Two Sets of Wheels or not?

[Eire1]

Hi,

Im currently running on 31'' highway terrain tyres on standard 15'' rims on my NH SWB. Now im really thinking about getting a set of 33'' Mud tyres on sunraysia to use when im going off road for the weekend.

What im not sure about is how will it affect the steering if i change between 31 and 33 inch wheels?

Maybe I would be better to buy new All Terrains and use them all the time.

does anyone else change between two different sized wheels?

Cheers

[Matumbi]

does anyone else change between two different sized wheels?

Not yet, but I'm about to..... Keen to hear other responses aswell.

I'm currently running 31" A/T's and looking for some very aggressive muds on 33's and sunraysia rims for play only.

[Ranger J]

you will get bored of changing the tyres all the time. Used to have two sets on a sierra, and ended up running the muds 90% of the time because it became a hassle.

Can work depending on your motovation

[moe323]

it really depends on how much you have to spend on tires and if you can afford to buy 2 sets of tires. using 33 inch mud tires on the road all the time will cause a loss of power and increased fuel usage. as soon as i have time and money to raise and buy bigger tires for my Paj i will be running 2 sets of tires. something to think about if you are going to be changing tires a lot would be a 12 volt rattle gun or a air compressor rattle gun and a decent jack to make it easier to change tires. saves a lot of time and hassle

[Lambie]

Eire1

I run two sets of rims/tyres - BFG At's most of the time and change to BFG muddies when I go bush. I use a 12 volt "rattle gun" and basic trolley jack so it takes me about 20 to 25 mins to change them over - usually plan to do that on the Thursday arvo before the big weekend.

Both sets are 235/85 R 16 (about 32" ??) and i have changed over the speedo cog when upgrading from the standard NJ 15" rims - so the speedo is in fact more accurate now.

Reason why I can be bothered changing rims is that I found I was destroying my AT's - very bad chipping that happens when you play in the rock gardens of the great dividing range (our backyard here in Gippsland) - may be different if mud is your usual weekend surface. That said after 3 years my MT's have probably only done about 4 to 5,000km since new so still look and perform like new tyres - nothing worse than half worn out muddies !!

For me its the way to go (but it does cost) for others it may not!!

Cheers, Lambie

[Eire1]

Thanks for the info guys. I still cant make up my mind to get muds as a second set or just ATs to use all the time.

Its prob realistic that I will get bored of changing over the muds all the time.

Do the muds really wear out that much more when driven on the road? i dont really care about the noise or economy that much as i dont drive very much or far. If i can get the same life out of the muds i think ill get them, otherwise the ATs.

[Matumbi]

Eire1,

Muds will wear a lot quicker on road that A/T's.

On my old NJ Paj I had a set of Goodyear Wrangler Muds and after 25K they were no longer what I would consider a Mud tyre. They still had tread on them, but not enough for what I wanted them for.

I replaced them with Cooper ST's (an all terrain variant) and they were still going strong after 40K before I sold the car. I now have an NP Paj with Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ's which have done over 50K so far and perform almost the same as when they were new, both on and off road and I'm expecting another 30-40K out of them before they need replacing.

I want the bigger muds as a second set purely for play, so they should last years as on an average "play day" I'd only travel about 50km total for the day (there's plenty of fun to be had in and around Darwin ).

[apsilon]

I'm running two sets. The deciding factor for me wasn't noise or wear or economy but the simple fact that road tyres are going to be much safer on road for my daily commute than a set of muds.

[moe323]

yeah thats right. with mud tires on a wet slippers sealed road you have less surface area touching the road. tey can be very unsafe on roads where AT's are safer. also mud tire in my expereince tend to sort of melt away very quickly and tend not to last very long. but a good set of AT's can work really well both off and on the road.

[Eire1]

Well I think I have decided to get a new set of BFG MT KM2s. Ill keep them for off road as much as possible. I don?t drive much anyway, have only done about 5,000 km since I got the paj last August, most of that on weekend trips away which usually involves off-road!

Thanks for the help, and I definitely think a rattle gun might have to be got!

Cheers.

[Pete & Mon's NS]

Thanks for the help, and I definitely think a rattle gun might have to be got!
Cheers.

HERE you go - shop around though, can get them cheaper than this.... Supercheap and Repco also have them (different brand though).

Peter

[Old Paj]

Two Sets of Tyres

I run two sets of tyres on my NP, as stated early rattle gun and a basic trolley jack, change over in about 25 mins. Currently running Cooper STT (245/75R16) muds on 6 X 16 steel rims, but I would not really call them good tyres in the mud. They are noisy on bitumen, but good on rocky tracks, sand, central Australian dirt and corregations.

On the old Paj (1985 NB LWB) ran a set of Toyota split rims with 235/85R16 Dunlop MTR. Great in mud, very noisy on bitumen and seriuosly lacking grip on wet bitumen.

[Greg]

Im running 31" cooper S/T's on road and then 33" Simex Centipedes for offroad only. Main motivation for 2 sets was that the 33's are no way near legal for my truck so driving them round a lot is just asking for a canary, they also handle very badly on road due to really stiff sidewalls and the tread pattern.

Unlike the other guys i use a socket set and bottle jack to swap my wheels over (uni student budget) and it takes me about an hour, it is a good time to check under the truck before and after trips for any surprises.

I'd recommend 2 sets of wheels, the change over is a small price to pay for superior traction and safety on and off road.

The other factor is how far different the 2 sets of tyres are, if I had BFG muds, they'd stay on permanently as they dont handle too bad on road, choosing a play set and a day to day set is a good set up in my opinion.

[timo]

i run two sets going between 265 road tires to 33 muddies never had a problem, but i have found my mub are ten times better in the wet the my bridgestones which are totally pathtic in wet conditons on all aspects

[GOSSAMER]

i was planning on running a second set of rims with muddies but i wanted to go up a size. i was only planning on buying 4 muds and leaving the spare alone. if i get a flat how much differance in tyre size is acceptable?
my current tyres are 775mm and the ones i want are 805mm murphys law says i wont get a flat near home so it would be a reasonable drive home and if the size gap is too great i will do damage.