OK why do people put 33's or 35's (tyres) on their rigs??
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OK why do people put 33's or 35's (tyres) on their rigs??
Gives more clearance under the diff pumpkins & also adds clearance all round. They make it easier to climb over rocks/ledges etc. Say for example you drove upto a rock ledge with 31's on & it came half way up the tyre, drive upto that same ledge with 35's & it will be 2" further down on that tyre hence less tyre the vehicle has to push up & over that rock ledge. Hope this makes sense.
Cheers Jono.
How do you measure the 33" or 35" ?
I have Cooper Discoverer S/T 265/70R17's on my rig, so where do you measure the size from?
I went 33's cos I've got a 2 1/2 inch lift and wanted to fill in the guards a bit. I also only went A/T's because Im a learner.. One day I may get Katrol dirty and road tyres arent gonna cut it. Even the 33's have lifted the body, I reckon another 1/2 inch.
Im sure theres a thread here somewhere................. Ive got 285/75/16's which aparently is the same as 33's
Someone else will probaly know more than me.. End of the day, I think sizes go on what you want them for, and has been suggested to me is runs 2 sets of rims.. A/T's and muddies.
265mm tyre width
tyre sidewall is 70% of the width of the tyre (there is 2 here as top and bottom of the tyres)
17" is the rim height
therefore
265mm x 0.7 x 2 x (1" / 25.4mm) + 17"
= 31.6"
I got over 2 sets of tyres its a PITA changing them for the wheeling I do. I went from 33" AT's and 35" Simex ET's to 33" Kumho KL's, more for touring duties.
The question you need to ask yourself is do you need mud tyres for the type of driving you do, and also do you need bigger tyres for extra clearence under your diffs. If you answered no to either of these questions then getting bigger mud tyres is a stupid thing to do. Staying with the correct tyre size does not void your insurance and you have more power with smaller tyre sizes. BUT if you want to get out there and get amonst it, a good set of All Terrains (Goodyear Duratrax, Mickey T 4 rib ATZ) or an easy going Mud terrain (KL71, KM2, Goodyear MTR, etc) in a 33 " will do you the trick.
I am still in school somewhat. 5th year engineering at Uni lol
in a 17" rim 285/70/17 (11.25" wide) or 305/65/17 (12.3" wide) are a 33"
in a 16" rim 285/75/16 or 305/70/16
in a 15" rim 33/10.5/15 33/11.5/15 or 33/12.5/15
Also remember snicko your speedo will get thrown out with larger tyres ( not that there accurate anyway! ) but something 2 be aware of
33's ask for 285/75/17 & 35's ask for 305/75/17.
I would go a set of 33" muds and maybe a 2" lift for a bit more srticulation when you need it. When I went from 31" tyres to 33" tyres my speedo actually became correct, well speedo is 1km faster than GPS.
Small hijack ( sorry) Love the new avatar Snicko, showing your true colours now !!
as mentioned your speedo will be out. I put a thread on here not long ago with different speedo pinions to match different tyre sizes to get your speedo with in spec.
Here - a tire calculator:
http://www.tyresave.co.uk/tyresize.html
p.s. AB may be you should make a sticky post only with one (or more) tire calculator to help the forum members.
Using the tyre calculator going from 265/70/17 to 285/75/17 is a difference in diameter percentage =6.97% actual = 56mm
These figures mean I need to change ??
Good then thats what I will get. Thanks. Now go to see the bank manager!!!!!!!!!
Bigger tires turn big bumps into little bumps. You can demonstrate this yourself by playing with toy cars - a car with larger wheels can negotiate bigger obstacles than a toy car with smaller wheels.
So why don't we all have 54" tires? Big tires are not so good for handling and can increase the chances of a rollover. They also require more power to turn. This is not a knock on big tires, just understand that, like anything, there are advantages and disadvantages to fitting them.
Big tires also mean more wear on suspension components, bearings, etc. so make sure that yours are in order.
Further, if you get anything bigger than 33", you should also consider getting numerically higher differential gears to compensate. The bigger the tires, the more compensation is needed.
Yeah snicko gotta say nice avatar update. Also in my opinion i would be fitting 33" mud tyres for the application you have described, mud tyres are also more capable on rocks and other harsh terrains not just mud. As a general rule mud tyres are "stronger" in the side walls, though there are some good All terrains which also have strengthened side walls. If you were to go 35's you would most likely need to be fitting reduction gears taller suspension etc etc.
Thats my 2 bobs worth
For a GU with 2" lift you could fit 35" on a negative offset rim easily by only just removing your mud flaps before they get removed. As for gearing it depends on the intended purpose of the vehicle.
Snicko for you to fit 33"s all you would have to do is buy them and get them fitted. BUT check the distance between the radius arm and the tyre at full lock with your 31"s on and just add roughly an inch to see if they will rub. If you think they will rub then you might want to consider a negative offset rim to accommodate the larger tyres. My GQ with 33" tyres and the standard 0 offset rims and 2" lift scrubbed at full lock left on the radius arm on the LHS. Yours may do so also. Did you fit castor correction bushes/drop arms to fix up your diff alignment when you lifted also??? As this could eliminate the problem of rubbing on one side.
There are many things to think about. But I would just test the full lock thing and if you reckon they will fit then go for it.
I'd be going an aggressive all terrain and not a mud tyre - yes, you are hitting dirt and mud etc when you get there, but meanwhile at the batcave, you are traversing thousands of kilometres of bitumen - mud tyres also equal noise and additional fuel consumption ... Warnie mentioned a couple of brands below - I have the Mickey Thompson ATZ (all terrain) 4 rib pattern (the 4 is important as thy have a 5 rib pattern also). The 4 rib is somewhere between standard all terrains and mud tyres and they perform exceptionally well on the road, wet or dry (my wife has Cooper STT mud tyres on her Rubicon, and they are like ice skates on the road in the wet). The 4 rib is an aggressive enough pattern to tackle mud etc, but work well on gravel, sand and most importantly, bitumen!! Have a look in the "Clubs and Events" and "Trips and Treks" section for some videos of what we do on the QLD trips and you'll see a range of vehicles and tyres in action - if you intend on going more extreme than that, then go for mud tyres, if not, stick with 33" all terrains!! 35's will throw out your gearing and your speedo too much and you just don't need them (apart from also gaining the attention of the boys in blue!!).
Im happy with the Cooper S/T's so far but all I've done is bitumen, sand at home and sloppy mud on the Kings Canyon loop. I was not sure if they would be good enough for the big trips. I'll go and check out the threads you suggested and proberly come back here with more questions!!!!!! Thanks Bigrig
I have just looked at the videos made (well done) Lancruiser Mountain Park!!
OMG OMG OMG!!!! I want to do all that but in my shiny rig???
I have made a BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!!! How can I take my shiny, did I say shiny rig there!!! Should not have bought a new one and its our only ride!!
Confusion has set in!!
There's no need to flog them to the point of panel damage mate. We had one truck out there that was only 3 weeks old!! And he got through extreme tracks. Not everything you tackle is brute force and mods - driving technique and where/how you take lines is just as, if not more important!!
The only thing I would say, is you're intending on doing state forests etc, then be prepared for some "lantana linework" (scratches on the paint from bushes etc) ... sort of unavoidable, but mostly buffs out with a polish!!
Thanks, that makes me feel better.
We have lots of scratches and a few deep ones from our local sand pit.
Patrols don't fit down many of the tracks so we try with the rig, to make them bigger!!
(I'm sure the Parks and Wildlife guys do that on purpose!!!)
Meguiar's scratch-x followed by cleaner wax is the best stuff I have ever used. Proberly why after 4 years the rig is still shiny!
I pay a Duco guy about twice a year to do it for me. Fixes scratches (fills them properly), does paint touch ups, acid treats the rims to bring them back up to showroom finish, and a full cut and polish for $225 .. this includes repairing stone chips/rust spots also ... for that money to keep the rig looking semi-decent, it's worth it to me ...
I look at it slightly differnent and think they are only panels and you don't need panels. But thats just me. Whatever you decide to go with / do just make sure you are comfortable with your decision and that you have fun enjoying what you chose to put on your car / where you choose to wheel it. Thats the main thing.
Warnie thats great advice.
We need to be happy with the skin (or panels!) we are in....!!!!
The tyre questions have been answered in my mind for what I want to do.
Every ones perspective on this forum is so valuable as each question has different layers with different answers for different people.
Thanks heaps guys!