Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hello Guys,

Been looking around for off road tyres and having a budget in the back of my head. After vising our sister forum website http://www.pajeroclub.gr having ALOT of IO & Pinin drivers I asked the same questions. Many guys came back including the administrator saying why dont I opt for retreads/moulded tyres? I started searching and came accross http://www.remouldedtyres.co.za and http://www.safarityres.co.za that does them. I also saw many posts on 4x4 community with our local boytjie Zantus having alot to post good / bad. The tyre I'm opting for is the bitbull one. Very aggressive tyre pattern looking like the BF mudds. Many people said ya its nice if your not loading ect.... and also its only rated for 120km/h. I had a look on their rating "H" and saw its rated for 210km/h??? I also came accross a review on them http://www.4x4wire.com/reviews/pitbulls/
and now i'm totally baffled. Taking into consideration my IO can at most do 140km/h with the wind from behind so the 120km/h rating is not a bad option for me. and being such a small car I cant load anything unless I'm pulling a trailer. Any comments? Does anyone have these tyres fitted or know someone who has that I may contact? The price.....hold on......R590 per tyre. This will be a excellent "second" pair of off road tyres on a set of rims laying in the garage.

Why?

It is remoulded tread. There is no way of knowing what condition the casing is in.
Tyres fail due to casings failing, not treads!
The only advantage would be cost, which has to weighed against the risk.
What is the cost advantage?
I think you might run into insurance problems in the event of an accident.

I won't touch it.

I wouldn't.

I have seen videos of tyres failing on a platkar at 90km/h and it wasn't pretty. Nevermind a 4x4 doing 120km/h.

I used retreads on my 803cc Morris Minor student car for three reasons:

1. They were the onlu 155 15 tyres available at the time
2. The car could only do 80 kph on a long steep downhill facing northeast so the Cape southeaster could give it a good push
3. They were cheap

I would never consider a retread for an off-road car (or even a moderately quick road car). In off-road use the sidewalls take a severe beating with mechnical damage from sticks and stones, pinching, etc. Also be careful with tyre speed ratings - the rating is a composite of load, pressure and speed. Just looking at the speed rating without knowing what load or pressure it was certified for may cause it to overheat and delaminate.

My original answer I posted yesterday seems to have disappeared...

I would never use Pitbulls in anything other than an Offroad toy, and never on a vehicle that takes my family from A to B on a daily basis. Also with speed ratings of 120km/h your insurance WILL repudiate any accident claim.

As you mentioned, I've been there and done that with these tyres. They are made here in PE and I've been to the "factory" where they make them. They use whatever casings of the appropriate size they can get hold of, check for obvious damage, do the prepping process and then the remoulding process.

I had them on my SJ410 and they were brilliant in terms of offroad traction and I would fit them on a zook any time. My friend had a set on his 2.6 Isuzu s/cab and the only lasted 14000km. After this distance they were also starting to come apart. My firends in they tyre industry cringe when you mention the Pitbulls and they urge people to just stay the hell away from them.

The review you posted ( http://www.4x4wire.com/reviews/pitbulls/ ) is for a completely different tyre of the same name, which is made in the USA. If you search Pitbulls and you find a non South African link, it is more than likely the US Pitbull and not the local tyre. The one made here in PE is only available in South Africa, AFAIK. They also do a 31" version of the same tyre, which is called the Bronco.

Ok so after all the posts is it safe to say to stay away from it as a commercial tyre for daily use but can be used as only a off road tyre? I needed to get a feel on how people would react on them being used for road tyres but seems the feeling is mutual. Ok so buying a set of 5 tyres for R3200 for off road use only would be a good investment against R8000 for 4 BF's A/T???

Are you going to haul them to the "off road" site and then fit them there?

If yes, that's to much of a schlepp for me.
If no, you're defeating the object, not so?

To be honest most of my off roading is done near Brits as I'm a member of the Brits 4x4 club. Was thinking of putting them on the roof rack when going there. Luckily we only have a meeting once a month, so doing it that way its worth it.

Fielies

See if you can track down Hankooks if they are available in your size - you might be pleasantly surprised. I think you're wasting your time on pitbulls, even as a toy tyre.