Corrugations have finally killed something on my Patrol

Yep, it was gonna happen sooner or later. We have now done several thousand kms of corrugations. One of the aluminium air con pipes. Took it to a place in Onslow. 3 days to get the part from Nissan - a tad under $200 plus freight for a 9" pipe, plus re-gassing & a couple of hours labour - all up $660! (Labour was $153 per hour). We declined & instead contacted the Nissan dealer in Broome who had the part in stock. Son of a friend has an air con business up there, so I'll fit the pipe (15 minutes?) & he'll regas the system for us.

Only other corrugation victim so far has been the loss of one of the Tvan's drop down floor pivot bolts noticed when setting up camp at Kunawarritji (Well 33 on the Canning) Had a suitable replacement to loctite in.

Generally the car is lapping up all that we throw at it without complaint.

Tyres (Bridgestone D697's) are getting a pretty hard time though, particularly on the rear axle. Reckon we'll be lucky to get much over 50,000kms out of them. I like the tyres but am a bit disappointed at how easily they seem to be getting chipped up. Hard to know whether to replace them with the same or to go with Toyo Open Country AT's. (Need the 123 load carrying capacity)

Here are the ones currently on the rear with 45k on them

Attachment 76098

How much of that 50k was on bitumen?? If 80% was dirt then 50km is pretty good mate. Your carrying some weight. What tyre pressure are you touring on?

At a guess Darren, I reckon about 15k has been on dirt, mostly in the past 12 months. We do indeed carry a bit of weight, sitting on or just under our 3900kg gvm. Pressures have varied depending upon conditions but a good average would be 44/34 (cold) on bitumen & 37/30(cold) on corrugated roads, although have been down to 34/27 on the worst roads. Down to 18 all round in soft sand.

So maybe not so bad after all?

One thing with the D697's is that the sidewalls do bulge out more that other tyres I've seen at similat low pressures. Eg. a bloke bogged in the sand at Boggy Hole had the same pressures as us (20psi all round) but his tyres showed virtually no sidewall bulge whereas ours was very noticeable. Mind you we didn't get bogged! Must admit I did wonder how he could get a longer footprint without the tyrewall bulge ... but he assured me he had 20psi in them. The bulging walls have been a concern to me on rocky roads - haven't had a problem, just that I feel they may be more vulnerable to sidewall damage. Maybe looks are deceiving though........ hope I haven't just jinxed myself!

I reckon your running a little high over corrugations. IMO. Deflaring further will gice your tyres a rest and also allow the tyres to absorb more of the corrugations reducing the impact on the vehicle. I rexk 7o n id be at 25/27 . If you where not so heavy id be 22/25.

The WA locals up north all swear by the theory of "don't drop the pressure any further for corro's otherwise you will trash the sidewalls just drive slower".

Low 30's maybe very high 20's is about as far as I would drop.
I would consider lower for sandy stuff but not on the rocky tracks of the North West.

Obviously the sidewall construction/ply/stiffness of the different brands etc would come into the equation also but only for a couple of PSI either way IMHO.

We run mostly Bridgies on our work fleet and I mostly run Coopers on my Patrols... IMHO both brands like a coupla extra PSI over "standard"

Whilst I'm not the most experienced in this , only 7-8000 ks of dirt travel . Best to listen to the locals .
Birdsville garage recommended no lower than 30 - 35 psi and if that feels hard drive slower ! ( followed that , never had a problem )
Also last year on the plenty highway , asked at Gemtree ( awsome place by the way ) what the road to Tobermorey was like , their response no less than full pressure and take a couple of days , a bloke standing beside me laughed ! We got to Tobermorey a couple of days later ( no issues ) , and here is old mate waiting for 3 tyres ( they had run out !), at $350 a pop for Nexon !



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Yep we drive slow. Did close to 300kms a couple of days ago over rough, stoney & corrugated Pilbara roads. Average speed would have been under 40 & down to 10 on occasions. Not sure whether Pilbara rock or the quartz they put on the western Qld roads is the hardest on tyres. Both knock'em about.

Not keen to take the rears below 34, too high a probability of getting the side walls slashed. Would be a different story on say, the mid western NSW dirt roads where it's clay/sand.

Sent from Tambina Creek (on 1 bar of 3G) - a bit west of Marble Bar where our lunch stop just became an overnighter. Just us, the water & the birds. :)

Heading across to Nullagine/Skull Springs Rd/Carawine Gorge before turning northward again. Recommendations for good camp spots away from the crowds gratefully received.

Van and car at 35 all round , van just shy of 3 ton ,Innaminka end of Walkers , and not much over walking pace on these sections ) took a day and a half to get the Birdsville track ) , i would hate to see the damage form heat build up from side wall flex and speed if any lower ! Pumped em up to 40 on the hard stone at the Birdsville end . http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...018/08/240.jpg

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G`Day Cuppa.
I run the same trye and am very happy with them (on the second set) My vehicle is a little different to your`s so I can not comment on what you should run as far as pressures. Manufacturers of products that wear out work on the 50,000 k theory , and yes I know certain products do a little better. Any way as you know I drag a van almost every where and to date the performance of my tyres had be excellent. Ok pressures I run normal driving on dirt or tracks 25 in the front and 30 in the rear and 30 in the van. on the black stuff 29 in the front and 34 in the rear 35 on the van. On the sandy stuff over in the west I run down around 10. Good luck Cuppa and please say G`day to Missus Tea.