FEDERAL 285 75 16 TYRES

[JR7800]

Good day to you all.
First up thanks for approving my application. Forum looks great, been looking at all your guys nice rides for a while.

I finaly decided to get myself a life long dream, my little wonder... (4500 GL 2000 model, sorry, could not save and wait any more for the 4.8)

I decided to put on these tires Federal Couragia MT 285 75 16 tyres, since some of my friends have put them on their vehicles and found them very reliable.

I dfinaly did it yesterday, the Patrol looks great, but the noise, im going crazy... I have no experience with regard to having any tipe of MT tire on my vehicles, is it normal. It almost sound as if my whole diff is seizing up.

Please any advice or will be greatly appreciated.

[JohnBoyZA]

Hallo Johan

baie welkom!

I really want MTs too, but I don't know if my wife will live with the noise ! Just make sure that your balancing and alignment is tip top!

[Gerrit Loubser]

The more aggressive tyres normally are significantly more noisy than the more road biased or "all terrain" types.

Looking at the tread pattern design on the Federal Couragia MT I can imagine that they might be quite noisy, even possibly when compared to other similar tyres. Have a look at the tread design of the BFG MT AT KM2:



You will notice that the BFG has much more lateral overlap of the tread blocks. This basically means that the tread rubber enters into contact with the road surface in a more gradual fashion than would be the case on the Federal Couragia MT. The impact of the tread blocks hitting the road is the source of the noise and the BFG design seeks to minimze this. The Federal Couragia MT might well have advantages in very rough conditions or in mud.

[Tjaart]

hello John

Lekker Tekkies man!! Many happy miles. I must say, once you hit the rough stuff and the mud starts flying and your heart goes boom boom boom, then all that road noise fly out the window!! I'm driving on Maxxis Bighorns,

Bighorns.jpg (137.99 KiB) Viewed 3694 times

and they sing on the tar, but once I get on the track and into the mud, I sing all the way!!! But remember, you must take your Patrol into the mud,

The Brave5.JPG (249.57 KiB) Viewed 3694 times

or the mudders will be for nothing!!

[JR7800]

Wow,thanks for the response guys.

Tjaart, dont worry the mud will come, plenty and deep. Hope to post some pics soon.

Maybe will just have to get use to the noise.

My next Q is with regard to exhaust, but will post it under the right heading.

Nice pics Tjaart what year model is your Patrol?

[Tjaart]

the Brave is a 4500 GRX, 2000 model.

I got it with 124K on the clock for R185K. Now it has 160K on it, and runs like a nun. Speaking of Exhausts. My manifold cracked , and then I replaced it with Wild Cat branches @ R3500, and refit the exhaust with 63mm dia stainless steel. What a charm!! And it roars like nothing else. There are few things in life that comes close to a straight six that breaths properly!! Especially above 4500 rpm!!! It helps with power and consumption. I get 6.11km/l !! But not very often , because there is so much power!!!

By the way. I bought Bridgestone Dueler M/T 673 33" x 12.5 x 15" tires. generally, 15" is cheaper and more readily available. Will post pics soon!!

[Ross]

Hi JR7800,

I ran the Federal Couragia MT on my previous 4x4. In general the traction off road was awesome, but I found that they got cut and chipped very badly over stoney terrain. I did the Naukluft Trail in Namibia with them in 2007 (which is very rocky), and although they didn`t puncture they looked like they`d been through a war zone by the end!!!

I also found them to be extremely noisy. I currently have 33" Maxxis Big Horns fitted to my Trol (also a fairly aggressive tread pattern), and the bighorns are quiet in comparison to the Federals.

My other criticism of the Federal is the handling on wet tar, which I found dangerously poor. Perhaps when fitted to a heavier vehicle this characteristic would improve due to the increased ground presure, but I would never the less advise extreme caution when driving on wet tar, as I found braking distances were significantly increased over the previous AT tyres that I had fitted. I have not found the same issue with the Maxxis Bighorns.

My 2c

[Russ Kellermann]

You boys should save yourself the hassles and put on Kumho KL71's , best tire i've ever used in my life. Even bites deep into slick wet grass. unbelievable. Road noise mainly on cornering at low speeds (sounds like your whel bearings are gone) but high speeds fine. Wet tar really good too. No chipping and gouging, even over the worst terrain. Sand at the right pressure was a breeze too. just awesome. However they are Directional tyres so keep that in mind.

Ps: i was one of the first people to purchase these years ago and i've had two sets. the first set gave me 83000km and the second i sold with my truck on 15000 (still brand new in my opinion)

Not one puncture in over 3.5 years

Ps2: they were voted the "worlds best offroad tyre of the year" 2009 and have won a few other awards to date.

Ps3:Great prices

Anyway

Im up for some muddies on my patrol soon. i may well consider a third set!