Overlanding - Namibia

[Lekrom]

Some lovely images and looks like a great trip!

[ra_01]

Thanks mate

[mvcoller]

I will rather have 3 tyres with damage like that than ever fitting BFGs.

After two sets of ATRs that were lethal on both dry wet tar and chipped like so that it looked like rats got hold of them, plus one set of MTRs that was crazy noisy. It was enough to say goodbye to them. After just more than 6000km I swapped them out.....

[SCUBA Patrol]

I will rather have 3 tyres with damage like that than ever fitting BFGs.

After two sets of ATRs that were lethal on both dry wet tar and chipped like so that it looked like rats got hold of them, plus one set of MTRs that was crazy noisy. It was enough to say goodbye to them. After just more than 6000km I swapped them out.....

Hi Malcom,

What tyres you now running and what is the results, km, noise, breaking in wet and off-road ability?

I'm running BFG's AT2's for the last 10 years and never had problems even at 0.4 Bar at KleinTafelberg.

[mvcoller]

I am running Maxxis 764 Bighorns on my recently acquired TB45, I have not used them in anger other than one outing to De Wildt.

On my TD30 Patrol I currently use Sailun Terramax MTR. They wear very quickly, I MAY get 40k km out of them, but they are quiet and great off road. I did the Patrol 70th anniversary to Goerapan in 2021 with them and Richtersveld trip this time last year with them, no problems, no punctures, no chipping. They are good on wet tar as well and fairly quiet on the road, not at all intrusive, even tar.

I had 5 x 285/70 R17s KMs on the Patrol for about 6000km before, they were extremely noisy, making long distance travel a pain, so I managed to find someone with nearly new 265/70 R17 KO2s and swapped him level up. They were a lot quieter, fairly good off road but poor in mud and outright dangerous on wet tar. That is when I replaced them with the Sailuns MTRs. Like chalk and cheese.

I had two sets of rims for the YD25 Pathfinder, so put the KO2s on those and fitted it on the Pathfinder, where they were a total disaster on wet tar and poor even on dry tar. If I pulled away on dry good tar, and then floored it, they would loose traction and screech like a banshee until traction control intervened and cut power. Even driving slowly on smooth cement in parking garages they screeched so much that everyone stared.

Twice the wife drove the Pathy in the wet, and after the second time she complained that she will not drive the vehicle in the wet again after a near disaster when trying to stop for a traffic light. She did not know it was the tyres, she thought it was the vehicle. I refitted the old 60% worn Bridgestone 694s and the Pathfinder was right as rain again.

I sold the KM2s for a song on FB Market Place... At this stage the tyres had between 10 and 11mm tread left.

On Both the Pathfinder and my previous Terrano, the Bridgestones turned out to be my Go-To tyre. On the Terrano (my safari vehicle before buying the TD30 Patrol), I used these for safaris for about 200k km (3 sets) and they coped very well. I do safaris as a business.

[ra_01]

Maxxis AT razor 811 are good, they have good road grip and cabin noise levels at highway speeds is not noticeable, to my ears anyway. I don't have experience with BF KO2 or any BF, so I cant comment them.

Last year before Namibia trip, I drove roughly 5600 km around Cape area, this includes Tankwa Karoo, Namaqua park (some deep sandy roads at coastal camp area). At that time I had Good year wrangler Kevlar AT. Never had any problems with these tyres. they performed very well which is a surprise, I even brought a brand new spare, thinking I will need one, but never used it, still lying in my garage. If GY wrangler had 285X70 R17 AT spec, I would have definitely bought them.

Perhaps, Namibia gravel roads are not as forgiving as South Africa.