Saturday 8 June 2013

New Toyo Open Country MT Tyres

It was a long wait for my shipment to arrive from US. Five Toyo Open Country MT tyres in 295/70R17 size mounted on Mickey Thompson Sidebiters alloy 17x9 rims. Wheels were already balanced and ready to go. I was really surprised to see how little weight these big tyres needed get balanced.
After fitting them and having wheel alignment done again, went to Nganguring area just east of Mundaring to double-check wheels clearance during articulation.


Wanted also to play with tyre pressures and try to find the best compromise between the comfort and the maximum traction with these 3 ply sidewalls, 7 ply on thread and 128P load/speed rated tyres.
They are quite strong for 2.5T FJ Cruiser but that was exactly what I was after for the coming trip to the Red Centre.














Running 0 offset on these 17x9 rims made me worry about the extra inch new wheels were sticking out comparing to factory 17x7.5 with +15 offset.













Luckily there were no dramas as both front and rear wheels cleared guards in the few suspected tight spots under the articulation.














These tyres provided a great ride comfort with plenty of traction when aired down to 24PSI on tracks with gravel/small rocks type of the surface and speeds between 30-50kph.


Toyo's Open Country MT tyres specification


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