Agressive ORV rear tires or Highway tireS?

[Trekking]

For the van boondockers that spend a good deal in BLM, State parks, Federal forests, what kind of tires you have on your van? I would think a Mud style tire would be the way to go, for sand, dirt, wet muddy ground, grass.
It is good to have a set of chains as a backup also.

 

[SoulRaven]

Greetings!

My 2 cents worth is that if you can't get there with highway tires, you are running the risk of worsening conditions and getting trapped, and ORV tires are probably better at getting you into precarious situations than they are at getting you out of them.

A small portable winch will probably get you out of a lot more trouble than any version of tires will. I carry a portable, manually powered, come-along with me. Combined with rope, it can cover great distances. It might not be fast or elegant, but it works and is trouble free.

Cheers!

The CamperVan_Man

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Having spent several years lining in a van, I have to agree with Campervan. Over the long run, mudders will wear out more quickly on the road and are noisy (usually) also. Put on some good tires and take care.
If in doubt, walk the questionable areas first.

 

[Spirituallifetime]

There is a trade off for off road tires, your hiway traction will be reduced and could cause problems in wet conditions. I would get regular snow tires, they and designed for the hiway and for traction.

 

[SternWake]

Getting where you want to go with 2wd is about momentum, and knowing where to put your wheels and knowing what is actually feasible.

More aggressive tread will likely just dig a hole till the diff is resting on dirt, faster.

Carrying recovery gear is wise.
Walking the trail beforehand, is wiser.

 

[MrNoodly]

My highway tires (Michelin LTX M/S2's) have gotten me everywhere I've needed to go, except some sand I stupidly drove into. Off-road tires wouldn't have kept me from getting stuck in that situation. I've been down some ugly, rocky dirt "roads" with no problems, other than having stuff in my van rattled and tossed around.

Besides wearing faster and being noisier, off-road and snow tires get lower gas mileage.

 

[steamjam1]

I use normal nothing special Goodyear Wrangler radials. They are cheap, aren't too noisy on the freeway and show decent traction in all conditions cept deep mud and snow/ice.

I'd rather spend the big money on an LSD for the rear axle (An upcoming mod on my van) then M/T tires any day.

 

[akrvbob]

I guess I think a little differently,I lived in a 4x4 truck for 4 years and never got stuck once although I've been on some BAD "roads"!! In the last year I've gotten the van stuck 6 times. So now I have the most aggressive mud tires I could find on the back of my van and will probably put a locker in the axle and add a winch.

But the single most important thing is that as soon as the tires start spinning you shut it off. Digging a hole is the worst thing you can do. Then you air the tires down to 20 pounds and carefully see if that is enough. If they spin at all you shut down again and air down to 10 pounds. 90% of the time that will get you out if not air down to 5 pounds. If that doesn't do it you get out the come-along or winch.

The reason the mud tires work is that they have lugs on the side-walls and when you air down the sidewall is hitting the ground, the lugs grab which drastically increases the amount of traction you have.

So here's how to be a hero and not a zero in bad country:
1) Mud tires
2) Compressor to air back up
3) Come-along

Here's how to be a super-hero:
5) locker in rear
6) 8000 pound winch

Bob

 

[highdesertranger]

I would like to add when driving off highway I believe it's best to have load range e tires, regardless of your tread pattern. highdesertranger

 

[David]

I have AT tires on all 4 wheels, but I take my van off road fairly regularly. Not just for campsites but to explore.

 

[SoulRaven]

Greetings!

Special emphasis on the AIR COMPRESSOR if you're letting air out of your tires!

Your cell phone might not work, and it might be a looonnng walk...

Cheers!

The CamperVan_Man

 

[akrvbob]

A couple photos of tires and my compressor. In this 1st photo you can see my mud tires aired down to 20 pounds and you can see that the lugs on he sidewalls have folded down and are in contact with the ground. I had gotten out of the hole for this photo or they would be digging even more. If I aired the tire down to 10 pounds they would be much more in contact.

In this photo you see my 12 volt compressor. It's essential of you are going off-road at all.

Bob

 

[SternWake]

Hey Bob, Doesn't that air compressor come with an airfilter?.

I've got a masterflow MV-50 i ran once or twice without the filter, and later took apart to modify for standard 1/4 NPT fittings. The insides were not too pleasant. just from the few times I ran it without the airfilter, in Baja.

My Tires are just AT tires. Not quite as aggressive a tread as those Mud terrain's. I kind of regret getting them as I have done little offroading with them and they are getting louder.

Pretty aggressive tread design though:

Perhaps this summer I will go beat them up in Baja They are just load range C. I have No experience with load range E, but I hear they they don't take well to airing down as the sidewalls are too stiff to allow expansion of the footprint.

I always air down on washboard, not just for the added traction, but to make the ride more pleasant.

I wouldn't be without a good compressor. I added a fan to mine as it would get way too hot when airing 4 tires from 32 back up to 50PSI.

 

[user 423]

Hey WRC, I just bought a MV-50 and will add the clip-on chuck but I'm wondering why you went to the trouble of tapping out the head for the hose fitting?

 

[user 423]

Oops. I mean SternWake

 

[SternWake]

The compressor head is tapped for some metric fitting. Standard in the states 1/4 npt.

do note that the fitting you put on the air line needs to be passive. I drilled a hole in mine. If not passive and you turn it on without being hooked to a tire. Pai will quickly exceed 150psi. And something will blow out. Possibly dangerously so.

---

The MV-50 provided tire chuck is a joke. So much happier with the standard locking chuck

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I guess I think a little differently,I lived in a 4x4 truck for 4 years and never got stuck once although I've been on some BAD "roads"!! In the last year I've gotten the van stuck 6 times. So now I have the most aggressive mud tires I could find on the back of my van and will probably put a locker in the axle and add a winch.
quote]

This may seem a little off the wall, Bob, but there's one other option you might think about . . .

You could fit a junkyard transfer case to your van between the transmission and rear differential. In difficult terrain, you drop it down into 4LO. The front yoke would spin harmlessly. The torque sent to the rear diff would be multiplied the same as on a 4x4.

Regards
John

 

[Trekking]

A couple photos of tires and my compressor. In this 1st photo you can see my mud tires aired down to 20 pounds and you can see that the lugs on he sidewalls have folded down and are in contact with the ground. I had gotten out of the hole for this photo or they would be digging even more. If I aired the tire down to 10 pounds they would be much more in contact.

In this photo you see my 12 volt compressor. It's essential of you are going off-road at all.

Bob

No that'sa what I'm talkin about there. I like that idea of the mud style tire with the wide cleats so the dirt and mud can unpack. Thanks for the pictures and the airing down the tires Bob. Thanks for the other folks that
that had also replied. All in all I'll have 2 rear spare tire then. I'll have to check on one of them MV-50 air compressors also.

 

[akrvbob]

@Sternwake,
that is actually the MV 30 which is the little brother to the MV 50. I have a MV 50 but I found the MV 30 on sale for $15 at a Pep boys and couldn't pass it up so I have two. I use them both thinking it will extend their life and cuts the time of airing up in half. I like the redundancy in the back-country as well (like the Seals say, "Two is One and One is None!." I feel better every time I air down knowing I will have a compressor even if one fails. For anybody who is interested here is a ink to the MV 50 Every van should have one!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Industries-MV50-SuperFlow-High-Volume-Compressor/dp/B000BM8RT8/

@Optimistic Paranoid
Actually that is a pretty good idea! I've often thought the biggest advantage of a 4x4 was the compound low and not the traction. I've gone up and down hills where the 4lo was the deciding factor of whether I went or not

But that is way over my comfort level as a mechanic and too expensive, so I would just buy another 4x4 truck before I did that.
Bob

 

[crazybill]

With the more aggressive tires you have to pay a lot more attention to inflation pressures and tire rotation. It makes a lot of difference to how many miles you get out of a set of tires.
Tire pressure...I carefully measure tread depth across each tire and adjust the pressure until I get wear that is even all the way across. That then becomes the pressure at that particular tire position. (front right, left rear, etc...) I had been running the max pressure posted on the tire (looking for better mpg) and I was having to buy tires too soon because the center was wearing thin before the tire edges.
If I make a radical change in load or tire brand I start over.
Tire rotation.. Even with proper alignment tires wear a little differently at each position, especially with aggressive tread patterns and on 4x4 vehicles. They "cup" rather easily. Once they do it is near impossible to stop. You may have to rotate as often as 3000 miles but usually 4-6000 does the trick. You just have to keep an eye on these tires. The payoff is better mileage out of the tires and they are there with better traction when you really need them.
Look at Bob's pictures. They are very versatile. I love these tires, they have made a lot of difference in my desert and mountain travels, but they do cost more and take more attention.
-Bill-