Please help in Baja - sidewall tear -- tire question?

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jreichek

jreichek

10 Year
Joined
Mar 11, 2011
Threads
3
Messages
7
Location
Berkeley CA
Website
www.reichek.org
Dear fellow 100 series owners, Greetings. We are in La Paz Baja California Sur. We have a 2005 lexus LX-470 (nearly identical to a toyota landcruiser 100 series)– its weight is 8000 lbs fully loaded (all gear – fridge fully loaded etc.. – 15 gallons of water and 15 gallons of extra fuel) – about 1000 lbs above stock for specifciations and pictures please see www.reichek.org/LX-2013v1/index.html ) We are running Nitto terragrappler A/T 285/60/R18 - for comfort of ride we run 50lbs in front and 54 lbs in the rear -- for best fuel efficiency we run 54 in front and 58 in rear -- measured cold.

I blew/tore a sidewall -- it went out after traveling about 10 miles on Highway One having come from El Arco (the dirt road south of Bahia de los Angeles). There are no Nitto tires down here - The Toyo shop in La Paz does not have the right size and they say a Toyo A/T will take 10 to 14 days to get at the least. Will a Goodyear or Goodrich A/T 285/60/R18 (the size of my Nitto;s) work well or just ok? What about a 265/60/R18 Goodrich A/T - I was able to find one of these and I am being told I can get a Goodyear or Goodrich A/T of the 285/60/R18 size in a couple of days.


This is the fourth Nitto Terragrappler tire I have go through in a year -all sideway tears -all on the rear 3 of the 4 on the inside of the driver’s side rear.

Not having had Goodyear or Good rich tires on this vehicle I have no basis for comparisons


Any thoughts – recommendations or suggestions on the above would be most appreciated.


Further – any thoughts about sidewall strenght and road noise with regards to possibly changing from Nitto to Goodyear or Goodrich would be appreciated ..


I hope you can respond promptly. Our direct email is reichek@dslextreme.com again that is reichek@dslextreme.com ----

Sincerely and with regards and thanks in advance for any assistance, Joshua
 
Check www.tirerack.com for tire sizes. They list the actually tire size under "specs". You should be able to find something that is very similar in size.
 
I'd say get something that's the correct size for the time being and then decide what you want to do for tires. If you are leaning toward one tire over another, get that one, and then get the other three to match soon thereafter. Based on what i read above, if 3/4 tires that you've replaced happened to be sidewall tears on the driver's rear, then I'd have to think that either it's something you're consistently doing while going over an obstacle (driver error) or something in the wheel well area inboard of the tire that's causing the problem. That's a lot of tires to go through in a year.
 
I'd say for Baja you are probably better off with BF Goodrich All Terrain TA K/O's. I'm sure the size will be almost identical to your Nitto's. The BF Goodrich tires should be fairly easy to source anywhere in the world. Can you pick up 2 so that at least both sides have the same tire and wear? The 265 will have a 1 inch smaller diameter than the 285, probably not good for long term driving.
 
Last edited:
jreichek said:
Dear fellow 100 series owners, Greetings. We are in La Paz Baja California Sur. We have a 2005 lexus LX-470 (nearly identical to a toyota landcruiser 100 series)– its weight is 8000 lbs fully loaded (all gear – fridge fully loaded etc.. – 15 gallons of water and 15 gallons of extra fuel) – about 1000 lbs above stock for specifciations and pictures please see www.reichek.org/LX-2013v1/index.html ) We are running Nitto terragrappler A/T 285/60/R18 - for comfort of ride we run 50lbs in front and 54 lbs in the rear -- for best fuel efficiency we run 54 in front and 58 in rear -- measured cold.

I blew/tore a sidewall -- it went out after traveling about 10 miles on Highway One having come from El Arco (the dirt road south of Bahia de los Angeles). There are no Nitto tires down here - The Toyo shop in La Paz does not have the right size and they say a Toyo A/T will take 10 to 14 days to get at the least. Will a Goodyear or Goodrich A/T 285/60/R18 (the size of my Nitto;s) work well or just ok? What about a 265/60/R18 Goodrich A/T - I was able to find one of these and I am being told I can get a Goodyear or Goodrich A/T of the 285/60/R18 size in a couple of days.


This is the fourth Nitto Terragrappler tire I have go through in a year -all sideway tears -all on the rear 3 of the 4 on the inside of the driver’s side rear.

Not having had Goodyear or Good rich tires on this vehicle I have no basis for comparisons


Any thoughts – recommendations or suggestions on the above would be most appreciated.


Further – any thoughts about sidewall strenght and road noise with regards to possibly changing from Nitto to Goodyear or Goodrich would be appreciated ..


I hope you can respond promptly. Our direct email is reichek@dslextreme.com again that is reichek@dslextreme.com ----

Sincerely and with regards and thanks in advance for any assistance, Joshua
Click to expand...


Which model Goodyear? Your website shows 6 tires, did you go through 3 on this trip? Are you driving these dirt / rocky roads at 50 psi? You really ought to try 32 psi max. As posted above, I would get a pair of whichever ones you can get in the exact same size as yours and put two on at once and rotate the other to spare duty.

HTH
 
Also make sure you stick with E-rated tires for the additional plys. I am sure your Nittos were E's if you were running THAT much pressure.

And like Cappy said, if you are not on pavement, you should really be lowering the pressure so the tire can give some.
 
Not sure if you're traveling in Baja or live down there, but since you have a computer and internet (even if it's a phone) you can find the exact diameter of your current tire and match it to a (fill in the blank) brand you want or is available.
On that note, I would highly recommend either the BFG All Terrain or perhaps the Goodyear Kevlar All Terrains. After you get the one tire, get to wherever your home base is and order 4 more of the same, sell the 3 Nittos, put the slightly used new tire as a spare.
Personally, BFG's are the only tire I use for off road for the last 4 sets of tires. My wife's 98 100 series has BFG All Terrains and I run 35" BFG Mud Terrain on my 98 100 series.
 
That sized Nitto tire came in two different load ratings. One has a max pressure of 80 psi and the other 50 psi. Check each tire.
 
Regarding Hoser's comment, the same goes for the BFG's. When shopping you may see the same tire for two different prices. Look closely and you'll see that they have different load ratings. Generally, the lighter load rating is all we need.
 
If you're having issues with the tires on the same corner of your rig, you may want to inspect the area. I'm just taking a guess here, but if you aren't lifted and have that much extra weight on your rig - then the rear is sitting fairly squat and this effects the panhard bar's angle - which may be pushing your rear axle toward the driver's side when it's articulating upward - so the tire may be rubbing on the fender lip? not exactly sure if this would be a problem with only a 31" tire, but it's possible?
 
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