The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

mattpiazza

Hi people
finaly convinced my freind to by a 4x4 for a safty buddie when off roading, and now im after some off road tyres.

Are narrow tyres of wide tyres better will be mud/clay paths.
thankyou

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Richie · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 15:37 Post subject:

Narrow, but I bet a few posts will say rubbish, but when did you see wide tyres on army stuff etc, and farm vehicles, narrow is the way to go, but grippy narrow.

have fun, but kettle on, get ready Laughing

mattpiazza · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 15:43 Post subject:

im on 15" rims at the moment tyres are 265/70/15 what sorta size can i go down to

playdoh · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 18:51 Post subject:

As Richie said, for mud/clay paths narrow tyres will generally give you more grip because of the longer surface contact, less risk of being bogged down.
I think most here want the biggest tyres for offroading because of the added ground clearance since with most AT and MT tyres, the diameter / width ratio doesn't vary very much.

wiggletiger · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 18:53 Post subject:

well i like the skinny tyres 235/85/16 easy to get too Laughing

i find the edge grip to be better when in ruts as there is a little more room to turn the steering Laughing

kylecollie · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 20:20 Post subject:

that one has always puzzled me,on our quads the tyres are thick as is our tractors,but the landy ooops sorry the pajeros the tyres are narrow,both give good grip in muddy fields hmmm

John Pugh · **** Joined: 06 Nov 2002 Posts: 354 Location: North Wales

Narrow tyres cause less damage to the lanes, and are less susceptible to sidewall damage from the sides of the ruts. They also load the steering less, and are less likely to cause damage to those components.
A lot of people fit big, wide tyres purely for show; personally I only fit items that serve a purpose - looks aren't important!
Problem, of course, is that taller tyres required for clearance, do tend to be wider.
Regards,

Richie · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 20:26 Post subject:

Evening John, hows the Niva ?

Must get up to see you some time.

Baddoo · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:13 Post subject:

When it comes to tyre choice I'll stick my neck on the block and say most experienced off roaders will always advise going for a narrow tyre.
The logic behind this is a narrow tyre will bite through mud and snow into the more solid ground beneath offering better traction. In instances like soft sand where a wider tread is advantageous for more even weight distribution a narrow tyre can be deflated to increase the footprint and provide the required distribution.

Now I am going to swear a little so if your sensitive look away now...

We can knock them but Land Rover know a fair bit about using a vehicle off road and that their standard fitment after 60 years is still only 235mm wide on 16" rims should tell you something.
On the Series 1- 3 variants the tyre was only 7.5 inches wide and for several years we travelled up and down beaches in a Land Rover with 7.5 inch wide tyres on for a week at a time and after letting some air out of the tyres never once bogged down that seriously we needed assistance getting out.

The original 4x4 used during WW2 with so much success also had narrow tyres.

rcxkryten · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:30 Post subject:

Kinda all been said up there - narrow tyres are best for off road, if you still lose grip in sand/snow etc then take pretty much all the air outta them...................

noiseboy72 · ***** Joined: 07 Nov 2004 Posts: 959 Location: Lincs

I have fairly wide tyres with a very aggressive tread pattern. They tend to float over the softer ground but have enough bite when traction is required. As I work as an off road instructor, its also what the punters expect Very Happy

I wouldn't necessarily recommend them as they do tram line a bit, throw muck all over the car and are very noisy but they are awesome off road Laughing

Half the reason Land Rover fit narrow tyres is to reduce excessive wear on transmission and steering components.

A lot of it comes down to driving technique. I drive off road quite slowly so if I start to get stuck, I can usually reverse out and try a different line or a bit more power. Damage to tracks is normally due to excessive speed, wheel spin, hydraulic action in puddles etc.

John Pugh · **** Joined: 06 Nov 2002 Posts: 354 Location: North Wales

redneck · ****** Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1054 Location: Dorset

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that i generally prefer a bit wider tyre than most of you have suggested (but with MT pattern), i have 10.5" wide and have found them ideal for my Paj's both MK1 (when i had it) and MK2. I would even go so far as to say that it may be all well and good having a narrow tyre to "dig down" into the mud but that will only work if there's a hard base underneath otherwise the tyre will just dig down and beach the vehicle on it's axles, a wider tyre is less likely to do this and so long as the tread works well it'll find grip. I also reckon a bit wider tyre is less damaging to the lanes purely because they won't dig down as much if driven with care.
Just my personal opinion and it's one of those subjects that many will have different views on, as with which type of tyre is best, there's no definitive answer to it as every bit of terrain is different and any tyre will have it's instances where it works better on one type than another.

fastnige · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 21:52 Post subject:

wiggletiger · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 22:02 Post subject:

all good valid views ,as we all know "each to their own" but just to confuse things a bit further Rolling Eyes

i actually prefere a set of small narrow tyres for playing in the dry quarries i have found that on shale and dry clay that 215/80/15 m/t work better than the 235/85/16 a/t or 265/70/15 a/t i know it gives less ground clearance but for some strange reason they perform better Laughing