Sand Tyres

[SAM. C.]

Hi All

I need a bit of advice on the best tyres to use in sand. Last weekend I drove about 200 miles on beach sand in my 710M. Most of it was soft & dry as the tide was up and there was no hard tidal stuff to drive on. My Maloyas didn’t perform that well and I had to let them down to a disturbingly low pressure to make any headway. This meant handling was very sloppy and it was hard going to keep the front end positive and avoid oversteer which while I was loaded (5 blokes and our gear) which could have been a disaster.

I was just wondering if any of you guys had any advice on tyre choice. I have seen some images on this forum before with some pretty capable looking tyres. Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

Sam

[712 Oman]

Hi Sam,

I've a 712M running on old Military Sand tread Tyres called Bridgestone Jamals (similar to old Michelin XS). They are a 7.50 R16 tyre, ie Not very tall (say 32") and quite narrow. The walls are 8 ply so airing down doesn't change the contact area very much. Probaly similar to Maloyas but with a sand block pattern. They were widely used by the military here and in Saudi.

All things considered they are not too bad on the beach and in the dunes so long as you keep the momentum and stay on top. Maybe it's better to use the higher range in these cases.

We've a Jackeroo (Trooper SWB) running on 245 Michelin LTX's and they are great in the Sand, especially if you air down to about 14psi because the walls are much softer than Military tyres.

I am about to put new boots on my 712K and can't get 255/85 in these parts so I'll risk 265/75 Michelin LTXs. A bit over width but should be OK judging by many comments on this forum.

From my couple of visits o the Wahiba Sands here in Oman, almost any SUV/4WD tyre will perform OK in Sand so long as you air down. A set of STAUN deflators makes particularly easy. Then stay in higher range so you don't dig yourself in.

I once made the mistake of locking the front diff in soff sand, then there was only one way I could go, where the Pinz wanted too, scarey

Regards

Ian in Oman

[Jimm391730]

Some of the best "sand" tires I have seen used were oversized "balloon" tires that looked like worn out aircraft tires; no tread at all, but had a huge footprint. My thinking is that the bigger the donut is the better, but the next best thing is soft sidewalls to allow flex to increase the footprint. All my sand experiance is that low pressure is better, and a deep tread is actually a hindrence (unless you have hundreds of horses with which to fling sand!). IMHO sand applications is one place where putting a really wide tire (like a 305/70R16) might be justifiable on a stock rim.

The 295/75R16 BFG AT KO's I have on 8" rims have floated my 7500 lb 712W across dry beach sand at 18 psi with nary a problem, and I knew I could go alot lower if necessary. On the other hand a friend's 710M with Goodyear MTR's was struggling at 12psi (but did have 7 people riding in the back). They may be OK in the rocks, but I haven't been impressed with them on sand or snow.

Maloyas are hard as rocks, and just aren't soft enough to flex and spread the force out evenly.

Jim M.
712W and 710M

[Erik712m]

Has Any one tried Nitto's Dune Grappler? I also live were there is more sand than any thing else. And at first tried there mud grappler tires. The did work better than the factory but still sucked in the sand.