LANDROVER MONTHLY 55MTVSAT
AN age-old debate that’s caused manya
sleepless nightfor 4x4owners. As
mentioned before, most mud-terrains
(MTs) are designedfor 80 percent
off-road use and 20 percent on-road.
Those fi gures alone shouldtell you that
MTs areseldom the logical optionfor
most day-to-day LandRovers. But, let’s
face it, nothing quitesays ‘off-road
enthusiast’ quite like aset of knobbly
tyres, and in most instances, tha t’s what
drives the MT market. Ho wever, the term
‘mud-terrain’ is a bit misleading interms
of the tyre’s application.
In my experience, if you plan on doinga
lot of mud driving,sourcing a narrow
high-profile tyre is more important than
chasing after the most aggressively-
designed trendpattern. This is because
the abilityto tackle mud is largely
dependant on whether thetyre fl oats on
the mud’s surface, or, cuts through the
sludgeto fi nd traction on thefi rmer
substructure below. While it’s certainly
true that awell-designed MT should
self-clean and eject mud moreeffectively
than another, thefact is, once the depth
of the mudexceeds the heightof the tyre,
it doesn’t matter whatyour tyres look like,
you’re not going anywhere.
For me, the true advantage and
application of a MTtyre can befound on
rock and gravel surfaces. This is because
MTsgenerally possesslittle (if any) siping,as well as larger tr ead blocks that are
elementally shape. Incontrast, AT tyres
usually have geometrically-shaped tread
blocks that aregenerously equipped
with siping.
As manyof you will know, siping plays
a significant role in howwell a tyre
performs onwet or icyroads.
Unfortunately, those very same sipe
groo ves radicallyweaken the tread block
when itcomesto impact damage and
rocky, abrasive surfaces. The damage
causedby these surfaces is commonly
referredto as ‘cut and chip’, or
alternatively, as‘chipping and chunking’.
But no matter whatyou call it, theresult
is thesame: Radicallyreduced tread lif e
and diminished traction performance.
The true benefi t of an MTtyre lies in its
durability and longevity inextreme
off-road conditions. Ofcourse, traction is
also akey feature, and generally speaking
the looser theterrain, the more
aggressive the tread pattern needsto be.
However, on a whole,off-road longevity is
where thereal-life benefi t of a MTtyre
can befound.
The downsideto all thisextra strength
is road noise and vibrations.Some tyre
brands are noticeably quieter thanothers,
but on a whole, MTtyres are noisy and
that’s because the majorityof the noise
isn’tcoming from theroad it self, but
rather, from the air moving around the
tyre (much like afan). On that note, fi tting
a MTtyre (regardless of how quiet the
manufacturer claims itto be) will
undoubtedly result in morecabin noise
and a noticeable increase in vibration.
Neitherof which hasever stopped me
from personally making the illogical
choice. But whatcan I say?I’ve got a
weakness for knobbly rubber.MT orATfor
off-road?Read
ontofi nd out...BFGOODRICH
MUD-TERRAIN T/A KM3
Not much needstobesaid abouta
tyrethatconquered the Dakar
Rally andwon the heartsof
countlessoff-road enthusiaststhe
worldover. Bestknownfor its
durability, off-road traction and
surprisingly lowroad noise. And,
much like any MTtyre,the more it
wears, the noisier itgets.CALLUMOTTER (BF GOODRICH
AMBASSADOR):“I usedto have
K02s onmyDefender but after
seeing the KM3 in actionat the
launchevent inCalifornia I had
to change. The new tread pattern
and hardcompound make them
really grippy. I go off-roading
everyweekend andmy tyres take
a hammering.Yes I have one or
two nicks on thetyres from sharp
rocks but most importantly I have
not lost any air. Ican’t believe the
strengthof the sidewalls.The
sidewalls also have some tread,
givingyou even more traction.I
drive up and down the UK with
these tyres on and they are not as
noisy as most people think.