Freelander 1s/2s and Discovery 2s OEM M&S all seasons in any weather or off road but my 2010 Range Rover Sport with 20" low profile summer tyres as standard was lethal in winter on road never mind off road - I've done loads of LR Experience days in everything from Defenders to latest Range Rover Vogue SE and the instructors are keen to point out they are fitted with std alloys/tyres which is fine on a carefully designed course but not so good when you go off road for real - as many owner discover when they wreck their expensive alloys and low profile road biased tyres :roll:

The 18" alloys on the PHEV were more appealing than the 20-22" now being fitted on LRs :shock:

The Geolander gets good reviews if you like to hit the mud and ruts but a bit noisy on tarmac - my main worry would be the low unprotected exhaust on the phev and the handbook warning about driving through water :?

Personally I bought the PHEV for it's eco credentials and hopefully to keep going in bad weather when everyone else gets stuck - if I wanted to play in the mud I'd of bought a Shogun or another Land Rover with 2nd set of alloys :mrgreen:

 

[jaapv]

IIRC the wading depth of the PHEV is 40 cm.

 

[pasquinade]

Hi,

By coincidence I'm right now checking my options for new tires. My main points are overall grip (onroad and the occasional offroad "play") and resistance (as there is no spare - don't want to be stuck on a forest road in the middle of nowhere). I am more or less convinced on the BFGoodrich K02 (mainly due to the great resistance that I recurrently read about).

Trouble is that the PHEV here is only registered for 225/55r18 (default) or 215/70r16 sizes and the K02 are only available for the later, meaning new rims... and I'm about to take the plunge (and may regret it later

I have heard of these Geolanders, and you seem to have had some experience with them in the past. Do you know how long they last (I hear the K02 will do almost 100k km which is a bit unbelievable for me)? And puncture resistance?

Thanks,
Ricardo

 

[pasquinade]

Oh, by the way, anyone know how the TPM works? If I change rims will I need to purchase new sensors, or are they external?

 

[Muddywheels]

400mm sounds respectable wading depth but sure I read warning not to drive through floods in handbook due to risk of damage to electrics :?

 

[Trex]

The 18" alloys on the PHEV were more appealing than the 20-22" now being fitted on LRs :shock:

:roll: 20-22". IMO that is just being silly. :lol:

The Geolander ...... a bit noisy on tarmac

Not what I have found on the Pajero but we will see on the PHEV. I tend to play music a lot so will be very surprised if I can hear them. :lol:

.........my main worry would be the low unprotected exhaust on the phev

Yes it does hang slightly lower than the drive battery case but not by much IMO. Exhausts are easy to fix, I think, and are not showstoppers (normally) if they get a little bit bent unlike some other components under cars.

........and the handbook warning about driving through water :?

Yes 400 mm wading depth is what I remember. Was in the brochure, I think, I received before buying.

I must say here that I will not be expecting it to perform like a really "serious" 4WD. But I think it will go better than some people around here think, especially with some decent tyres and an fairly experienced driver. But that is just my opinion.

 

[Trex]

Hi,

By coincidence I'm right now checking my options for new tires. My main points are overall grip (onroad and the occasional offroad "play") and resistance (as there is no spare - don't want to be stuck on a forest road in the middle of nowhere). I am more or less convinced on the BFGoodrich K02 (mainly due to the great resistance that I recurrently read about).

Trouble is that the PHEV here is only registered for 225/55r18 (default) or 215/70r16 sizes and the K02 are only available for the later, meaning new rims... and I'm about to take the plunge (and may regret it later

I have heard of these Geolanders, and you seem to have had some experience with them in the past. Do you know how long they last (I hear the K02 will do almost 100k km which is a bit unbelievable for me)? And puncture resistance?

Thanks,
Ricardo

Hi Ricardo,

I still own that Pajero and last year replaced the Geolanders with a set of Bridgestone Dueler A/T 697s. At the time the Bridgestone Dueler A/T 697 was getting a good rap here in Australia and Bridgestones are quite popular here amongst the 4wd fanatics. But like I said in my first post not many tyre manufacturers were making tyres for those 18" rims (I could only find the Geolanders at the time). Which is the same as now for the PHEV with the rims that it comes with IMO.

I think we had around 65,000 kms on them, but I tend to replace tyres probably a little early as we use our 4wd vehicles in our business (farms and engineering) and I do not want to stuff around with degraded tyres (time is money we say here ). I think we probably could have pushed them easily to 70,000km.

From memory we had one puncture from a nail through the tread (caused a very slow leak), and easily fixed, which would have gone through any tyre.

The BFGoodrich K02 looks to have good tread pattern but buying new rims is a negative. But the plus side is a less low profile tyre ie more side wall which I brought up in my first post. How much can you get the rims for after trade in of old rims?

I got the price of a spare rim for the PHEV of $750Au (genuine Mitsi) but my friend from school who owns the tyre store I am buying the Geolanders from is looking for alternatives.

So to sum up I hope the new Geolanders go as good as before for me. But they are more of a lower profile (for the PHEV) than the Pajero so I guess I will find out.

Regards Trex.

 

[fatnat]

Yes I recently did a beach course and booked my Phev in so that I could learn what to do if one gets bogged which included accessing the beach via a rough road trail while at the same time keeping in mind the warnings in the Phev manual to try and avoid beach sand etc only to be used for accessing a picnic area.

Yes I told the instructor not to be as adventurous as the other purpose made 4x4's in our group and he advised when we come to obstacles we would take the chicken trail and also avoid other difficult situations which may be harmful to the Phev. Anyway had no issues and had lots of fun and learned a lot about the Phev and 4x4 usage including its limits a lot of which has been discussed on this Forum.

One of the requirements was the tyre/wheel specs.

In order to accept me for the lesson the tires had to be at least a 70 profile. The Phev manual says you can have 215/70/16 which is the same profile used by the Phev vehicle used in the 2014 rally in West Australia. With the assistance of my mechanic he sourced from a Mitsu dealership new unwanted 16 profile rims and attached to each new Khumo AT tyres for 5 wheels as another requirement was to bring a spare tyre. This worked very well both on and off road and very quiet, pressure can be reduced down to 10psi (impossible to bog) for beach and up to 40psi for road use. The standard 225/55/18 is not suitable for off-road use when the pressure has to be reduced so much.

Regards
Nat

 

[ultralights]

Actually, im more interested to see how it effects EV range with the Geolander tyres fitted

 

[Trex]

Yahoo.

Got the new Yokohama Geolandar ATS G012 225/55r18 98h on the PHEV today.

Just picked up the PHEV from having them fitted and getting a wheel alignment.

Gotta test them

 

[zzcoopej]

Got the new Yokohama Geolandar ATS G012 225/55r18 98h on the PHEV today.

If you don't mind me asking, what did they set you back? Interested to hear how they perform and the road noise at highway speeds compared to stock.
How many km did you get from your stock rubber?

 

[Trex]

Got the new Yokohama Geolandar ATS G012 225/55r18 98h on the PHEV today.

If you don't mind me asking, what did they set you back? Interested to hear how they perform and the road noise at highway speeds compared to stock.
How many km did you get from your stock rubber?

Ok just got back from testing them. Road noise I cannot hear any difference even without music. Feel good.

Price $281.82 per tyre. Wheel alignment $62.73

Read first post in this topic.I got approx. 45,000 km but still had a little bit left.

They were over inflated from fitting but I am used to that. First thing I always check.

You or anyone want pictures?

 

[zzcoopej]

45,000 km but still had a little bit left.

I'm glad I can put that off for a while. I am really impressed how evenly the stock rubber is wearing, nothing like the Subaru Forester and Honda CRV I've owned which both ate front tyres, CRV was better but nothing on the PHEV.

You or anyone want pictures?

Nah, unless you are testing them on a slippery slope or something extreme!

 

[pasquinade]

You or anyone want pictures?

Yes

As I mentioned before I'm in a love BFGoodrich, hate having to buy new rims dilema. The new excuse to post-pone the decision was discovering I'd have to buy TPM sensors.... searching a bit about the implications and using it as excuse to delay

Best,
Ricardo

 

[Trex]

You or anyone want pictures?

Yes

As I mentioned before I'm in a love BFGoodrich, hate having to buy new rims dilema. The new excuse to post-pone the decision was discovering I'd have to buy TPM sensors.... searching a bit about the implications and using it as excuse to delay

Best,
Ricardo

Here you are Ricado:



Did you read my reply to your earlier post?

Regards Trex.