best tire choice for desert trip

Hi Guys,

I'm Knifeman, a Belgian Jimny owner driving the thing for 8 years now. I need some help sorting out a dilemma. In a few months I'll take the Jimny to a desert trip and need to buy some new tires for this as the ones I run now are not trustworthy enough for this trip.

I'v driven the Jimny for 5 years on 215/75/15'ers before and upgraded like 2 years ago to 30'ers which I use for daily drive and on monthy offroad trips.

This is with the orignal transfer case.I've been hesitating for 2 years to upgrade with a shorter case but didn't get to it as I don't find a real suitable solution. The D&G one i find is too expensive for what remains an 2ehand transfer case to my opinion and a set of special Low Ratio Jimny Transfer Box Gear looks nice but the 100 km/h maximum on highways is not good as I use the one as daily driver...

so what do you guy think is the best choice for my 10 000 km's desert trip (rocky trails and sand dunes), go back to the 215/75/15 with the original tranfer case or the 30'ers with a set of special Low Ratio Jimny Transfer box gears ...

Ow yes, the jimny has a trailmaster lift kit

(First of all - check you emails - there is a problem with your shop order)

I used to have special Low Ratio Jimny gears fitted in my Transfer Box and found that they were not low enough ratio for my personal preference. It sounds to me that you have been getting on ok with the standard transfer box so far. If you are off-raoding and it is all right with the standard transfer box then stick with it. You do not state whether yours is a manual or automatic Jimny.

Martin

In respect of the tyres I rate Khumho KL71's as a good new Mud Terrain that does not cost too much and is not the best performer in mud but I have heard is excellent in sandy conditions and my own experiences of them on rock is good.

In respect of the transfer box, we have a chap over here called Richard Wattam who can be contacted via PM on the difflock forum.

He can make you a rocklobster if you want one but will need you to send him an SJ413 transfer box and an SJ410 transfer box by courier and I believe he can send back his kit and your new transfer box via courier too. He offered to post mine across the UK so I assume Europe is no different.

It would be awkward for you to have to do this though and as Martin says, if you are not really having any problems with your standard transfer box, leave it alone.

Kirkynut

Hi thank for the answers, it's a manual one. Untill now the standard case did the job quite good in mud , uphills as long it's not dry sands, then the engine misses the horsepower. It's for that reason I would either put in a shorter transfer case or go back to some smaller tires.

However for a trip of 1 month and some thousands of miles, priority one is the durability. breaking stuff in the desert = leaving your car, the big nightmare...

The Khumo seems an interesting tip idd ! thanks, now let's see if I can find a dealer here in Belgium.

mmm the khumo seems difficult to get in Belgium...

Hi - the Kumho is a good mud and rock tyre - I use them on both a Jimny and Samurai. However for a desert trip I don't think they are the right tyre. The tread is too agressive for sand and will dig holes easily. I would recommend BF Goodrich All Terrains in your original size. They are a good tough long lasting tyre. They will work well on both rock and sand. They have good road manners and aren't too noisy. As with any more agressive than standard road tyre you will notice a slight increase in fuel consumption. Don't forget to lower your tyre pressure considerably when driving in sand.

Take a look at this.

BFG KM2, i want some

This morning I picked up the BfGoodrich KM2's in 215/75/15... seem to be nice tires, just need to get used to the 'smaller tires' look again