BFG All Terrain Tyres

lr98

Member
Hey all,
My truck was ready for a new set of tyres, and after a few months of weighing up the options I decided to opt for the BFG all terrains. I chose these over Kelly MSR and Cooper ST tyres. After having them fitted to my truck for a few weeks, I have tried them out in various terrains, e.g. very steep hills and decents, deep slippery mud, rocky terrain, a few river crossing as well as towing my offroad camper away for the weekend. These tyres have lived up to my expectations superbly. The amount of grip is very impressive and has seen me crawl up hills and blast through mud holes which I had either got stuck in or never contemplated with my old rubber. Can anyone tell me some good (or bad) stories they have experienced with these tyres? Or opinions on the BFG's or on the Coopers or Kellys?

Look forward to some replies

Cheers - Panda
 

rabs

New Member
tyres

Ive had a set of BFG all terrains on my GQ wagon for 13 months and have nothing but praise for them, Ive never had a puncture, great grip on rock and mud. They are still as new and cant see any wear in them at all. Ive always had traction on steep inclines and declines and would most definately buy them again. Ive probably done 15000 on them so far, good choice IMHO

cheers

Rabs
 

InSanE

New Member
bfg's are a pain in the ass i have had a few sets in my mate and mates also have had them have had the same problem, they have a "rim protector" built into the sidewall of the tyre and it act's as a scraper and scrapes all the mud off the side of the ruts into your bead and then when you wake up the next morning a few of your tyres will be low on pressure or flat. Thats the only fault with them tho.
 
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001525

Guest
I'm also in the market for a new set of tyres. I'm one of those geeks who spends a lot of time doing research on something I intend buying. The same goes with tyres. It's a big expenditure so the more something costs, the more time I spend researching it.

With tyres it's really going to be a personal thing and no matter what others say, it's your decision what you end up buying. I've read a lot of tyre forums but only one thing really counts. Independent and unbiased testing. With all the research I've done, I've come to one conclusion. The bigger name brands aren't always the best. Sure, people are going to swear by this brand or that brand. You'll hear all sorts of recommendations about BFG, Goodyear, Dunlop, Cooper etc.

For my next set of tyres, I'm opting for some of the smaller and lesser known brands of tyres. These include Nexen, GT Radial, Hercules and Federal. Now before you all jump on my back and yes, I'm expecting a lot of criticism but from my research, the above brands are as good if not better than some others costing twice as much.

All the tyres I've named are made in Asia but which tyres aren't these days. They are owned or have been owned by some of the world's biggest tyre companies like Continental or Michelin and some are actually made in the same factory as some of the name brand tyres with the same quality controls.

You can often get a set of 5 tyres for around $1000 fitted and balanced!

So before parting with $1500.00 for some new tyres, it might be worth checking out some other brands. You might be pleasantly surprised and save yourself a LOT of dollars.
 
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4X4

Moderator
If you need an All Terrain tyre be aware that this is a compromise between on road manners and off road performance. An alternative is to run two sets of tyres, one for onroad the other for offroad. Basing your decision on dollars alone is false economy, if you only get 40000 Klm out of a set of tyres. A lot of cheaper tyres have softer rubber compound and therefore don't wear as well as the known brands. Personally, I would join a 4WD club and talk to people who have history with tyres on and off road, in varying terrain and on a variety of vehicles.
 

lethals cruiser

New Member
I had BFG AT on my 60 cruiser for 2 years.They were probably just roadworthy but lasted another winter in Bunyip,although coming down Andersons tk was a bit scary when it was raining.
 

Grey Ghost

5th Annual Victorian Gathering member
32 inch BFG AT's
50000km so far and I reckon mine are only 1/2 worn, as compared to 45000km on the origional set of Bridgestone Duelers. Thats all within the space of less that a year to mine you. (1 yr also for the bridgestones as well).
Traction wise they are bloody teriffic and road noise is minimal so when I eventually need new rubber I'm gunna go the same way again.
 

Quozie

4x4 Earth Contributer
I had Bridgestone Dueller AT's when I bought my GU, They were ok.... I shopped around to and came to the conclusion it was Cooper ST's or BFG AT's......I managed to pick up a set of BFG AT's and SH Rims for only $25 a corner more than Cooper alone. Very impressed with them and will probably only use these in the future...Have had good reports from others in our club also.
 

Offrdn60

Member
I had a set of bfg's from new and i didnt get a great amount of K's outta them and as Insane said, IMO there always going flat - Very fustrating!!
 

Desert Lux

New Member
Did Corner Country back in April. Used Cordillo Downs Rd from Innamincka to Birdsville which is rough as guts. Come home via Birdsville Track and not one puncture on the whole trip. Really happy with their mud grip as well after trip through wet Wombat State Forest. This is my 2nd set of AT and happy to stick with them for my nexy set as well.
 

Darrenmidd

New Member
I've had my BFG A/T for around 50,000klms and still got a fair amount of tread.
I've also done a 12,000klm trip around Oz (except WA) with a camper trailer for a few months and I've never had one puncture... Bang for buck can't complain, been a great tyre.
 

grit

Member
If you need an All Terrain tyre be aware that this is a compromise between on road manners and off road performance. An alternative is to run two sets of tyres, one for onroad the other for offroad. Basing your decision on dollars alone is false economy, if you only get 40000 Klm out of a set of tyres. A lot of cheaper tyres have softer rubber compound and therefore don't wear as well as the known brands. Personally, I would join a 4WD club and talk to people who have history with tyres on and off road, in varying terrain and on a variety of vehicles.

I run Mickey Thompson Baja Claws on mine which are very aggressive and really only suited for 80% off-road & 20% on road use. As I usually use a company car as my daily driver I thought this would work well. In fairness, the ratio seems more like 50:50 on road & off. These are still new, but my next set will be MTZ's. I still have the set of almost new Goodyear AT's that came off, but they now seem way too small in comparison. I also have the set of new Bridgestone AT's that came off after one trip down the freeway to Goulburn when one mysteriously blew a sidewall & Bridgestone said that I must have hit something because of the rim marks on the sidewall (caused by the blowout).
 

BUSHNUT

Well-Known Member
The age old discussion !

Have had BFG A/T in the past and presently have Cooper ST's as my bush set with the standard Bridgestone Desert Duellers as my around town set .

In my thread the Mother of all Punctures is of the latter .

On our Simpson desert trip last year , the lead vehicle, a troopy ute standard split rims copped two flats in the one day, Bees Knees had Cooper ST's on. I had my around town Bridgestone Desert Duellers on, you don't have to have anything super flash in the desert , tyre pressures are the key, running tyre pressures at 16 PSI. Bees Knees was running his coopers at 18 , he was more used to desert driving as he lived in the area for several years working with Aboriginal communities, the point of all this is, doesn't matter how experienced you are or aren't, if you are going to get a swiss cheese day with punctures then that is the way it pans out .

BFG A/T are made in China, so are MICHELEN these days,BFG muddies were for a while were still being made in America, I don't know if that has changed yet .

As I had the set of Coopers from the old GQ patrol wagon , the one thing I have noticed is that they are a lot noisier on the GU ute than they were on the Wagon, I think there is a lot less sound proofing in the ute - going to try ROYBOYS set of BFG A/Ts one weekend to see if they are different.

From these 3 brands the BFG and the COOPERS are my prefferred bush tyre as they have a more aggressive tread, I havent tried Micky Thompsons or any other in that class, but for my needs on a day to day basis both these brands do the job adequately, I am passed playing in the mud, been there, done that, more into the proper high country stuff ,

Part of COOPERS warranty requirements are that the tyres are regularly rotated and balanced, if the same attention to this detail was put to other brands, I think that probably the wear factor would not be much different .

There is some talk from tyre joints that Coopers are very prone to punctures to other brands, but is this because there are more vehicles shod with them, I don't know but it begs the question.

I have had some experience with these two brands and as they have never let me down, the only thing that might sway me is the noise level, which is very minimal anyway, may lead me to choose one over another .

Another never ending Dilema :eek::):(:confused::p;):D:D:rolleyes::eek::cool:
 

grit

Member
I hear what you're saying about the noise. After Goodyear GSA's and the Bridgestone Duellers, the claws hum (more-so at lower speeds). I didn't buy these claws specifically for mud. The aggressive tread & side-biters are great for those large slippery boulders on the river bed and rock climbing. Tried them out on 'Big Rock' (Powerlines, Newnes Plateau) last Sunday and climbed it impressively on the first attempt (usually you need to warm the tyres up first on the rock face before attempting the climb).

I'm certain of what you say about maintenance. Most that quote the excellent mileage they get on certain brands have a less aggressive driving style and ensure that the wear on all corners is even.

Swapping tyres between road & track is smart, I just don't ever expect to cover that many miles on the blacktop. The Odometer is proving me wrong!
 

GlennTroopy

New Member
Re BFG

Hi

A few mates have had them on Hiluxs got 80,000kms out of them as a all round tyre i think its hard to go pass them not sure about the bigger sizes Patrols and Cruisers but im sure they would be fine to many 4wd with them fitted for them not to work

Glenn..
 

Mr-hilux

New Member
Hi
I run desert duelers on my hilux (ausie made) and i'm very happy with them. I had them fitted four years ago and have done over 100k on them and tthey are down to their last 30% of their life.
Been very happy with there performace of road. As they are getting old i have notice that when in mud they dont grip that well at all, but in the dry they still grip very well. I have to mates that have put chinese rubber on the 4bys and i'm waiting to see what they get out of them.
Thats my 4 cents worth hope it helps
 

Barfoot

New Member
What are the BFG's AT's like on wet bitumen? Highway & city? Just curious as they don't have the vertical grooves, like say the Cooper ATR.
 

Grey Ghost

5th Annual Victorian Gathering member
32 inch BFG AT's
50000km so far and I reckon mine are only 1/2 worn, as compared to 45000km on the origional set of Bridgestone Duelers. Thats all within the space of less that a year to mine you. (1 yr also for the bridgestones as well).
Traction wise they are bloody teriffic and road noise is minimal so when I eventually need new rubber I'm gunna go the same way again.

My odometer is telling me I have now done about 85,000 km on the BF's and they are down to about 30 -40 %, still seem to hang on off road ok but I havn't really had a cahance to get into anything to serious for a whil e now, so I guess the coming weekend at O'Tooles will show me....
As they get older they are starting to have a noticable but small reduction of grip on wet bitumen but that does depend on if you drive like you have a fire cracker up yer a#$@ as well.....
 
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