Mud terrians on road

[CNorman]

Hi there guys i think this is my first post so hello, and i have a couple of questions!

I driver a grand vitara (2003) however have recently purchased a 1994 300tdi in ES spec which i intended to use off road. I do however use it on road now to get to work and as a second car.

My question is i want it to go off road as best as possible and feel that a 2" lift and mud terrains would help somewhat.

My question is how would the vehicle drive on road with a 2" lift and BFGoodrich mud terrains?

I have two choices really to fit 245/75R16 MT's and a 2 inch lift or to leave the vehicle at its normal height and fit 235/70R16 general grabbers AT2.

Any help on this subject would be really appreciated as i am fairly new to this subject after spending the last six months doing the odd greenlane with my vitara on AT2's.

Thanks again for any repies i do appreciate it,

Chris

[rollazuki]

Buy a decent set of Mud terrains, and you'll only notice a real difference in the wet.
Dry handling is fine, but a little more care is needed in the wet as they break loose a bit easier.
Dont get extreme tyres(simex/Annaconda type stuff) as they will give poor road handling. Id certainly advise getting mud terrains and realising they may feel a little different, as opposed to getting AT's and wishing you had got mud tyres.



ps dont get road tyres and a spare set of off road tyres. You will NEVER get round to swapping them, and eventually the road tyres will end up on ebay and you will leave the mud tyres on 24/7


Rolla

[patroldriver1]

lift it and run on M/Ts. i did with jeep, done same with patrol. road tyres are in garage and thats where they'l stay

[jono]

I have been running on muds permanently for well over a year and apart from the fact that they are a little noisier that road bias tyres I have had no problems.

[MudRat]

Hi, i have a 1994 300 tdi with a 2" lift andf 235 85 bfg muds, i have a set of road biased tyres on at the moment as the muds in the wet are tricky, seriously tricky, whilst driving at 60mph on a dual carriageway in the wet, cars (and lorries) will affect your road position due to side winds etc and cornering is alot of fun! Muds are ok in the dry, but be careful in the wet!

[thermidorthelobster]

How about All Terrains?  They're a compromise, but a good one IMHO.

[bobtail4x4]

I have 265/75/16 BFG muds and a 2inch lift, they are not to noisy on the road, but "interesting" if you try to press on when on a wet greasy road.

I find if you drive carefully with regards to the conditions they are fine.

[winchman]

Greenway Machos, are very good off road and on, look good on a Disco too.
Whats the point in doing the lift? Your diff will still touch firstand bigger tyres upset the gearing
Leave it standard. fit a good set of tyres and enjoy
This is from some one who had a fully lifted and modded SJ, and now uses a standard Vitara with mud tyres on
If I had the cash I would used Machos again, cheap fab off road, and not bad on road

[Jake]

I run a 2" lift and Mud's on a disco
Its a bit rolly in the corners (but then again i have removed the anti roll bars), apart from that its fine
Muds are good on the road as long as you go for a good brand.
BF Goodrich will do the job very well for you.
 8)

[extreme90]

Buy a decent set of Mud terrains, and you'll only notice a real difference in the wet.
Dry handling is fine, but a little more care is needed in the wet as they break loose a bit easier.
Dont get extreme tyres(simex/Annaconda type stuff) as they will give poor road handling. Id certainly advise getting mud terrains and realising they may feel a little different, as opposed to getting AT's and wishing you had got mud tyres.



ps dont get road tyres and a spare set of off road tyres. You will NEVER get round to swapping them, and eventually the road tyres will end up on ebay and you will leave the mud tyres on 24/7


Rolla

top advise, i do like the handling of these extreme trekkers tho corners ace in the wet  :lol:

[ChrisW]

I have two choices really to fit 245/75R16 MT's and a 2 inch lift or to leave the vehicle at its normal height and fit 235/70R16 general grabbers AT2.

Firstly, 245/75's will fit standard suspension with a bit of trimming to the arches, with a 2" lift you can fit 235/85.

You will notice a difference in fuel consumption on MT's even more so with 235/85's, I used to get about 420 miles to a tank on stock tyres and suspension - thats now down to about 380 with a 2" lift and 235/85 BFG MT's fitted although part of that is down to the over correction that factory speedo's have built in.
Typically on 245/75s the tyre size brings the speedo pretty much in line with what your actual speed is.

There are a lot of tyre choices out there that are probably better on greenlanes and tarmac than the AT2's - Cooper Discoverer ST are supposed to be pretty reasonable.

The main argument for going 2" + 235/85 is most of the 'ruts' you come across tend to be Defender sized - stock suspension and tyres on a Discovery get's bottomed out a lot!

[CNorman]

Thanks for al of those replies. I do apreciate them.

What does interest me is the fitting of 235/85 tyres. Could anyone tell me what mods i would actually need to do in order to fit these. The tyre fitting guide says stuff like "Steering stops" and body cuts. Could someone explain what this would entai.

I am particually interested in the body cuts as i will try to look after my landy and when i have had it some time i would like to returnm it to normal and sell it so body cutsw do put me off.

Thanks guys,

Chris

[barnhill4x4]

I have 235/85 Machos on mine. I drive 500 miles a week and they wear a little faster than the pirelli All Terrains I used to have on it but they are half the price. The car does feel a little more wallowy (if thats a word!) but its a lot more comfortable!
  Off road compared to the AT's its like a different car!

[Range Rover Blues]

I'm dissapointed with my BFG, they are not as good off road as the Machos I used to have, though they are better on tarmac.  They are interesting in the wet but now they have been on for a year I find the back ones have softned and tend to roll a lot on corners, they are 235/85 though so you have to cut them some slack.  I did find out the reason Tim was always better off road then me, let's just say he needs a new tyre pressure gauge :roll:
I have a set of AT and yes, at the moment they are stored but that's got more to do with having a complete SPARE CAR.  Otherwise I make the effort to swap them if there's no need to keep them on.  

If we get the snow that's promised (yeah, right) I'll be using the ATs on Blue and leaving the LSE at home.

ATs are too much of a compramise, on the LSE they wear quickly on road and off road they getr stuck too easily.

Of course it depends on how you define AT

[WoodyWolf]

I started out with some cheap 205 AT on my 94 200tdi which proved quite interesting on the greenlanes, then the first playday I whent on they just proved to limiting so they had to go. I ended up fitting KUMHO 245/75r16 MT which have made a playdays alot more fun. I haven't got a lift though just HD springs to compensate for the winch bumper and protection weight, also had to do the camel cut at the rear for the tyre clearance.