Buying New Tyres For Your Bakkie

Tar road, dirt road, off-road. Mud, sand and rocks. Wet and dry. No single tyre copes well under all conditions. So how do you choose a tyre for your bakkie or 4x4? Jake Venter offers advice.

- Jake Venter

With such a bewildering choice available, buying new tyres for a 4x4 or a farm bakkie can be a nightmare. Even if you’ve made up your mind about what you want, it’s easy to get distracted from your initial choice by advertisements and special offers.

THE IDEAL TYRE

When considering the attributes of a good tyre, most motorists would put long life at the top of the list. But good grip during cornering and in the wet, as well as quiet running, are also desirable. Unfortunately, a tyre that scores high marks in all of these qualities has yet to be made.

Soft rubber grips well, but wears down quickly; channels, cuts and tread blocks improve wet-weather grip, but reduce cornering ability on a dry road and tend to make a tyre noisy.

The best tyres are therefore a good compromise between the various desirable qualities.

Your owner’s manual is a good place to start looking for the best tyre. Motor manufacturers spend a great deal of time and money selecting tyres suited to the vehicle’s suspension system and performance levels. It therefore makes sense to buy the brand and type of tyre recommended in the manual.

Nonetheless, there are sometimes slight differences between the original equipment tyre and the same aftermarket tyre.

The latest version might have been upgraded or restyled, for example.

There are a number of reasons why the original tyre brand and type may not be ideal for you:

• You may no longer have the manual, and hence not know the specs;

• You may for some reason be unhappy with the standard tyres;

• You may wish to upgrade to a tyre that lasts longer, has better grip or possesses some other desirable quality.