25,000 Kilometre report - KL 78's
Still pretty happy with the value for money overall. I estimate they will be due for replacement at about 65,000 maybe 70,000 tops BUT as noted previously tyre wear isn't necessarily linear so still a guesstimate.
They have held their balance well and worn very evenly so I have only rotated them once at 20,000 K's. No tread slap, no scalloping etc.
My truck is pretty near GVM with all its goodies and fatrrse driver so is what I call "heavy" and when we are away we tow about 900 Kg in the Camper and gear
Bitumen - very good 8/10
Gravel - excellent 9/10
Beach - not bad 6/10
Mud - rubbish 1/10
As I don't do much mud at all I thought I would be very happy but there is one issue I didn't really consider at the time of purchase. My useage is about 95 % Bitumen/Gravel/Beach or WA outback Sandand about 3% mud (if that). The problem is that the 3% mud can be a show stopper IE if you wear hearing protection and drive defensively then a muddie (any muddie) is OK on the bitumen, a bit better on gravel, no real hassle on the beach and obviously great in the mud.
That means the M/T will go anywhere the A/T will but at the cost of comfort however the A/T won't go anywhere the muddies can. In a weird way that means the Muddies are actually more of an all terrain than an A/T depending how you look at it so my search for that elusive and aggressive A/T that is about a 4 in the Mud on my personal scale of performance continues.
I must also add that the missus and I tour and do very little "playing" so my opinions are biased towards getting from A to B not conquering a mudhole or a hill climb.
Bottom line (@ 25,000 K's) ... IMHO the KL78's are worth the money and perform as well as anything else in an A/T albeit they wear quicker than, say, Coopers or BFG etc so the $ per K figure would probably be similar. I would recommend them to anyone who does very little to no mud so at the risk of setting labels I would call them a perfect choice for a family daily driver or grey nomad that does towing and semi adventurous camping, exploring, touring etc but that stays home or in camp when the tracks get really wet.
Reply With Quote
would work out a hell of a lot cheaper!
Originally Posted by trekster
