Tires. The golden ratio between traction and adventure. The most important safety feature on your vehicle.
I have a thing for tires, and you, since you're reading probably do too. It's Ok you know. No need to feel ashamed or worry about being an outcast in society. Us overlanders kinda are anyhow. When I see a rig with a set of cool shoes I often loudly express my support and excitement to anyone within a thirty foot radius. I'll be happy to talk about tires and ask about tires any time. ..... good I got that off my chest.
This year I parted with my trusted set of BFGoodrich's and thanked them for their service over fifty thousand kilometers, through sands, mud, snow and ice. Mistreated and violated they never complained and punctured once. Only once, in town. Culprit some asshole who thought it would be funny to stick three screws in three of my tires.
So off I went to the 'Gommista' (tire shop for the rest of the world) to get me a set of BFG AllTerrain KO2's . After many phone calls and having to convince the shop I didn't care the BFG's cost twice as much as the ones they offered they gave up and I smiled victoriously. That is, until I found our that the KO2's were NOT weight rated to Moka's requirments... "F@*#i=g $h°t Gø@@a#≠it!!!!" were my next words, as pain flowed through my veins. My next best personal option were a set of COOPER's but I couldn't get hold of those sooner than two weeks. With much sadness I told Vincenzo the tire guy "OK let's go with the Hankook's" and so a brand spanking new set of 235/75 R15 tires were slapped on the rims of the gal. And I gotta say... they do look good!
This year I parted with my trusted set of BFGoodrich's and thanked them for their service over fifty thousand kilometers, through sands, mud, snow and ice. Mistreated and violated they never complained and punctured once. Only once, in town. Culprit some asshole who thought it would be funny to stick three screws in three of my tires.
So off I went to the 'Gommista' (tire shop for the rest of the world) to get me a set of BFG AllTerrain KO2's . After many phone calls and having to convince the shop I didn't care the BFG's cost twice as much as the ones they offered they gave up and I smiled victoriously. That is, until I found our that the KO2's were NOT weight rated to Moka's requirments... "F@*#i=g $h°t Gø@@a#≠it!!!!" were my next words, as pain flowed through my veins. My next best personal option were a set of COOPER's but I couldn't get hold of those sooner than two weeks. With much sadness I told Vincenzo the tire guy "OK let's go with the Hankook's" and so a brand spanking new set of 235/75 R15 tires were slapped on the rims of the gal. And I gotta say... they do look good!
I've clocked just under 1000 kliks on them and done some dirt tracks. The Dynapro ATM's impressed me! They are a "bit" noisy and lack 3PLY sidewalls but the lugs look and feel like they offer a lot of traction on and off road.
We are planning on relying on these tires for our next two expeditions before transitioning to larger rims and tires. Hopefully we'll be able to go back to BFG's with a 5 over set of MudTerrains! If not due to sizes and laws we'll go for COOPER... for now we're happy to announce that Hankook is running us around the place and trust ot will hold up to our expectations and future abuse on rugged terrain!
We are planning on relying on these tires for our next two expeditions before transitioning to larger rims and tires. Hopefully we'll be able to go back to BFG's with a 5 over set of MudTerrains! If not due to sizes and laws we'll go for COOPER... for now we're happy to announce that Hankook is running us around the place and trust ot will hold up to our expectations and future abuse on rugged terrain!
