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I've tried to post this on a 4x4 forum but they are being slow with activation emails 🙁
Trying to decide between a chunky winter van tyre or a mild all-terrain tyre for my campervan. Interested in views from anyone with any sort of vehicle that have tried both.
I've got a RWD campervan that goes onto wet fields towing a 3 ton trailer. My old van had some decent winter tyres which would normally claw their way across, but the tread was very open and I don't think it helped the stability for high speed towing, it only had 15" wheels so there was no choice for a suitably rated all terrain tyre.
My new van is the same but with 16" wheels, which provides a couple of all-terrain options but I do have to go from a 65 to 75 sidewall profile. One of the few tyres that meets the load rating and are 8ply are General Grabbers a/t tyre, seems they are common on Discoverys and other modern 4x4's.
So, best for a heavy vehicle and soggy grass?
Winter Van Tyre
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or General Tire a/t
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Edit: If anyone wants to suggest a tyre, it does need to be a 112 load rating and commercial/light truck, so that rules out just about everything else 😉 225/65/r16 or 225/75r16
In my experience (both T5 and assorted Landrover owner) the at tyres will be better on wet grass. I found winter tyres just clogged and were no better than any other road tyres.
Sounds about right, the tyres I had before would cope until they started sliding, then would clog instantly and then before you know it the trailer is off and you are pulling it towards harder ground using a tow rope.
Matt, I know the larger size would fit if it were a like-for-like tyre, plus the tread is deeper at say 12mm v 8mm for a road tyre. But does carcass construction make the tyre noticeably bigger/bulkier? At £115 each I'm tempted to get two first and see if they scrub on the front.
Also bear in mind that with larger sidewalls you are going to increase overall diameter of the wheel and be going faster than your speedo is showing
Yep I think the tyre increase will be an error of 6%, but with a few more mm of tread and perhaps a thicker carcass I wouldn't be surprised if it's nearer 10% in reality.
Currently parked in a field pointing slightly uphill on long wet grass, successfully managed a U turn without getting stuck at the bottom of the field which is a good start for eco summer tyres 🙂 Relying on the sun to dry the grass so I can get out later 🙂
Currently convincing myself to buy a set of Alloys as the existing tyres are worth a lot more if they get sold on the wheels!
I've got General eurovan winter tyres on my rwd sprinter which have good open and deep tread without being a full on 4x4 tyre and satisfies load ratings etc too. Lots of cross-ways sipes unlike most commercial tyres. Good in gloop and very very good on wet roads too. I do a lot of film location work in the highlands which mostly involves trying to get a huge van parked or turned around on remote single track roads - a lot of getting on and off of soft boggy verges.
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if you are going to be doing winter driving then make sure what you get is M&S rated, the rubber compound and sipes really help on roads and that is where you are more likely to have a van wrecking accident.
But I do get the point about the wet grass. We have some road winter tyres on our Freelander as it spends 90% of it's time on road, but we do use it for towing the sheep trailer so have to choose carefully and drive sensibly on wet ground. Not got stuck yet but almost.
We were considering something like the Michelin Latitude Alpin next but might look for something like a General AT for better off roading now it gets used for shorter commutes.
Thanks Macruiskeen, not seen those before. Last van had Toyo H09 which are similar but the blocks are square.
On road is still important which is why I'm steering clear of the classic knobbly General Grabber.
Happy birthday to me...
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The diameter has only gone up by about 40mm...but on the van they look huge...no doubt the wheels have helped. Put the fronts on to check they didn't scrub and I think the traction control thought I'd gone drifting because of the size missmatch. On full lock one side just manages to brush the dirt off the wheelarch liner but that's OK, as full lock is so far over it could be mistaken for a London Taxi.
They arrived with 30 PSI in them and you can really see how the footprint increases at low pressure, they seem to spread out much more than a normal tyre at low pressure.
Nice tires but you should stuck with steelies
Steels are only two years old and already going rusty, I've tried painting wheels before and after several days of prepping, sanding, primers, clearcoats etc, they to start rusting again. Not interested in playing that game again!
Just changed the Grabber ATs on my Amarok for another set, brilliant tyres.