Nissan Xterra S NEW TYRE SEARCH – recently lifted 45mm
- This topic has 11 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 11 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
A year on after posting about the soggy bum in my Xterra I finally made the jump and forked out some moolah for an Ironman lift kit with foam cell shocks in the front and my carry over OME nitrochargers in the back. Cheers to BJ and others who provided me advice many moons ago about possible suspension choices!
On the advice of DAW who completed the suspension fit out, I took the Xterra to get a wheel alignment. After a concerning viewing where they cut the edges off the ‘align’ washer bolt combination so that they could change the camber angle, the wheel technician and I noticed that my BF Goodrich A/T 265/65 16s are getting a lot of wiry looking cracks along the inside grooves and some big cracks in the tread. They were produced in 2010 and although they should have another 10000 kms in them I think I might look to replace them in the next 5000km. They are certainly showing their age with the rubber noticeably faded and peeling in many areas of the sidewall.
ANYWAY………some advice is needed again.
I take her out around 2-3 times per month mostly for overnight camping. Would like to get into more sand driving, but visit the wadis in Fujairah and Oman a couple of times a year. The approximate split (percentage of total time) in the types of driving surfaces that I experience is:
ROAD : SAND : WADIS (rock)
82% : 15% : 3%
Although I spend such a small percentage of time in the wadis, the car is usually loaded through to the backseats with camping gear as I take the students from school out on their Duke of Edinburgh hikes. It is very heavy and ungainly during this time. Because of this I don’t want a soft compound tyre that will get easily damaged on the rocks. The lift was also to stop her bottoming out so much.
I have done a little research and talked to another Xterra owner and have come up with the following choices:
1. YOKOHAMA Geolandar A/T-S
2. BFGOODRICH T/A KO
3. COOPER Discoverer A/T3
4. MICHELIN….? they just seemed affordableI have no idea whether or not to stay with the stock size 265/65 16s or increase to 275/70 16s for more stability. To be honest I don’t even know what the 16s stands for and what sizes will fit the stock rims.
Any help welcome.
Cheers
quote KenXterra:A year on after posting about the soggy bum in my Xterra I finally made the jump and forked out some moolah for an Ironman lift kit with foam cell shocks in the front and my carry over OME nitrochargers in the back. Cheers to BJ and others who provided me advice many moons ago about possible suspension choices!On the advice of DAW who completed the suspension fit out, I took the Xterra to get a wheel alignment. After a concerning viewing where they cut the edges off the ‘align’ washer bolt combination so that they could change the camber angle, the wheel technician and I noticed that my BF Goodrich A/T 265/65 16s are getting a lot of wiry looking cracks along the inside grooves and some big cracks in the tread. They were produced in 2010 and although they should have another 10000 kms in them I think I might look to replace them in the next 5000km. They are certainly showing their age with the rubber noticeably faded and peeling in many areas of the sidewall.
ANYWAY………some advice is needed again.
I take her out around 2-3 times per month mostly for overnight camping. Would like to get into more sand driving, but visit the wadis in Fujairah and Oman a couple of times a year. The approximate split (percentage of total time) in the types of driving surfaces that I experience is:
ROAD : SAND : WADIS (rock)
82% : 15% : 3%
Although I spend such a small percentage of time in the wadis, the car is usually loaded through to the backseats with camping gear as I take the students from school out on their Duke of Edinburgh hikes. It is very heavy and ungainly during this time. Because of this I don’t want a soft compound tyre that will get easily damaged on the rocks. The lift was also to stop her bottoming out so much.
I have done a little research and talked to another Xterra owner and have come up with the following choices:
1. YOKOHAMA Geolandar A/T-S
2. BFGOODRICH T/A KO
3. COOPER Discoverer A/T3
4. MICHELIN….? they just seemed affordableI have no idea whether or not to stay with the stock size 265/65 16s or increase to 275/70 16s for more stability. To be honest I don’t even know what the 16s stands for and what sizes will fit the stock rims.
Any help welcome.
Cheers
Hi Ken,
Here’s a link which fully explains the tyre sizing and from it you will be able to help yourself in your decisions, I only do sand and tarmac so can’t help with rock-busters http://www.bridgestoneselect.com.au/learntyres/ReadingYourTyreSize.aspx
I guess it’s a bit of a question of how deep is your pocket? Rocks chew up the side-walls for sure unless you have the tyre to suit, but a suitable tyre for Wadi’s is probably to hard for sand and probably won’t deflate as easily as tyres suitable for sand, you don’t need chunky thread in the sand. Michelin’s seems to be good all rounders, Sumitomo on sand are good, any old rubbish for the street!!
Good luck
Hi there. My name is Ismael and i am new to the sand. I have done some off-roading in the states and the law is always BFGs. The triple side walls are best for rocks and side punctures. Also they are the ultimate Baja champion tires. I bought a set recently of TKO’s (275/70/16) about a month ago for less than 4000 aed at the Emarat tire shop off of E311 across from Arabian Ranches. This is about what they would cost in the states so I pulled the trigger. I am not sure how they are going to perform on the sand. I hope they do well.
Best of luck.
Ismael
I am using Michelin cross terrain in my Prado 1 size up than normal 275 x 65 x 17inch rim. It is good r sand road and offroad tracks. So I guess it shld be okay for wadis too unless you wanted to do some rock crawling.
From a long lasting perspective the BFG would be the best specially for the rocks, but they are quite big n heavy for the sand, noisy, expensive and difficult to get in certain sizes. Yokohoma ATS while being affordable are quite noisy on tarmac.
Cooper AT3 – Been using them since a year and just love them. An ideal mix between the various pros n cons and would highly recommend them to anyone.
You have to go for any good All-Terrain tires as you want to drive on sand as well as on rock. After lift, you can install bigger size tires e.g 275/70/R16 or 265/75/R16.
1. BFG AT/KO
2. Road Venture AT KL78
3. Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor
4. Geolandar A/T-SDon’t bother about cracks on BFG, it will last minimum 5 years or 90k km without any problem in driving and RTA passing.
hi Ken
I have been using Geolander AT/S but find them too hard on the sand. I guess, the same is true for BFG also. therefore, Michelin, Dunlop Grandtrek, though the BFG and Geolander would be better from the wadi point of view
BTW, can you please post front and side profile pics of the Xterra after the lift.
quote Crazy_Frog:You have to go for any good All-Terrain tires as you want to drive on sand as well as on rock. After lift, you can install bigger size tires e.g 275/70/R16 or 265/75/R16.1. BFG AT/KO
2. Road Venture AT KL78
3. Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor
4. Geolandar A/T-SDon’t bother about cracks on BFG, it will last minimum 5 years or 90k km without any problem in driving and RTA passing.
Good stuff mate. Thanks for that. I’ve been reading up on the BFs and they certainly have a lot of backing in 4WD circles.
I’m definitely not planning on rock crawling as I only hit the wadis for camping. Nice and light footed when moving through them.
Will definitely look into the other options.
Cheers!
quote AJS:hi KenI have been using Geolander AT/S but find them too hard on the sand. I guess, the same is true for BFG also. therefore, Michelin, Dunlop Grandtrek, though the BFG and Geolander would be better from the wadi point of view
BTW, can you please post front and side profile pics of the Xterra after the lift.
When I get the chance to take some snaps I will definitely post them up for you bud.
Cheers for all the suggestions. You could say I’m even more confused now….;)
quote KenXterra:Cheers for all the suggestions. You could say I’m even more confused now….;)😕 that’s bound to happen when you get advice from Pseudo-consultants like me 🙂
Ken,
YOKOHAMA Geolandar A/T-S is a good one, I have a friend who is put it on his 2011 X-terra. No tire noise etc. it basically is a good choice. BF of course is good but pricing are also to be considered here.
Good luck!
Regards,
Praveen
quote praveenvk:Ken,YOKOHAMA Geolandar A/T-S is a good one, I have a friend who is put it on his 2011 X-terra. No tire noise etc. it basically is a good choice. BF of course is good but pricing are also to be considered here.
Good luck!
Regards,
PraveenThanks Praveen,
I haven’t exactly narrowed it down but I’ll choose one of the following:
YOKO Geolandars A/T-S
COOPER AT3
BFGCheers for the advice mate.
Kenny
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
