Which Tires are best for Sand?

[Dave]

Hi [MENTION=9783]Daggerfall[/MENTION]. As [MENTION=1788]Paul[/MENTION] and [MENTION=8718]MOMO[/MENTION] suggested, there is no one straight answer to your question, hence we all drive on different tires! Even using the basic math of having a large a surface area as possible to prevent sinking into the sand runs into limitations beyond a certain tire size in regards to clearance from the wheel well and changes to the vehicle gearing. It will take a few tire changes to find out what works for you. From my experience BFG A/T, Michelin LTX and Copper a Discoverer AT3's have all worked well.

[matts]

Adding to this, the surface area in contact isn't really defined by the size of the tyre you just make the footprint wider and shorter. Surface area is more a property of how soft the structure of the tyre is and so how much it deforms at low psi. Also as you deflate the tyre footprint increases mostly by getting longer rather than wider, this is why the shaheen ballons are so tall and pliable.

keep in mind, especially at the big tyre sizes they are load D or even E rated. My cooper at3 is theoretically capable of carrying the entire weight of my wrangler on one tyre and that's only D rated (unicycle wrangler anyone?) so much so that on the road I only run 25psi otherwise only the centre of my tyre makes contact.

Also as tyres get olde they get harder. I had BFG at's on and the ride was very harsh. I changed to coopers and much softer.

Just my two cents

[Defragmantor]

I'm the last person to be taken advice from as the only tires I've driven are copper at3 (didn't even drive he stock wrangler wheels) however I must say that idk why is it my driving style or the tire I've never had a pop out (touchwood) I drive aggressive yes but on turns I tend to baby my tires :D

[cyanide]

As OEM Dunlop A/T are good for road use and preferably in most offroading situations for average drives do the job, as most safari drivers drive on OEM. My question is do other brand A/T other than the OEM are also good for road use like on potholes they are soft , and road noise is also minimum. Do they perform as good as OEM tires does on road.

[Dave]

[URL="http://"]http://[/URL]

[momo]

[MENTION=8472]Dave[/MENTION] Nice springs and shocks :whistle:

[Daggerfall]

[URL="http://"]http://[/URL]

Can I fit them to my Kia ? :)

[lizzy]

With your 16" rims, the biggest tyre you should go for is the 265/70 R16. Anything bigger than that will put you over the generally accepted limit of 5% greater then OEM. If you do go bigger, it will reduce your braking ability and limit your acceleration. The question then is AT or HT. If all you ever do is drive on the sand and the road, then road tyres (HT) will be fine. But, if you want to go in the wadis or on mountain tracks, then an AT would be better. BFG A/T, Nitto Terra Grappler, Cooper ATs are all good choices.

[Dave]

From your posting [MENTION=2169]lizzy[/MENTION] I guess you would be advising against me installing the 49 inch tires shown below on my Patrol! You may have a point but it does look good!

[caprihorse]

With your 16" rims, the biggest tyre you should go for is the 265/70 R16. Anything bigger than that will put you over the generally accepted limit of 5% greater then OEM. If you do go bigger, it will reduce your braking ability and limit your acceleration. The question then is AT or HT. If all you ever do is drive on the sand and the road, then road tyres (HT) will be fine. But, if you want to go in the wadis or on mountain tracks, then an AT would be better. BFG A/T, Nitto Terra Grappler, Cooper ATs are all good choices.

I was alway driving 275/70R16 and the most of FJs and Patrols also...