GDT Icelander 265/75R 16-E on an 80

[80t0ylc]

I'm convinced the tires work well for winter traveling through any type of paved road condition. What concerns me the most about taking these GDTs off road is the sidewalls. That's the reason I'm reluctant to air them down, unless it's absolutely necessary. They seemed to hold up very well at the 36 psi I'm currently running them at. One review that I read before buying them said that they had excellent results airing them down for more traction doing some rock crawling. Well, that's fine for them - they weren't paying for the tires if they slashed a sidewall. I want to get some more miles on them in the dirt and mild rocks and see how the sidewalls hold up, before trying anything that I need to air down for traction.

Doug, I've been a Michelin fan since they came standard on my '76 Linc.Merc. Capri. I actually got approx. 110 K before it was necessary to replace the tires. Are those Latitude X ice tires the soft tire compound and are those the tires you were running on your return trip last winter?

 

[Sparky97LX]

Tires look good and I really agree with your "Michelin fan" statement. Have alway had good luck with them as well although I've come to like the Bridgestone Revos a lot too. Nice truck, it's the model I use to build mine by.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Would I be right that the '76 Capri was the last year it was imported from Germany? If so, I had one of those and it was a phenomenal car - hatchback, great seats, V6, manual trans, quad headlamps, great handling. When it was built in the US next I sucked.

DougM

 

[80t0ylc]

Would I be right that the '76 Capri was the last year it was imported from Germany? If so, I had one of those and it was a phenomenal car - hatchback, great seats, V6, manual trans, quad headlamps, great handling. When it was built in the US next It sucked.

DougM

You are right on the button, sir! Mine was equipped same as yours. While stationed at Grand Forks, ND in the Air Force, my wife and I were forced off the road by a semi and went over a curb. Took it in for an alignment. The machine was new at the time and could check all 4 wheels and the frame. The Capri was a uni-body, never the less, the tech said he had never seen a vehicle so true. That car cruised at 100 mph as smooth as silk. That was back when I was in my 20s and I did NOT baby that car. It had about the same F/R weight distribution as the 80 - damn close to 50/50. Amazing traction with those Michelins in the snow, for a 2WD, rear wheel drive car, living in ND and then Utah after that. It still amazes me that those tires lasted that long, even as hard as I drove that car!

 

[80t0ylc]

Tires look good and I really agree with your "Michelin fan" statement. Have alway had good luck with them as well although I've come to like the Bridgestone Revos a lot too. Nice truck, it's the model I use to build mine by.

Thanks, Sparky! I got some changes coming down, though. Running boards came off, yesterday, in anticipation of sliders shipped today, I hope. Man, this thing needs a wash job. Sure hope it warms up! New, temporary look:

 

[Sparky97LX]

I would catch h*** from the if I removed the running boards. She has started to think of the LX as hers and almost refuses to drive her Volvo anymore. Guess I out smarted myself when I found such a good deal on the LX.

Yours looks good without the RB's and I can't wait to see it with the new sliders. Is there ever any end to this madness?

 

[80t0ylc]

About time for an update. I've got just over 6K miles on them and have no complaints. I'm including a pic of the current tread surface. It's very interesting and I've conferred with Rich with GDT about it. The pock marks or voids are where granules have "taken leave of the tread", as Rich puts it. There is considerable more granules embedded in the tread all the way down to the casing. So this is a continuing process for the life of the tire. The benefit of the void that is left on the tread block is addional traction, "sort of like sharks teeth" or "a'la siping", as Rich says. These are not your everyday, run of the mill MTs. No wonder they've earned the traction rating (Mountain Snowflake) that they have. With the carbide granules working for you when they're in the tire. Then, when they fall out, the void that is left enhances traction, also.

I've noticed I overlooked something that might potentially bite me in the butt, if I get a flat. These GDT tires are 265-75R16s and my spare is the original 275-70R16 Michelin LTX. The really part is that this spare has been on the truck since I bought it 10 years ago. It had 265-75 ATs on it at the time. I got some 265-75 MTs on steel wheels at Les Schwab about 6 years ago and now have replaced the ATs on the stock wheels with the 265-75 GDTs. I don't want to do in my VC or 1 of my axle diffs if I get a flat, so I'm going to have to do something. I know the tire is 16 yrs old, but it's a Michelin. It should be replaced on the age alone.

Edit: I was in luck. The local Les Schwab had a reasonably priced used Toyo AT Open Country 265-75, load range E, which matches my GDTs. I needed to consider sidewall strength to get as close a match as possible. So, I feel better prepared now.

 

[80t0ylc]

Had a fair amount of moisture lately in NW Oregon and traveling into and out of the Portland area from Central Oregon gave these tires a good workout in the last couple of days. They did great over the pass last night in the snow, however, a couple of new things have come up lately, and I'm not sure what to blame.

First, when traveling on pavement with tire grooves worn into the surface, the rig wants to follow the ruts. I don't know if it's the square shouldered design or additional traction or what it is, but it seems to be much more noticeable than my ATs or previous MTs. All tires being the same size 265/75 16s, so I can't blame tire size. I don't remember it being so noticeable when these Icelanders were new, of course I had the tire pressure up around 45 psi at the time. The tread pattern is very close to the Yokohama Geolander MT, so if anyone that is running those has any similar experiences, please chime in!

Secondly, with all the liquid sunshine that I was running through in the last couple of days, those tire grooves in the road surface were filled with water frequently and I noticed a tendency to hydroplane and get squirrely at speeds of 45 mph or better. Kind of unnerving at times, so I learned to try and stay out of the ruts, if possible. I'm wondering if a narrower size would be the ticket to better performance in this area. I'm going to also post these questions on a Geolander thread in the Expedition Builds Forum, since they have such a similar tread pattern.

 

[80t0ylc]

Well, one more update for those interested in these tires before the warm weather hits. The results of me posting the question about the nearly identical Yokohama Geolander MTs performance on rutted roads was that several Geolander owners had same complaint. No one posted that they didn't. As far as the squirrely handling when hitting deep (3 - 4 inches deep) puddles, I'll chalk that up to the 80 itself. Maybe the combination of ruts with water in them and highway speed is something to be avoided with these tires.

I know that I've said that I want to use these tires as an all season tire, but I also want them to last as long as possible. The main reason is that I'm so tickled with the winter highway performance. So I've taken them off again for the summer and will try to wear these old Les Schwab Wild Country MTs out. Maybe then I can get 35s and an Aussie for better summertime trail performance.

 

[sandcruiser]

thanks for the information. FWIW, my 33x12.50r15 geolander mts do follow ruts like nobody's business. it makes them not-that-great for long road trips.

just a data point

I'm curious-- what carcass did gdt use for your re-molds? if geolander, I'm surprised that you can air up past 40 psi as mine are pretty specific to not even use 40 to *mount* the tires, and run at no more than 35.

 

[80t0ylc]

thanks for the information. FWIW, my 33x12.50r15 geolander mts do follow ruts like nobody's business. it makes them not-that-great for long road trips.

just a data point........

Thanks sandcruiser for the feedback! That's consistant with the feedback I'm getting from all sources. It's almost like this tread pattern has too much traction for pavement. It's caused me to do some serious looking for some A/Ts for summertime running. My older M/Ts, that I had on white spoked steel wheels, were getting too rough and noisy from wear so I replaced them with some used 255/85/R16 A/T SXTs that I found on Craig's List.

..........I'm curious-- what carcass did gdt use for your re-molds? if geolander, I'm surprised that you can air up past 40 psi as mine are pretty specific to not even use 40 to *mount* the tires, and run at no more than 35.

There's no way to know, other than the fact that they are matched and passed GDT's rigorous inspection to be acceptable casings. I'll have to check what the sidewall says about max psi (they're at a storage area currently), but I'm thinking like 55 psi. I started running them at 48 psi because of the 80's weight, but saw that the wear pattern showed they were over inflated the first time I removed them. I dropped it to 36 psi and will probably drop it a little more.

Edit: Whoa, was I wrong! The GDT sidewall has 2 recommendations for inflation. The first and more ambiguous said use the vehicle's door plate recommendation. I searched some more and found what I was looking for. It said Maximum load was 3415 lbs @ 80 psi. BTW, these tires are load range E. I don't know what's available for the Geolander M/Ts.

 

[80t0ylc]

I'm convinced the tires work well for winter traveling through any type of paved road condition. What concerns me the most about taking these GDTs off road is the sidewalls. That's the reason I'm reluctant to air them down, unless it's absolutely necessary. They seemed to hold up very well at the 36 psi I'm currently running them at. One review that I read before buying them said that they had excellent results airing them down for more traction doing some rock crawling. ........

Well, I need to report back after doing a trail with my group here in Central Oregon last month. It's called Edison Butte Snow & OHV Park and it has a variety of levels of trails, the toughest being higher up in elevation and we didn't get up there due to the snow. Anyway, I aired down to 20 psi at the trail head. Probably could have gone lower, but it really didn't matter on this run. The tires suffered some mild rock rash and I showed some pics in another thread (post#33). I also emailed Rich with GDT, because of my concerns and some of the comments from the other thread to ask if this was unusual. He has not responded, at this point. So, for now, I can not recommend these tires to anyone for going in the rocks. There were a few s****es that went down to the cords. The cords were not damaged, but I feel seriously uncomfortable about the durability of these sidewalls in the rocks. And until I get some feed back from GDT as to their opinion of this damage, that will be my view point.

So, in summation for the performance of this tire, I would have to lean towards disappointing. While the winter performance is outstanding, the noise level on pavement started out very quiet, when new, and has changed to low - moderate for a M/T tire. Tread pattern being directional and available in an M/T pattern has good off road potential for traction. But when you add in the sidewall vulnerability, it takes so much away from the potential of this tire as an all around performer that it's not worth spending the extra money for the M/T tread versus a milder A/T or all season tread. Hopefully, this thread will serve the purpose that was intended. And that was to give an honest, involved and meaningful testament, on these tires for this forum.

BTW, the thread linked above, also has some pics of the terrain and rocks that were encountered on this trail.

 

[VidereStudios]

Hey Tom,

Did you get any reply from Rich? I am liking your experience with these tires, but this last bit is worrying...

Wondering what the resolution is...

 

[80t0ylc]

Hey Tom,

Did you get any reply from Rich? I am liking your experience with these tires, but this last bit is worrying...

Wondering what the resolution is...

Nope, no reply. I recently moved and changed my e-mail address. If Rich replies, I'll post his comments. Thanks for your interest!

Oh, BTW - welcome to MUD! The addiction is infectious

 

[VidereStudios]

Thanks Tom! Yeah, I have been lurking for over a year and a half...slowly building up the LX as time and money allows.

 

[80t0ylc]

Well ****! Maybe this explains why Rich isn't answering my e-mails. I'm going to do more research on this, but just stumbled on this today. Out of business ? Well, at least maybe if anybody was considering GDT, they're forwarned.

 

[80t0ylc]

Well further research has revealed nothing. In re-reading the above link, Rich's reply indicates the company's attempting to restructure and as the last post mentions, Rick's reply is over a year old. The website is still up. Has anybody else heard anything? Maybe someone local in Colorado or New York.

 

[80t0ylc]

Well, still no news or reply from GDT in any way. Anyway, I was goofing around the garage and even though I know you probably can't get 15" wheels to fit on an FZJ80 without spacers, I was going to try with the MTs from my '81 Mini. They are 32 x 11.50 R15 Maxis Bighorns and they have an inch less backspacing than my stock 80 wheels, meaning they'll stick out an inch more than the 80 wheels. Sure enough, they rub on the front calipers. So I was thinking even if they fit, what do I gain? Well, me thinks to myself, they're 32" in diameter - as opposed to my 265/75 R16 GDTs which are supposed to be 31" in diameter. So I stick them side by side in my garage - WTF? The GDTs are slightly taller! The Bighorns are virtually new and the GDTs have, maybe 10K on them. Very interesting. Another testament to sizes can vary slightly. See the pic below for proof. The GDT is on the right. Use this site and plug the sizes in yourself.

 

[wildmanscout]

Out of business ? Well, at least maybe if anybody was considering GDT, they're forwarned.

I still send Rich an email per month. He's had my money since 2009. At one point (when he was still talking) he offered to pull a set of tires from several different stores to fill my order, but I agreed to wait for a matched set. I'm still running my stock Michelins.

 

[80t0ylc]

I still send Rich an email per month. He's had my money since 2009. At one point (when he was still talking) he offered to pull a set of tires from several different stores to fill my order, but I agreed to wait for a matched set. I'm still running my stock Michelins.

Wow! You must have the patience of an oyster. When was the last reply to one of your emails? But, for winter driving, they are well worth the wait. Hopefully you'll get yours before the snow flies again! Maybe he'll offer to ship to you at no cost as a thanks for waiting.