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

Hi,

I guess asking a tire question is almost a rite of passage for newbies... anyway here is where I would like other Pinz owners to provide me with their experience:

After doing my homework searching the forum and other websites, the choice of tire I ended with is the Interco Trxus M/T (which I know is used and appreciated by many Pinz owners on this forum), but I read several reviews for this tire describing "sidewall blow-outs" (http://www.offroaders.com/reviewbox/sho ... product=34).

I suspect this is due to driving heavily loaded heavy-duty pick-up trucks at highway speed for rather long times, but I would like to know if anyone on the forum has experienced similar dramatic tire failure of a Trxus mounted on a pinz (lighter vehicle with moderate top speed) ?

Thanks a lot for your input,

Jan

i used those for a few years right after they came out. they are what i would call a soft tire. the sidewall "blowout" wasnt something i ever experienced. however, with that said, i did replace 3 tires in the ~ 25,000+ miles i used them because of cuts in the side walls. i was just afraid that they might blow on the highway, which is most likely death in a pinz. in their defense, 2 of the cuts were from abuse and were caused by very sharp rock...i think it would have torn up most tires. i was just being an idiot driving where i was driving. i have no idea of how the other cut happened. its probable that it happened in the same area terrain and i just dont remember doing it (as could easily be the case during a few of our more "interesting" 3 am adventures at the lake). i also experienced large-ish chunks coming off the lugs; but again, it was me abusing them in the rocks. i will say that they have pretty good traction in a wide variety of terrain, not excelling in anything particular, just a good all around tire for where i drive. could be rock, could be mud, could be dirt, could be river gravel, etc. sand, not so much. at all. but they are too narrow for that anyway. all in all, id say about the best compromise, imo, for a somewhat aggressive off road tire thats also driven on the pavement.

i have since switched to their ltb's because i wanted a change, i liked the looks of that design, and they are cheaper. these are a bias ply design, not radials, and are a completely different animal as such. they blow the trxus away off road, but suck on pavement (duh) where the trxus werent that bad really (considering what they are). again, i was amazed at the off road performance difference between the maloyas and the trxus, but was just as amazed at the difference between the trxus and the ltb's on the exact same trails! places where i always started to spin i just walked right up. they are just not what i would call safe for city driving. but then again, im stupid.

Thanks for the input, Chris.

My other alternative is to get a set of BFG M/Ts.

The big advantage is that the BF Goodrich brand is carried by all the tire shops I checked around me, unlike Interco that has just an importer sitting at the other end of Europe... Also, none of the tire shops I checked want to mount and balance tires that they don't know about (and for which they record a sale)...

As the one thing that attracted me to the Trxus was the extra siping compared to other mud tires, I may sipe the center lugs of the BFG M/Ts, should I get those...

Jan

Jan,

I think if I may, that you realy have to ask yourself what do I want out of my tyres (tires)? What sort of terrain might I be driving on mostly and what do I want it to excel at? Or do you want it to be Jack of all trades and Master of none?

The tyres that your suggesting look like good all All Terrain tyres. that is good quite good on the road and good in snow etc and will get you by on the trail. Their not mud pluggers by any means and their not a tyre that any one would set off on around the world cruise across deserts or rough terrain. They will not be tough enough for that..

GenevaPinz wrote:Hi,

I guess asking a tire question is almost a rite of passage for newbies... anyway here is where I would like other Pinz owners to provide me with their experience:

After doing my homework searching the forum and other websites, the choice of tire I ended with is the Interco Trxus M/T (which I know is used and appreciated by many Pinz owners on this forum), but I read several reviews for this tire describing "sidewall blow-outs" (http://www.offroaders.com/reviewbox/sho ... product=34).

I suspect this is due to driving heavily loaded heavy-duty pick-up trucks at highway speed for rather long times, but I would like to know if anyone on the forum has experienced similar dramatic tire failure of a Trxus mounted on a pinz (lighter vehicle with moderate top speed) ?

Thanks a lot for your input,

Jan

Anthony,

You are right about asking myself what I want from my tires... what I want is modern radials in order to improve the road handling (compared to the stock Maloyas), with an agressive enough pattern that would allow me to keep the off-road abilities of the Pinz (hence my choice of Mud-terrains against "All-Terrains" or road tires), in western european terrain (no pure sand or rock-crawling tires) and climate, so they need to be ok in winter too (siping being a plus). I guess that will be "Jack of all trades and master of none"...

If you integrate the size constraint that I set to myself (255/85-16), you end up with the BFG MTs, Interco Trxus MT and Cooper Discoverer S/T plus a bunch of brands that I know nothing of, and that include remoulds...

The siping attracted me towards the Trxus initially, but when I checked the availability near me, that leaves me with the BFG and the Coopers... And I am very tempted to go mainstream with the BFGs.

Jan

Just my 2 cents -

I have the Cooper Discoverer S/T's and they have worked out very well for me for all the same reasons you mention - highway, medium use offroad and snow. The BFG's looked good also but nobody near me had them when I was ready to buy.

Paul

Radials are a big improvement on the road no question. I have not specifically looked at that size 255/85-16 or its equivalent but their plenty of tyres to choose from this side of the pond as well as over there.

I use the web site

Diff Lock http://forum.difflock.com/index.php

It is a Large GB all make site that does cover Pinzgauers as well and the page for that if you would like to be involved with the GB Pinzgauer scene also. though the Pinzgauer part is newish.

Diff Lock Pinzgauers http://forum.difflock.com/viewforum.php?f=55.

They also have specific tyre pages which is very informed and their is a very knowledgeable tyre specialist who frequents those pages to answer specific technical questions.

Diff Lock Tyres http://forum.difflock.com/viewforum.php?f=15



Might I suggest that you have a look and even consider joining. the conditions here will be very similar to what you have and we probably have the same tyres also. their is certainly a lot of debate concerning tyres for all sorts of vehicles and purposes. I can ask or look around to see what is available here if you would prefare. I know that their is a craze at the moment for Kumho radial mud terrains which are comparatively cheap and have good mannors on the road and perform very well off it.


While I am mentioning Diff Lock their is a Volvo C300 forum here also

Diff Lock Volvo C3 & TGB http://forum.difflock.com/viewforum.php?f=56

GenevaPinz wrote:Anthony,




You are right about asking myself what I want from my tires... what I want is modern radials in order to improve the road handling (compared to the stock Maloyas), with an agressive enough pattern that would allow me to keep the off-road abilities of the Pinz (hence my choice of Mud-terrains against "All-Terrains" or road tires), in western european terrain (no pure sand or rock-crawling tires) and climate, so they need to be ok in winter too (siping being a plus). I guess that will be "Jack of all trades and master of none"...

If you integrate the size constraint that I set to myself (255/85-16), you end up with the BFG MTs, Interco Trxus MT and Cooper Discoverer S/T plus a bunch of brands that I know nothing of, and that include remoulds...

The siping attracted me towards the Trxus initially, but when I checked the availability near me, that leaves me with the BFG and the Coopers... And I am very tempted to go mainstream with the BFGs.

Jan

I have the 255/85-16 TrXus MT's (http://www.intercotire.com/site35.php) on my 710, but I would still like a taller tire to gain even more ground clearance and to drop the highway RPM's even further.

I know the 34x10.50 Super Swamper LTBs (http://www.intercotire.com/site36.php) have been used successfully on Pinzgauers for off-road use, but they run so much shorter than their rated size they'd be a step down from the 255's by almost an inch (don't bother with Interco Tire's website's published specs have no relation to their tires' actual dimensions). They're also pretty marginal on-road, since they're cheap bias-ply tires.

Has anyone here tried the 34x9.50 "Narrow SS" Super Swampers (http://www.intercotire.com/site32.php), which are the same diameter as most 35's? On the upside, they're tall, narrow, bulletproof, and have ridiculously deep tread lugs. On the downside, they're bias-ply so they're marginal on the street.

How about the 35x10.50 Super Swamper SSR Radials? (http://www.intercotire.com/site34.php) On the upside, they should fit stock wheels just fine, they're about the toughest RADIAL tires available, and they're great performers off-road yet still about as street-friendly as the TrXus MT's. On the downside, they're expensive.

Does anyone know anything about these alternatives?

If its toughness then the Michelin XZL is probably one of the toughest tyres available and very rated for adventure long distance travel. It is not the best mud terrain and in fact does not excel in any one category except robustness. It is in my view a very good all purpose tyre used by NATO aligned Military throughout the World and lauded by Long distance travellers in remote parts of the world. I have extensive use of these tyres; they are not as good in the Mud as their predecessors the XL or in the sand as the XS but does come close. It is immensely tough, and takes a lot of abuse and is very heavy.

It is sold as a truck tyre, their is one at 8.25 R 16 TL which is ideal, the size which the Military 718/716 used. They do a 9.00R 16 also but frankly I believe that this is too large for the Pinzgauer. The 9.00R 16 version is a much bigger tyre than their processors the XL and XS themselves much bigger than 9.00 bar grips of any type. I can not think of a better Expedition tyre but they would not win the Mudpluging world cup but are OK. They are good in sand and snow and as I said practically indestructible.

http://www.michelintransport.com/ple/fr ... ubrique=47

Anthony wrote:...They do a 9.00R 16 also but frankly I believe that this is too large for the Pinzgauer.

Why do you think that? That's only about 33-34" diameter.

The Cooper STT and the Trxus MT are 2 of my favorite tires.

I have 285/75-16s on my 710m on the stock wheels and they are a perfect fit. They are 33". They are quiet, tough, good on and offroad. They have what I call the "new style" mud terrain tread. They also last a long time.

I have Truxus MTs on my 07 JK Rubicon. 37x12.50x16. These are some of the toughest radials you can buy. I like the 3ply sidewalls, and the abundance of tread on the sidewall. I like the design of the tread- very good on sand, rock, snow. I havent really had them in deep mud. (socal) Lots of siping helps alot.
Little noisier, ride not as smooth, a little hard to balance, but these tires kick-a$$ offroad. I have run just about every tire over the years.

If I knew how, I would post some pics!

Anthony wrote:
...They do a 9.00R 16 also but frankly I believe that this is too large for the Pinzgauer.

Why do you think that? That's only about 33-34" diameter.

I love my 35's

You are incorrect in your assumption, the nominal diameter of the Michelin XL 9.00R 16 is 36.75" and as they give the same diameter for this tyre and the deleted XL of the same size I can also tell you that the XZL is a larger tyre than the XL when stood side by side. I still have one unused XL 9.00R16 and 4 used XZL 9.00R16 the XZL is still taller. The XL then is very close to 37", most manufacturers tyres do not correspond to the manufacturers advertised sizes. I suggest that those quoting tyre sizes do look into the actual size of the tyre, some are a long way short. I think that this size of tyre would have difficulty fitting within the wheel arches of an unmodified 710/712 never mind allowing articulation and steering. One would also have to be concerned with raising the C of G if some widening was not considered especially for the shortie, which is not known for its stability.

rubicon4wheeler wrote:

Anthony wrote:...They do a 9.00R 16 also but frankly I believe that this is too large for the Pinzgauer.

Why do you think that? That's only about 33-34" diameter.

I'd agree with Anthony on that.....I know a guy in Sydney who fitted 9.00 X 16 's to his 712 Pinny for a short time and althought it looked good he had a number of problems .... For one thing he couldn't get full lock and the tyres rubbed the underneath of the body platform in a lot of circumstances.
... and the rear and centre tyres almost touched each other!

I've had the factory original Semperits on my Pinzgauer (I brought a new set off the Australian dealer before they pulled out of Oz) and they were 32".
I then fitted BFG MT's (33")
Next I had two sets of 9X34-16 Swampers (34")
... and finally I've fitted the Simex ET's (35")

The Simex are excellent (I also loved the Swampers and the BFG's are a great road tyre, although I found them pretty useless on steep muddy tracks ) but I think I've reached the Pinny's limit as regards tyre diameter.

It was amusing when we had some freinds from Germany come over last summer with their 712. Their had as their often is discussions on Robbie's site about tyres and fitting 9.00R 16 Michelin's. I showed him first the unused XL and he looked disappointed with raised eyebrows looked seriously thoughtful but said little. I then took him to my LR 101 FC shod with XZL but well used. His eyebrows still raised but more dramatically and he laughed. He agreed that no way would they fit on the Pinzgauer their far too big. The thing is while some manufacturers over inflate the actual sizes and some may be correct others are very modest an underplay size. Michelin is one of these, at least with the XL and XZL and possibly XS as well. They are huge against most 9.00 16 tyres.