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Home > Wheels & Tyres > Best Mud Terrains

What Tyre Is Best For An Overlanding Trip Round Africa?

Mud Terrain

36%

[7]

All Terrain

63%

[12]

Total Votes: 19

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freds

Member Since: 26 Mar 2009
Location: London - England + Cape Town - South Africa
Posts: 53

Best Mud Terrains

Hi all,

was wondering if you could help me choose some new tyres. I spoke to a supplier on Friday and he said that he's running Kumho KL-71 mud terrains and they're great, he said that in his opinion they are better than BFG... Apparently the self cleaning is better, the wear is better - one gets more mileage and less wear than the BFG's and they're meant to be noticeably quieter..

Im wanting tyres for a trip round africa, and they are going to be 285/75/R16's. Could you please give me your advise on:

1) is a Mud Terrain the right tyre for the trip or would a All Terrain be better?

2) which brand of tyre is best. In other words which one gives the best mileage/wear, best self cleaning, least amount of noise.. etc etc..

Thanks Freddie

20th Apr 2009 7:41am

kljw

Member Since: 23 Jan 2009
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 265

2009 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 SVX Soft Top Auto Santorini Black

Freds
just be carefull with the Kumho, as i think they are re-molds. i will probally get hundreds of comments saying that there is nothing wrong with a remold, but if your in the midle of no-where, is a a wise idea to take the chance.

on my svx (see pictures in my defender) i have micky thomson ATZ (all terrians) 305 section. they perform well (see video inj my defender section).

good look. Cheers
keith
puer claudius

20th Apr 2009 7:52am

freds

Member Since: 26 Mar 2009
Location: London - England + Cape Town - South Africa
Posts: 53

kljw wrote:
Freds
just be careful with the Kumho, as i think they are re-molds. i will probably get hundreds of comments saying that there is nothing wrong with a remold, but if your in the middle of no-where, is a a wise idea to take the chance.

Im going to be taking 2-3 spares with but do you know anything about their strength and so on?? they're meant to have a super strong sidewall and so on..

The thing is im in South Africa at the mo and tyres down here are an arm and a leg! im looking at R2300 (174.21 GBP) Per tyre for the Kumho's.. BFG's im looking at around £200 and Micky's are MUCH more.. Would you say that Micky's are worth it?? are they the best tyre?

I saw pictures of your SVX a while ago, its a beautiful Machine!! love the black rims and tyres!! what size are they? If you dont mind me asking what did the Auto Gearbox cost you, just have a friend who would love a landy but cant drive manual to save his life!

Thanks
Freddie

20th Apr 2009 8:04am

sasha2001

Member Since: 02 Jan 2009
Location: New Zealand+ russia
Posts: 206

2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 CSW Tonga Green

I will say if you are going to the north west of Africa, niger, mali, maurantia etc get MICHELIN only xzl, or their all terrain, they are incredibly tough and will not puncture from all the camel thorns etc in those dasert countries
We transveresed Africa begining with goodyears, they punctured 3 times a day in those conditions. the micehlins on the next truck did NOT!!!
we changed to them and no problemd, they have a very strong sidewall

20th Apr 2009 8:27am

110SEB

Member Since: 29 Jan 2009
Location: Essex, England
Posts: 1444

2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Java Black

sasha2001 wrote:
I will say if you are going to the north west of Africa, niger, mali, maurantia etc get MICHELIN only xzl, or their all terrain, they are incredibly tough and will not puncture from all the camel thorns etc in those dasert countries
We transveresed Africa begining with goodyears, they punctured 3 times a day in those conditions. the micehlins on the next truck did NOT!!!
we changed to them and no problemd, they have a very strong sidewall

That sounds like a brilliant recommendation. XZL look brilliant too as a bonus.

Wasn't there a guy in one of the mags who had done 180,000 miles on the same set and they had plenty of tread left.

20th Apr 2009 8:50am

alantd

Member Since: 14 Dec 2008
Location: Northamptonshire
Posts: 1513

2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Tonga Green

[open] can of worms [/open]

You'll get plenty of different views on this. Many of the folks I've spoken to would choose ATs over MTs for Africa (can be run at lower PSI) but that's particularly when sand is involved. Also better on roads - especially when the LR is heavily laden.

Then again, you'll get a stack of folks who love their MTs and would go anywhere (quite literally) in them.

Just make sure you get something that is widely available wherever you're traveling. There are definitely better tryes out there than BFGs but they are pretty ubiquitous. One that started out as a 2.4 TDCi 110 XS
+ New Defender 110 First Edition

20th Apr 2009 8:59am

freds

Member Since: 26 Mar 2009
Location: London - England + Cape Town - South Africa
Posts: 53

sasha2001 wrote:
I will say if you are going to the north west of Africa, niger, mali, maurantia etc get MICHELIN only xzl, or their all terrain, they are incredibly tough and will not puncture from all the camel thorns etc in those dasert countries
We transveresed Africa begining with goodyears, they punctured 3 times a day in those conditions. the micehlins on the next truck did NOT!!!
we changed to them and no problemd, they have a very strong sidewall

I havent heard anything good about goodyears.. are Michelins the 'hardest' tyre?? what would you go for seeing as you've done abit through africa, all terrains or Mud terrains?? what tyre do you get the most mileage out of etc?

thanks

20th Apr 2009 9:09am

sasha2001

Member Since: 02 Jan 2009
Location: New Zealand+ russia
Posts: 206

freds wrote:
sasha2001 wrote:
I will say if you are going to the north west of Africa, niger, mali, maurantia etc get MICHELIN only xzl, or their all terrain, they are incredibly tough and will not puncture from all the camel thorns etc in those dasert countries
We transveresed Africa begining with goodyears, they punctured 3 times a day in those conditions. the micehlins on the next truck did NOT!!!
we changed to them and no problems, they have a very strong sidewall

I havent heard anything good about goodyears.. are Michelins the 'hardest' tyre?? what would you go for seeing as you've done abit through africa, all terrains or Mud terrains?? what tyre do you get the most mileage out of etc?

thanks

HI, it was a long time ago but I have friends still there and still think the same!!!, I am not a expert re A/t verus M/T but mud such as congo etc is a small part of the journey we did we managed with all terrain mixture of tyres we "lost" some tyres and managed on ordinary ones also, to see the picture of typical mud we did and the tyres that managed it see this link this was on the way down!!
you can manage on very basic tyres also
http://avtokosmos.ru/forum/showthread.php?t=1283

20th Apr 2009 7:45pm

freds

Member Since: 26 Mar 2009
Location: London - England + Cape Town - South Africa
Posts: 53

Great thanks everyone!!

i think i will give the Kumhos a shot.. will let you know feedback.. i've found a great deal on them as far as south african prices go. I may very well carry a couple (2) skinny michelin spares.. but well see what the budget is looking like at the end of the day.

thanks for all the advise!! this forum is great, dont know what id be doing without you guys.

cheers
freddie

20th Apr 2009 10:08pm

jddisco200tdi

Member Since: 22 Jul 2008
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 21

2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 SW Zermatt Silver

You mentioned 285/75R16 ? Are they a common tyre in Africa. I would have thought not, but a 7.50X16 or 235/85R16 would be a tyre you can get just about anywhere after you have shredded a few.

Just something to think about. Regards

John D - Defender 110 2.4

21st Apr 2009 7:57am

shorty

Member Since: 31 Oct 2008
Location: Hillcrest, Kwa Zulu Natal
Posts: 160

2009 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Chawton White

guys the 235/85/16's are readily available throughout most parts of Africa. 285 could be a problem. Im a BFG fan simply because I have suffered zero punctures where many in a convoy with other brands have!! Kingsley Holgate chose the Cooper M/T brand on his African outer edge safari and had only good news to report. I have heard allot of good comments on the Cooper brand and its apparently found in every major african city. Land Rover's don't leak oil, they simply mark their territory!

21st Apr 2009 3:11pm

discocuzzy

Member Since: 16 Jul 2008
Location: surrey
Posts: 1200

I swear by BFGs..punctured an AT tyre in Tunisia at low pressure, never had any problems with them.
By the way the Khumos are not remoulds and were joint test winners with BFG MTs here in the uk in one of the comics.

Jelous as hell re the trip mind

You cannot teach stupid people to do clever things

21st Apr 2009 5:14pm

phalaboys

Member Since: 30 Mar 2009
Location: Phalaborwa
Posts: 5

cooper all the way ive got them they exelent 110 TD5 2004 D/cab Pick up

21st Apr 2009 5:48pm

alantd

Member Since: 14 Dec 2008
Location: Northamptonshire
Posts: 1513

The Cooper Discoverer ST is somewhere between the BFG AT and MT. It might be a nice compromise.

I know the transglobal guys used Coopers. I don't know what their experience was. One that started out as a 2.4 TDCi 110 XS
+ New Defender 110 First Edition

21st Apr 2009 10:47pm

banjokid

Member Since: 04 Mar 2009
Location: leeds
Posts: 9

kumho mt

freds
hi i have just bought kumho kl71 mt 265/75x16 tyres and put them on my 90
they are fantastic great on tar and brill on off road no road noise either i would recomend to anyone!!!
they arnt re-moulds . hope this helps in your quest!!!!

28th May 2009 9:34pm

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