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Message started by nhibbert on 08/12/5 at 10:39:23

Title: Gravel oriented street tires?
Post by nhibbert on 08/12/5 at 10:39:23

A question was asked on another forum: what is the best gravel-oriented street-legal tire available for cars? I thought I would poll everyone here to see what the rally community's opinions are.

If you were buying a street tire mainly for use on gravel roads, or a combination of gravel and pavement (i.e. navigational rallies) what tire would you get for your car? There are lots of tough looking tires available for light trucks, but none that I can find that come in car sizes.

Any opinions, suggestions or comments are welcome.

Title: Re: Gravel oriented street tires?
Post by Do_It_Sidewayz on 08/12/5 at 14:04:36

Norm.

CHEAP Snow tires are the best.

Uniroyals are good (we ran Tall Pines on these)

Cooper makes something that is ok.

Some places sell things called Weathermasters.

Walmart snow tires are decent.

Just go look for a snow tire that accepts studs. Not the fancy "studless" tires which are siped like crazy. Just the cheap old POS snow tires.

Title: Re: Gravel oriented street tires?
Post by RyanHuber on 08/12/5 at 16:37:07

Yeah, my old studdable Hakka 10s were decent on gravel (reminds me, Chris, did you ever use those?). I've heard people like the Cooper Weathermasters, not sure if they're around anymore though.

Of course, you could just get a set of worn gravel tires and be done with it. Hard compound would likely not be TOO bad on tarmac.

Title: Re: Gravel oriented street tires?
Post by nhibbert on 08/12/5 at 18:31:09

The discussion on the other forum revolved around looking for a good ALL-PURPOSE tire. Something you could use all summer long, not something you would need to stop and change if you were going onto gravel. It would have to withstand highway speeds in summer heat as well as give you good contol on twisty gravel backroads. Not a performance tire on pavement, but adequate tire on pavement.

The general consensus was the Nokian WR was probably the best. I was wondering if there was anything else. The Yokohama Geolander came up but it doesn't come is a size practical for most cars (unless you happen to use the special size made for the Forester).

Title: Re: Gravel oriented street tires?
Post by Craig_Hamm on 08/23/5 at 12:22:20

Well good luck finding a tire that works really well in more than one condition. I don't like winter snow tires on the highway, and probably aren't very good braking in the wet compared to an all season or summer tire. AND, all seasons on gravel are scary if you really need the traction. I have a set of snows (Cdn Tire) on rims, and summer tires on rims. It takes about 15-25 minutes to swap them on your own. A pain, but not out of the question. It's amazing what snow tires can do on gravel, for the price, and DOT legal.