Offroad Tyres and Wheels

Offroad Tyres and Wheels

0:00 Intro
0:58 SIDEWALL IS KING
5:10 Small sidewalls and REDUCED pressures
7:00 What is a GOOD SIDEWALL size??
7:57 Tyre Wheel Combo for Touring vs Proper 4x4ing
11:07 Tyre Choice SIZE & TYPE
14:04 IMPORTANT THINGS
16:40 Vehicle Specific recommended SIZES/COMBOS

The EXTRA advice:

70 series Landcruiser:
16-17' rims with 33-35 inch (not much difference in fuel usage with this vehicle between 33-35 and the gearing in high and low works well)
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Y62 Patrol Dash Offroads advice:
For aftermarket rims we tend to go for anything between pos 18 and pos 25 to get them sitting nicely (stock is +45).
For tyres on a 62 there is kinda three categories

The tourer - 285/65/18 - this is 20mm wider but keeps the same rolling diameter and this little loss in fuel economy but a better OffRoad tyre

Legal weekend warrior - 295/70/18 - very popular as its almost a 35 but not quite (34.3”). This is about as big as you can go and stay legal as it’s less than 50mm increase. They also fit without a lift.

“It’s a 35 or nothing” - these are the serious 4WDer type. Often matched with diff gears (3.67:1) and give best traction while not sapping too much power form the engine. Many will still tow big vans with this tyre size. Some (like me) will start to look at 20” rims as they suit the size of the car and look great matched to 35’s. You can of course go up to 37’s, but let’s face it that is just for a special few and ruins the cars reliability.
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Defender 110-130 Grizzly and Bears advice:
In choosing 265/75R16s MT we've got an aggressive tyre that has proven itself on snow, mud, sand, gravel and bitumen all over the world that is also the same diameter as the 235/85 with 30mm extra width.
I like to have the 265s for a slightly wider stance.
We learned the hard way that bigger is not always better especially when carrying heavy loads.
On our initial build we ran 285/75s which led to us eventually snapping a swivel ball housing in the mountains of Kyrgyz The additional stress that big tyres put on your vehicle's bearings, hubs, CVs etc is significant and will cause damage and premature wear.

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Hilux N70:
Touring 31-32's on 15-16inch +10-offset wheels (requires splash guards to be slightly altered)
Weekend warrior on fun tracks 32-33 on 15 inch 0-offset wheels with body mount chop by certified fabricator. Upper control arms recommended and if 33's re-gearing final drive also recommended

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Hilux N80
Touring 31-32's on 17inch wheels (requires splash guards to be slightly altered)
Weekend warrior on fun tracks 33's on 17 inch wheels with body mount chop by certified fabricator. Upper control arms recommended



Find us at the links below:

[Hackapoid]

Ronny you forgot one huge issue when choosing Tyre size! GEARING. It’s not a huge issue on modern diesels that have huge amounts of torque but older 4wds and 4wds with less power are seriously effected by this issue. When you go larger tyres you’re gearing becomes a lot taller meaning you lose your low range crawl speed, this makes the 4wd fast and uncontrollable in low range 4wding situations. You have to either run smaller tyres or get reduction gears to regain your gearing. I have a old Suzuki Sierra, they have 26inch tyres stock I put 29inch tyres on, my gearing was so tall I could not use 5th gear on the highway. After I installed transfer case reduction gears I could use my 5th gear again and my low range was 100x better! I think gearing is something that is seriously overlooked!!!

You’re van life modified episode is a good example of this issue. 👍

[derekeasterbrook]

Hi Ronny, another point you should have briefly mentioned, and it's mentioned in other videos, is that the larger tyres affects the speedometer. I have a 2006 Hilux and I've kept the standard steel rims but I've upgraded the tyre to the maximum allowable for that rim size, 225x75x16. Even this slight increase in tyre size means that if I'm doing 100 kph, I'm actually doing 104 kph and I coud get booked for speeding. That's something everyone should keep in mind. Keep up the good work because I really enjoy your great videos.

[alexanderray]

Thanks for this Rhonny. I am in the process of 'saving' for a set of new A/T tyres and greatly appreciate the effort you go to on explanation (including the little cardboard signs:)

[maitrikashin]

My 2005 Kia Sorento BL 3.5L V6 - built on a ladder frame chassis back when Kia were serious about off-roading. I've had a 2" lift since it was new - currently using Bilstein Shocks with Dobinson Springs. I drove it out of the showroom on a set of Coopers. After 200, 000kms I'm on my 3rd set of 245x75xR16 Cooper Discoverer ATs (LT). That's the same height as a 265x70 but with a bigger side wall in a 30.5' tyre. They're rated at over 1000kgs each, holding up a GVM of 2560. They've been brilliant!

[johnalthuizen]

Thanks Ronny . I’ve got 180, 000ks on my 79 now, at least half of that towing a 2.5T off-road van. I am just 10, 000ks into my third set of Bridgestone Desert Dueler AT697 LT265/75R16 120/123 E load rating. 70PSI on LC rears when towing, 50PSI in fronts and on single axle van on road, 45PSI on LC rears, 28PSI fronts and 32PSI van on dirt, 35PSI rears, 20PSI fronts and 25PSI van on sharp stones, heavy corrugations and sand. GCR 5 trips, GRR 2 trips with one to Kalumburu, inc EQ lookouts as explosion gorge without van of course, Roper River Savannah Way, Lorella Springs, Oodnadatta, Strzelecki, Stony Desert, Tanami etc etc all towing. Two punctures resulting in one repair and one damaged beyond. I use the standard Toyota GXL alloys on LC and Van. Only time I wished for more tyre is on the beach rear wheelbase correction would be also handy. It’s important to study the load ratings of the exact tyre you propose to use as a slightly different size can drop you down from a LT 10ply to a much weaker 8 ply. Great tyre combo, gets me where I want to go most of the time, quiet, good fuel economy, long life at >80, 000ks on each set of 5 (caravan still on first pair with never used spare) Just sharing my combo.

[craigquann]

Don't forget a common size tire. Odd sizes are hard to find. Wreck a tire on a trip and you could have a hard time sourcing a new one. My case I was looking at getting LT285/75R17 for my truck. It's the largest size I can fit without trimming. It also allowed me to use my factory rims. But they were special order/not commonly stocked and a bit pricier. So instead I went with a LT285/70R18. Functionally equivalent, I had to buy rims but the tires were cheaper, very common with more selection. Plus I was able to sell my used tires and rims to help recoup some of the cost.

[spudboy]

70 Series: Best touring size is 255/85R16. Slightly taller than stock (on a Troopy anyway - not sure about the 76 or 79), just enough so the speedo reads accurately. They air down brilliantly.

[Kiwigd]

Running an older (2004) Hilux that allows me to run 15” rims.. I’m happy on the true 31’ hybrid tyres, increased offset slightly

[TheDomenF]

I have 265/70r17 tyres on my Hilux on original rim, but next tire choice I am considering will be 255/75r17 which is the best compromise tire I guess, 32.1inch height and you can also get it C rated, less weight, better consumption. Great videos Ronny :)

[grantreed]

Gen 2 Pajero gets awesome offroad with 285 75r16 (33's) with 0 offset rims. Took yours and a lot of others advice and went with the razr mt's and my swb is basically a little mountain goat! 🐐

[peterfitzmaurice]

Thanks for this vid Ronnie. I’ve just been through the tyre choice process, after watching your vids the choice was pretty easy. The tyre choice for my old rodeo ended up being some aggressive A/T’s with a smaller diameter than what was on it. 32 down to 31. My rig is much happier now and suits my purpose of being a daily with the occasional trip to the bush.

[PaletoB]

Really cool visualisation.

I saw a cool feature on a tractor steel wheel, the rim edge was rounded back on it'self.

[justinjohnson]

Thanks for making all of your videos! It’s been immensely helpful for a new off roader like myself. Keep up the good work!

[KTMcaptain]

16:51 actually 20" rims with 40" tires work well. Funny thing is that falls right into your earlier recommendation of not exceeding 9-9.5" of sidewall height.

[soscorpio]

Here in Lebanon my BF Goodrich All Terrains 31.5 on 16 inch stock rims and suspension. Get me through snow and rocks. 15 psi in snow and 28 on road never ever been stuck. Helps having a 91 pajero coupe though!!

[uansari]

Awesome advice…I watched all of your videos on tires before choosing ATs for my Fortuner with stock 18” wheels. My issue is that where I live, Pakistan, getting quality after markets or steel wheels is a major pain, and very costly. So I split the difference and upgraded to larger tires (265/65/18 KO2s). They run 31.5” and are fine for what I do (85% on road driving), but still give me flexibility and peace of mind when dropping pressures off-road. Ideally I wanted 17s with 265/70/17s, but like I said…wasn’t comfortable with the cheap Chinese knockoff wheels that are prolific here.

[slamboy]

I don't know why, but I scrolled down real quick to make sure I was SUBBED.

[Car-crazy]

I have 265/65R17 (31" ) all seasons on my Prado which is what it came with. So far very happy with them, but once I do a bit more challenging stuff will see how they go. Once they wear up I might go for a bit more aggressive a/t but nothing to crazy. As much as off roading with it I use in snow in winter so I also have dedicated winter tyres (studless) at the same size. Plenty of sidewall allows more flex for shaking off the snow out of the treads better than a low sidewall. Its a big reason I bought the TX and not the higher spec model as that comes with 18 or 19" rims with much thinner tyres.

[Matt-pxki]

Awesome vid as always! Jammed full of experience and real world knowledge. You’ve saved a lot of people money and embarrassment over the years. Keep up the good work Ronny.

[mohammedalmahmood]

Thank you Ronny, always very informative and helpful.. The tables you presented are a good reference to always go back to. Greetings from Bahrain, Middle East.