Insa's for rock crawlin' ?

[ciganka]

Hi guys, I know a lot of you are using Insa Special Tracks for mud and quite clearly they are awesome. Do any of you have any experience using them for rock crawling?

I've got one chance to get this right as my vehicle is just about to be imported, and am concerned that as remoulds they'll shred over rock which is my main use for them up here in the mountains. These rocks have previously made mince-meat out of my Niva tyres albeit they are naturally s*** quality.  Are the Insas actually TOUGH (decent side walls etc), or are they just aggressive yet soft, and best used in mud?

I'd be very grateful for any thoughts. If they are to be avoided on strength grounds do any of you rock crawlers out there have any favourites in a similar price are. Ta!

[pux]

the person you need to talk to is Bulli on here as i know he does a fair bit of rock crawling........as for insa's being good for that i would say no and would look for a BFG mud terrain pattern as you will get best of both world's that's my 2p worth :D

[Tommo]

dont they do an insa turbo sahara that is a bit more rock crawler friendly?

[ciganka]

ah, so is this a tread pattern issue for rocks, or are the saharas a tougher tyre. I've seen those and didnt think they looked so aggressive as the special track hence had ruled them out. Is a slightly denser tread pattern an advantage then?

[Tommo]

im no expert but i thought rock crawling required a bit more surface area for maximum grip on the rocks.

I dont think the sahara is designed for rock crawling but might be better than you think, if you look at all the big US rock crawling tyres none of them are nearly as agressive as the insa turbo's.

[ciganka]

yes follow your logic there and in fact saw the BFG rock crawling tyre today on the internet and that is perhaps even less aggressive looking than the BFG Mud. So I am now wondering if the Insa Dakars would be a good choice. Much denser but still very similar to BFG mud.

[Sharpshooter]

I have Insa Dakars on my Disco. Although i dont use it for rock crawling, they are a very good tyre. I have done over 12000mls and they are hardly worn. Much different to other remoulds i have used. They perform very well even on wet roads.

I will definately be getting them again. :)

[Tommo]

I think for rock crawling you need lots of little lugs rather than a few big ones.

This is the BFG rock crawler...


lugs facing all different directions which is why i figured the sahara would be good

[ciganka]

yes this could be going the way of the dakar here as they are pretty good value for money as as you say sharpshooter you're getting good mileage returns.

Just turning this on its head for a moment though - she's currently got 265 BFG AT on her which I assumed would be cack (never run a tyre that road biased on a Landy before - always used SAT's for my IIA) but the thing is I havent got to try them yet as I havent yet got my vehicle out here. If we're talking about denser tread being better for rock, perhaps these AT's will fair ok? Mine still have a good amount of meat on them too. But does anyone actually use that level of tyre for off-roading, or are they as lame as they look (to me at least!)??

[extreme90]

good in mud
rubbish on rock
there the copy of simex,
and if my simex are something to go off, there usless on rock unless you have got lockers in the axles, but even then there usless even running at 4psi
the new creepy crawlers would be awesome on rock however  :D

[ciganka]

Thanks e'90 - just what I needed to hear - I won't be going for the ST now as you clearly have experience there. Actually I will soon have the lockers but 'rubbish is rubbish', as you say.
I'd love a set of the creepy crawlers but my 110 is unlifted so I am relegated to standard sizes and a poorer selection. Read a review on Difflock and clearly tyre flex ability is very important so perhaps any remould would be naff... decisions decisions...

[extreme90]

not really no
if you run the tyres for 10 miles is for new at low pressure (12psi ish ) it softens the side walls up lovely, i did it to my simex as they aint the best tyre in the word for flex  :roll: