Well it’s been a really interesting time running on the MTR’s.  We do a trip a month and during August we went away to the Coffs Harbour foothills.

What can I say, the more I use these tyres the better they seem to get.  Initially they weren’t quite as good as the BigHorns on secondary gravel roads or wet bitumen.  Now however, they are just as good and excell on rocks.

We covered around 4,000Km during our trip to Coffs with the bulk of this being mostly highway driving.  With the Prado loaded, the tyres handled and gripped really well.  This included a couple of stints of heavy rain.

Once onto the 4WD tracks we aired down to 24lbs and had phenomenal grip wherever we went, especially when negotiating steep tracks with rock ledges.

During our monthly trips out of Melbourne we have tried just about everything, except the really slippery orange clay, it seems the weather is just too dry at the moment.  We even went to Reference Track near Neerin South yesterday and was amazed how dry the clay was.

Unfortunately we arrived too late in the afternoon, to give it a try.  The ruts have been made by vehicles with 35″ tyres, so we would have to look at doing some winching in a couple of places.  Anyway, we will leave until next time and make this the first track of the day.

Yesterday we did a series of black mud bogholes and the MTR’s handled very well.  As trip leader I was the first one to attempt boghole number one and didn’t want to attack it too hard in case there were hidden dangers.  I got stuck on the steep exit, front wheels up, but backs refused to go any further.  A couple of more tries and I was through.  Of course everyone else was able to attack it with a bit more gusto as they new there were no dangers.

We had three vehicles running the MTR’s and all performed exceptionally well.

I believe I know the secret to the way these tyres perform.  About twelve months ago I was speaking to a retired formula 1 mechanic, in fact he was Alan Jones head mechanic, who now days spends his time working for Hyundai preparing individual vehicles for all the motoring awards around the country.

The very first thing he does is throw away the original tyres and replaces them silica based ones.  His comment for doing this is that silica tyres give the most comfort and grip.  You can have a soft compound that will still give extremely good mileage.

Now the MTR’s are silica based and you can feel how soft the tread is, completely different to the BigHorns, which are a much harder rubber, using larger tread gaps to achieve grip in the rough stuff.

This soft tread really grips extra well and has meant that I can actually drive slower over the really rough stuff, thus reducing the risk of damaging the Prado.

See you out there!

Tip:

When driving your 4x4 off road, it is important not to place your thumbs on the inside of the steering wheel. When driving over any large ruts or potholes, the wheel could suddenly turn. This may result in the thumb being bruised or even dislocated if it is left inside the rim. Remembering to leave your thumbs on the outside of the steering wheel is a very easy skill to acquire and should become second nature to you. With power steering fitted to most 4x4's these days, this technique is not as critical as the power steering unit dampens out sudden steering wheel movements as well as steering stabilizers. Owners of non-power steering vehicles will have undoubtedly experienced at some time the force at which the steering wheel turns when hitting an obstruction.