 | Home > Wheels & Tyres > General Grabber 83 or Insa Turbo dakar tyres??? - Falklands |
 
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| diesel_jim Member Since: 13 Oct 2008 Location: hiding Posts: 6092   
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Try giving Bogmonster a PM, as he lives there (Fkl Islands).
He'll know for sure. |
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17th Jun 2020 8:17pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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I think you mean General Grabber AT3? In which case, they're an excellent tyre. They're also mountain/snowflake winter rated so sound like a much better bet than the Insa Turbos for your intended usage. Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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17th Jun 2020 9:00pm |
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| Harry.O Member Since: 25 Jul 2014 Location: Warwickshire Posts: 713 
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No idea on the Insa option but a few of the 4x4s at work run GG AT3s and I rate them highly. We have BFGs on some of the vehicles also and they definitely have the advantage in mud but the GGs seem to stand up better to punctures from laterite and shale roads, work a lot better on sandy surfaces and are quieter on tarmac. 2005 Td5 110 Hardtop
1989 300Tdi 90 Soft top 1992 200Tdi 90 Truck cab with Land Cruiser axles |
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18th Jun 2020 8:20am |
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| SteveT247 Member Since: 21 Feb 2011 Location: Central Posts: 491  
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I run Dakar's on my current and previous Defender. I've never used GG so I can't compare them, but here's my opinion on the Dakar. Both vehicles doubled as my everyday car and laning/off-road truck so usage was a mixture of roads, lanes, and very occasional motorway.
On the road they hold the road well and I haven't had any nasty surprises. I don't find them overly noisy and while you can hear them, it isn't intrusive and really only noticeable above 50-55 mph. They are a mud tyre so I would expect them to be noisier than an A/T. Off-road, I've been very impressed with them and have performed well in both mud and on rock. They are a remold and the compound is probably a bit softer than on the GG, which means they will wear quicker. The softer compound is possibly one of the reasons they perform well on rock and hold the road however. I don't do starship mileage so for me, I'm happy to trade mileage for the performance they've given me. My current set I have had on for around 3 years and are just over 1/2 worn, the tread in the centre down to around 8mm from 18mm. For some reason, my current set (265/75/16) seems to be wearing a lot better than the set on my previous Defender (235/85/16). When the time comes to change them, I'm planning on trading up to 255/85/16, a size the Dakar isn't available in, so they will be replaced with something else. If they were available in this size, then I would more than likely get another set. HTH. |
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22nd Jun 2020 6:05pm |
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| BogMonster Member Since: 05 Feb 2008 Location: Stanley Posts: 400  
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Ah, this one is for me
First things first, if you want to do any serious offroading you should probably reconsider a Freelander. It's a great all-round car for the roads here and handles very well on gravel, unlike Defenders which can be 'interesting' for the unwary, plenty end up in the ditch. Off road - Freelander is suitable for light summer use but will struggle a bit in wetter conditions. I say that with some knowledge as I organised the launch event for the Freelander 2 with Autocar, where they shipped two pre-prod vehicles to the FI and flogged them around for a week, and it was wet. I admit they did much better than I expected but by god they were hammered to get to some places, mainly because of the lack of low range - they just had to charge everything. You couldn't drive a vehicle like that for long and keep it reliable. The same really goes for the Discovery range. The main off road terrain here is very soft peat, so the main vehicles of choice are either Defenders fitted with wide tyres (33x12.50R15), lifted Toyotas with big tyres, or crewcab pickups which are relatively light. The Discoverys are just too heavy for the tyres on them and all the terrain response in the world is no use if all four wheels sink. However ... the real question is what do you want to do? A lot of people come here having bought loads of kit and end up selling it after a year often still in its packaging. The Freelander will probably cope with light summertime offroading in small groups, which is what most people are likely to do. So, tyre choice. We have five vehicles, the three Defenders all run 33x12.50R15 BFG MT2s and are all used everywhere, the Shogun and the Ranger both run slightly oversize BFG ATs for mainly on-road use including the unmade roads and winter snow. A good AT is fine on the road at all times of the year and they usually offer much better puncture resistance than normal tyres, MTs obviously trade noise and wear for much better off road traction. I've both owned remoulds, and sold them in my last job, and personally I wouldn't use them - the older ones had a nasty habit of delaminating with stone chip damage on the gravel roads here. The roads are really hard on tyres (and everything else). I typically get about 20,000 miles out of a set of BFG ATs here, which when you consider people talk about five times that mileage elsewhere, tells you that you need good tyres. I do know some people use remoulds but I don't know how well they last. The General AT3 seems fine, my father runs them on his Discovery 4. If BFG stopped making the AT then I would either get the AT3s or the Maxxis 980. The Freelanders we tested were running the AT2s which are slightly more aggressive but generally with the terrain response system it was surprising where they got to with a heavy right foot. If you really think you'll go off road, then a set of MTs of some sort would be worth considering. Bear in mind you may not be able to buy replacements locally, and tyres will take ~2 months to get here by sea, so consider whether you want to bring an extra spare. I think the dealer will probably stock AT3s to suit a Freelander 2, but if you want to check I can get their email address for you or PM me with the size you need and I'll check. Are you based at MPA with the military, in Stanley, or elsewhere? Photo: Steve Cropley, editor of Autocar, discovering that Terrain Response is not infallible 
 Click image to enlarge Dougie Dale, the LR Experience instructor, demonstrating the same 
Click image to enlarge --- 2006 Defender 110 SW 300Tdi • 2011 Ford Ranger XLT crewcab • 2015 Defender 110 Station Wagon Utility TDCi |
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28th Jun 2020 1:10pm |
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