I had been toying with the idea of getting new tyres for my Land Rover Defender 90 for a while so between travelling for work, speaking to colleagues and scouring various forums I needed to make a decision.
Just to be clear, this is not a new Defender, however much I want one, but a previous generation TD5 that I’ve painstakingly built up over the years to take on serious rocky tracks as well as overlanding excursions.
The current set were still in fair nick but they had been on for just over eight years and my partner and I have a couple of trips planned so I wasn’t keen on trying to source rubber in the open spaces of Botswana and Namibia.
I also had to make a choice of whether to stick with mud terrains which I’ve had since I took ownership of it all those years ago or opt for a decent and reliable set of all terrains.
I was still keen on muds but the more I looked around, researched and spoke to those in the know, it became clear that as my car’s application was leaning more towards long overland trips and fewer rim and chassis bending trails in Lesotho, all terrains would be better suited.
Also, mud tyres and wet tar aren’t good friends when it comes to braking and road noise, especially in an old Defender, is quite intrusive… Well I use quite, my partner says very.
I was leaning towards the usual suspects but when my best mate bought a set of Goodyear Wranglers for his Land Cruiser 200 and I’d driven with him in the car I dug a little deeper into what Goodyear offered.
I had been with them on a tyre launch a few years ago driving the Isuzu D-Max and was impressed on how they handled the various terrains we drove on.
Speaking to the guys at Goodyear the best and most practical option for me would be the Wrangler Duratrac RT (rugged terrain) which has a 50/50 on/offroad application.
Interestingly, 4x4 vehicles account for 24 percent of the SA car park.
I had a number of criteria that included durability, a smooth ride and comfort (for long overland trips) and they needed a decent sidewall and also had to provide decent mileage.
Turns out the Duratracs ticked all the boxes and a number of international reviews also gave them the thumbs up.
The three-ply sidewall is what Goodyear calls Tri-shield technology with Durawall sidewall compound that provides increased strength to resist sidewall penetrations and abrasions when you’re driving along rocky roads or twig-infested tracks.
They also have a built in rim flange protector to protect tyre structure at low tyre pressure conditions like soft sand and rock crawling.
The Duratrac RTs have an aggressive shoulder design to aid traction with low pressures and in mud and extreme terrain.
The tread pattern is nicely aggressive with tough tread blocks and biting edges that not only looks good but should provide decent grip across all terrain surfaces I’m likely to encounter.
So armed with that knowledge I drove for the last time on my muds to my local fitment centre in Menlyn and duly had a set of 285/75r16 (33-inch) fitted.
The tyres have outlined white lettering (OWL) that the fitter asked if I wanted to face outwards which I found rather strange because I thought that’s what everyone does.
Turns out it’s something almost unique to this part of the world because when Goodyear tried to sell white wall letters in other countries it didn’t perform well at all.
I’m one of those that likes it because I think it adds an extra touch to the aesthetics of a kitted 4x4 and also gives a bit of a Camel man look.
I’ll bed them in for a few 100 kilometres before throwing some abuse at them that includes a trip to the Makgadikgadi Pans in Botswana where we’ll be able to have a conversation without having to shout at each other over the din of the singing mud terrains.