THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

Unfortunately for those of us in the United States, those perfect Simex 35x10.50-16 tires aren't really available, or those would be my first choice.

How did you like the 34x9.5-16 Super Swampers (bias ply)? I see you used 2 sets, so I'm assuming they drove reasonably well on-road? What's your overall opinion of them? I have them on a trailer (but a 15" rim, so I can't test-fit them on my Pinz) and can see they are considerably taller than the 255/85-16 TrXus I have on there now, with their narrow width ought to prevent any rubbing when articulated and turned.

I really like 9X34-16 Swampers.

I fitted the first set back in the days well before Forums (like this) and I couldn't find anyone in the world who had ever fitted a set to a Pinzgauer, let alone a 712, so I was flying blind....I didn't know if they would work or be a dismal failure
I bit the bullet and brought a set off a bloke I knew who had used them on a Range Rover in the Monsoon Challenge in the 1996 (and he got me another three off another competitor) because he was starting to get real sponsorship. The Swampers were a bit "used" but even then I remember they killed my brand new BFG MT's in the bush.
I also remember people said you'll destroy yourself and the Pinny on those tyres on the road in the wet, so on a wet back road on the way to a trip one day I decided to see what they would do. I slammed on the brakes and the Pinny pulled up in a straight line till the speed dropped off substantially, then the back started to break away and she slid offline.
I was happy I now knew what the Pinny was capable of in the bush and on the road..... from that day I was sold on Swampers.

I pretty much wore that set out and by that time there was a Swamper dealer in Victoria, so I brought a brand new set.
I ran those for years till they got down and I decided to get another set, but they were in VERY short supply in Aus and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get six.

At that time Chris Hummer (another winner of the Monsoon Challenge / Malaysian Rainforest Challenge) had developed a new tyre in conjuction with Simex and as the Victorian 4WD Show was coming up and the Pinny is always on display in the main demo arena, Chris offered me a "deal" if I fitted them before the show....and the rest is history.

When Tony M and I go away in our Pinny's it's interesting to see the difference in tyres as he still runs Swampers.

I'd hate to have to live on the difference between Swampers and Simex, but if I was forced to say I'd say the Simex has a slight edge.

With the bias ply versus radial construction, how much of a difference did you notice on the road going from the radial BFG's to the bias ply Swampers?

Typical bias ply complaints such as vibration, flat-spotting, squirrely handling, loss of power/top speed, and accelerated/uneven wear are what I'm concerned about. Not that I expect the Pinz to ride/drive like a Range Rover Sport, but if there's a big difference with the off-road oriented Swampers versus the on-road oriented BFG's (or other radial mud terrains) then maybe it's worth sticking with the smaller, less-aggressive radial options. But from the looks of it, it's like those 34x9 Swampers were MADE for the Pinzgauer!

You should be able to get simex tires on this side of the pond. Tire store here said they would have them shipped to me if i wanted. You might check with a t3 tire store.

Interesting. I've never seen or known anyone here who's seen the Simex tires. My biggest reservations about using them is that they aren't DOT-approved, they're bound to be a lot more expensive than the Swampers, and they're directional so rotations don't effectively even out the tread wear.

But if anyone knows where you can get Simex tires in the United States, please speak up! I know 4 Wheel Parts can't, and they carry more brands of off-road tires than anyone.

With the bias ply versus radial construction, how much of a difference did you notice on the road going from the radial BFG's to the bias ply Swampers?

Radials are a LOT quieter and smoother than bias tyres, but the Swampers do handle quite well given that their is often more air than rubber in contact with the bitumen

Typical bias ply complaints such as vibration, flat-spotting

Swampers (and Simex) do flat-spot when cold but given that a Pinny takes about 10 km to warm up all the gear boxes etc it's just a matter of waiting that distance anyway before the vehicle starts to sing!

accelerated/uneven wear

I never expect more than 15 - 20,000 km from a set of agressive tyres used mainly on road, but that's the nature of the beast!

I guess it comes down to what you want to use the Pinny for and where you drive it!

If you want road performance and some off road abilty go for a Radial.
If you want ultimate off road performance go for a Swamper or equivalent.

Personally I think for a vehicle as capable as the Pinzgauer given it's ground clearance, diff locks etc, etc, it's a shame to limit it's abilities by fitting a less capable tyre.
It's a little like fitting a Ferrari with 120 kph maximium, speed rated tyres.

http://21st-century-tires.com/aboutus.html out of FL. And I think they are DOT rated

The Simex Centipede's are nearly double the cost of the Super Swampers! Yikes!

The Simex Centipede's are nearly double the cost of the Super Swampers!

We pay about the same as Swampers here!
I must admit Swampers have almost dissapeared from the Australian 4WD scene these days.... replaced mainly by "Pedes" (Simex Centipede's/ET's), but the Baja Claw is also popular.

On another side, I wonder how long aggressive tyres will be commonplace in this State in the future.
Unfortunately the Greenies and 4WD hoons are effectively closing so many tracks in Victoria that "we" (the sane and long-term users of agressive tyres) are fighting to keep many hard/tougher tracks open.
Already the 4WD Association are hinting that access for aggresive tyre shod vehicles "may" be limited in the future.

Funnily enough I was only talking to an old mate last night (who used to be a Haflinger owner ....he had Haflingers as Wedding vehicles ) and we were saying that after 30+ years of 4WDriving the wheel may have turned full circle and in the future small, light, capable vehicles like the Haflinger may be the answer given the current fuel costs etc and if restrictions are placed on larger, more aggressive vehicles .... It's all food for thought

Yup, that's understandable. Interco (the manufacturer of Super Swampers) is just a small, family-owned company in Louisiana, so it's not surprising that they have limited global availability. But here in North America, you see more Swampers on the trails than any other tire because the bigger tire manufacturers aren't interested in such a niche-market product. BFGoodrich is the only big company that's made a serious effort to compete with the Swampers with their bias-ply Krawler T/A-KX.

It sounds to me like Extreme Trekkers are the tire to get in OZ, and Super Swampers are the tire to get in the US.

ill just throw in here that once i switched from the trxus to the ltb's, i determined that there was no way id go back to the trxus...radial design or not!

the trxus were much better on road, of course, but dont misunderstand...the trxus were still pretty sh*tty when compared to a "normal" street/all terrain tire! they are still a mud tire, after all!

with the switch to bias ply, i was immediately made aware of the differences. a little more of a handful in normal "city" driving. they follow the undulations, they follow cracks. they are somewhat unpredictable under braking. its easy to say that they are worse than the trxus on asphalt. but to me, its just part of the fun. i dont mind the extra steering input. the pinz will practically steer itself down the road anyway (i hope you all know what i mean by that), it doesnt bother me to have to interfere with where it wants to go every once and a while.

but i gained ~ 1" in tire size, they dont rub, they look awesome (i still get people saying "man, where do you find tires like that?!?!" a question obviously posed by someone that doesnt off road much, but still) and lastly, the off road performance is just incredible (IMHO)

"Personally I think for a vehicle as capable as the Pinzgauer given it's ground clearance, diff locks etc, etc, it's a shame to limit it's abilities by fitting a less capable tyre.
It's a little like fitting a Ferrari with 120 kph maximum, speed rated tyres."

i completely agree Peter! even if most of my miles are pavement. i also agree with you that i dont expect them to last very long...but they are cheap to replace here! simex, available here or not, wouldnt be as cheap and would wear just the same. ill take a set of the simex to try them, i just dont want to pay for them (and i only need 5 tires, not 7!)

(btw, is that what happened to kimi and felipe in Melbourne?!! stupid 120 kph tires blew their engines! stupid bridgestone engineers!
what were they thinking?!!)

Protoman333 wrote:ill just throw in here that once i switched from the trxus to the ltb's, i determined that there was no way id go back to the trxus...radial design or not!

...

but i gained ~ 1" in tire size, they dont rub, they look awesome

Awesome feedback! Thank you kindly!

What size TrXus tires did you have? I've rolled the 34x10.5 Swamper LTB's next to my 255/85 TrXus and found that they were slightly smaller, around 31.5 inches tall! The LTB's are known for being much smaller than their rated sidewall size.

Conversely, the 9x34 Swampers are an actual 34 inches tall, and the same height as most 35" tires. That's why I've carried one of them as a "space saver spare" to match the 35's on my 4Runner.

If the LTB's were an actual 34" tall, I'd definitely use them. But since they're closer to a 32" tire, my first choice is the 9x34 Swampers, which will gain me another full inch in ground clearance, and another few MPH on the highway.

sorry for the slow reply...i couldnt seem to log in.

i think i ran the 255/85's (trxus) and im currently running the 34x10.5's (ltb's). but the heights you mention dont jive with what i remember, but that means nothing as i attempt to wipe my memory clean every weekend. i thought i remember about a 3/4" overall increase when compared to the trxus i had and im pretty sure that my rpm's have come down a tad on the highway (much to my dismay when climbing long interstate grades). of course, if youve rolled them next to each other and measured then thats pretty much that!

either way, ive been pretty happy with the ltb's and will definitely stick with them for at least a few more years. the same hills that used to give me problems i now putt right up while my friends wifes locked jeep spins like it was its getting paid per tire rotation. of course she makes it up no problem, and usually with a little more flare, but i dont have to beat the sh*t out of mine to achieve the same result now. and thats what its all about. nothing like a freakin jeep doing something (just once!) that you couldnt seem to do in your pinz and never hearing the end of it! stupid jeeps.

Protoman333 wrote:i think i ran the 255/85's (trxus) and im currently running the 34x10.5's (ltb's). but the heights you mention dont jive with what i remember, but that means nothing as i attempt to wipe my memory clean every weekend. i thought i remember about a 3/4" overall increase when compared to the trxus i had and im pretty sure that my rpm's have come down a tad on the highway (much to my dismay when climbing long interstate grades). of course, if youve rolled them next to each other and measured then thats pretty much that!

Unfortunately, Interco's website cites tire specs that have absolutely no correlation to their real-world sizes. But based on your description, I would guess you had the 265/75-16 TrXus rather than the taller 255/85-16.

I've been using Super Swampers since 1994, all different variations, and you're right: in the dirt, there is no comparison with other wanna-be mud-terrain tires. I just hate the typical bias-ply flat-spotting and poor handling, but in the past that's always been with very wide tires under very lightweight rigs. I think now that I have a Pinz, which is heavy and has such narrow tires with much higher inflation pressure, the highway differences between radial and bias ply tire construction isn't likely to be as significant.

Here in California, most of our trails are very rocky. Unlike my previous rockcrawlers, which are low, wide, and have very slinky suspension with miles of wheel travel, the Pinz is tall, narrow, and has no wheel travel. Since I can't put tires way up high on rocks without flopping the Pinz on its side, I need to maximize ground clearance to be able to tip-toe over the rocks I'd otherwise be driving over. Believe it or not, it's pretty easy to high-center a Pinz on a trail like the Rubicon or Strawberry Creek, even with the portal hubs boosting ground clearance another ~4 inches. And with fairly long cruises on the highway before reaching the trailhead, I want to bring the RPM's down as much as I can, hence my decision to buy a 4x4 instead of a 6x6, and to fit the tallest tires I can.

Tall, skinny Swampers are a certainty. My biggest question is which of the various Swampers to pick when these 255/85 TrXus wear out. At this point, I'm leaning towards the 9/34-16 bias-ply Super Swamper TSL.