New tow vehicle - which one? Brought a Jeep GC in the end.

[Neil]

Okay peoples starting to look as new tyres, got 22k on the clock and two of the kumho's are close and the other the would have another 5k left in them. not gunna muck around and get them changed soon. Was looking at some other site so people have gone different sizes/brands etc. I was worried about the size of the spare and the difference in size in the event of a flat. Used a couple of those online tyre size calculators and was quite surprised with the outcome.
Factory size on the car 265 55 r20, size I'm looking at 275 55 r20, spare 245 65 r18. Based on the calculator the spare and the new tyre I'm looking at are closer in size than the factory supplied.
Overall diameter Factory 752.2mm, new 786.8mm, spare 801.mm
Difference between factory and spare 49.3mm, difference between new and spare 14.7mm
So little to worry about in the difference in the new size I'm looking at.
Looking at Pirelli Scorpion ATR 275 55 r20

 

[bigcol]

my Father in law had the Pirelli Scorpion's on his Cruiser years ago
great tyre (not in soft sand though.... and I dont think you have that problem where you are)
he got a good long life out of them as well........

 

[chartrock]

I had Pirelli Scorpions on my Navara and got around 50,000 out of them but as they wore down they easily lost grip especially in the wet. Swapped for Bridgestone Dueller A/Ts. Very happy with them.

 

[Matty4]

@Neil , factory size tyre on yours is 265/50 x 20, they're not a 55 aspect ratio tyre.
There are a few different brands that are now doing that size.
Do you want something that has a bit of an AT flavour to it or are you looking at purely a road biased tyre?

Several on jeepgarage.org have fitted the Cooper Zeon LTZ in a 285/50 x 20 or the 275/55 x 20 with pretty good results.
I myself need to replace mine soon but I'm looking to go to a purely road tyre in a 275/45 x 20 as I have a set of 18's with AT tyres for off road duties.

 

[navmatt]

The olds had very good mileage out of michelin tyres (road bias)on their cruiser and then on the landrover they have now. Got nearly 90k out of them on the cruiser and they have 50 or so on them on the rover and look like gettin the same. He does rotate them religiously though.

 

[Neil]

Check the factory on their now and are defiantly 50 aspect, spare is 65 aspect. Yeah seen the coopers and also the nittos.
Chasing a A/T style so i cover things i mite want to do in the future but also knowing that most of my klms will be road based.
Also had a friend that has had Perilli Scorpions of two 4WD and reckons he'll put them on again. Perillis are really well priced for a 20 inch size as well.

 

[Neil]

Well ended up with the Pirelli needs a lift next I think

 

[BigSkiddy]

Be interested to know how they go offroad.

Still deciding what to put on mine. Would like something more aggressive for offroad but I do a lot of highway km's and don't want the noise.
I've done 37k on the current Michelin Latitudes, probably got another 10k in them.

 

[Neil]

Be interested to know how they go offroad.

Still deciding what to put on mine. Would like something more aggressive for offroad but I do a lot of highway km's and don't want the noise.
I've done 37k on the current Michelin Latitudes, probably got another 10k in them.

Yeah that's why I choose the a/t's. Most of my driving will be sealed road and hopefully the a/t's will give me a little extra for the little bit of off roading. The khumos were okay but the rears were not far off and the fronts could have stretched another 5k at best.
Think I might have to lift the front to match the rear

 

[BigSkiddy]

http://www.murchisonproducts.com.au/shop/crdstu-wk2-grand-cherokee-strut-top-plates

http://www.rocky-road.com/jeep-wk2-leveling-kit.html

They may help, otherwise just put the Expanda on the back to fix.

Edit: this thread here might help too
http://www.jeepgarage.org/f190/strut-top-plates-77422.html

 

[Neil]

Well had the first big hit out on the beach on Sunday. Jeep went well but the temperature gauge sat a lot higher than I expected. Sand was really soft and ended up stopping and letting the tires down to 20psi from the original 30psi I started with. I know the jeep gauge moves more than the Kluger did towing the van so I was expecting it to move a bit but it was in the top end of the scale on the gauge, oil temp got to about 117deg.

 

[TRAKADU]

View attachment 31094 View attachment 31095 View attachment 31096

Be interested to know how they go offroad.

Still deciding what to put on mine. Would like something more aggressive for offroad but I do a lot of highway km's and don't want the noise.
I've done 37k on the current Michelin Latitudes, probably got another 10k in them.

I recently (6 months ago) replaced mine with this brand called Nitto Terra Grappler. This is a semi off-road (or All terrain) tyre well suited for touring and bit of off road work. I am really happy with the result. Surprisingly minimum road noise and not to mention impressive handling on the road. Pretty good on the off-road too. Here are some pictures.....

 

[Matty4]

I decided to go a slightly different way.
Rather than a compromise on tyres I've got 2 sets, 20's with my road tyres (they need replacing very soon, looking at some 275/45 x 20 tyres for on road) and some 18's which currently have some Cooper AT3's in factory 265/60 x 18 size.
When I need to replace them I'll go slightly bigger and fit some 265/65 x 18 BFG ALL-Terrains for off road use.

 

[Smergen]

Interesting to hear about the Nittos @TRAKADU. Saw them as a potential upgrade option, but didn't now much about them.

 

[TRAKADU]

Interesting to hear about the Nittos @TRAKADU. Saw them as a potential upgrade option, but didn't now much about them.

Hi Smergen,
I had them for now over 6 months and I am really happy with the performance. This is a very popular brand in the US as most Jeep GC owners put them on for both on and off road travel. I did a bit of research before I decided on this tyre. I read number of blogs and most of them were positive. Not to mention it is reasonably priced too in comparison to some of the well known brands available in OZ. cheers

 

[Smergen]

Thanks mate, that's a positive review indeed. Might need to take a closer look at them at the time an upgrade comes around.

 

[Neil]

Okay people looking at updated the Limited with a Trailhawk, basically a limited but with some extras.
Any issues with the QLift?
Thoughts
Cheers,
Neil

 

[Neil]

Out with the old

and in with the new

 

[Neil]

Only just found this

4x4 of the year 2018
Final scores (out of a possible 350)
Land Rover Discovery SD4: 237
Isuzu MU-X: 235
Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk: 230
Land Rover Discovery TD6: 223
Mercedes-Benz G300D Pro: 221
Haval H9: 218
https://www.4x4australia.com.au/reviews/4x4-of-the-year/1801/2018-4x4-of-the-year-winner-revealed