The 4.55 gears carry larger tires on the treg fairly well. I have a set of 5 265/70R17 Grapplers forsale if interested.

 

Asking the penultimate V6 Offroad tire size question....

If this is the second to last question, where's the last question? :joy:

(Just being an English nazi... continue along with your regularly scheduled posts. Click here for more info...)

 

If this is the second to last question, where's the last question?

Last question comes later

Yeah, I know it was a slightly questionable choice. But it seems appropriate after scouring the board - most of the other threads *almost* get there. And there will always be another last question. :evil_laugh:

 

The offroad set would then be used when an offroad-required event (rally, Ham support) comes up;

Ham radio? I put my Treg to similar use and am still pondering the best tires for my backup set of 17" rims. In my thread, the consensus came to Grabbers and BFGs for serious off-road, mud and snow.

On a side note, I'm thinking about upgrading from my IC-208h to the D-STAR IC-2820h since local Chester County ARES/RACES is installing a full D-STAR backbone with county a$$i$tance. For APRS tracking, I'd much rather the Kenwood, but they have not adopted D-STAR which would seem my local "future".

DECISIONS, DECISIONS!

de W3JY
AEC/OES www.delcoares.org

 

I have run the Revo's and the BFG's on my 04 and 07, respectively. Obviously, the acceleration is degraded, although I do not feel this is a significant problem over the OEM tires. The MPG is also degraded. The 04 got about 15 MPG in town and around 20 on the highway and the 07 is getting right at 15 in town but only about 17/18 on the highway. I do like to move down the highway at the 80/85 clip regularly.

The Revo's were a good tire and I had no problems with off-roading them. I do really prefer the BFG's for off-roading especially in the mesquite covered terrain around here and the rocky trails in the mountains. I just think the 3 ply/5ply construction is superior and more rugged. On last years Colorado Rally, I took a chunk out the BFG sidewall that would probably would have flattened a 3 ply sidewall but the BFG stood the test. I still have that tire mounted on a full size wheel for my spare.

I don't think you can beat the tread pattern on the BFG either. It will run a tad bit louder but again, all things being equal, i don't mind.

FWIW

Rick

 

Thank-you for everyone's thoughts.

Barring unexpected, I should be showing up to Colorado Rally with a 5-set of 265/70/17 BFG AT KO's. I'll drop a first impression report here once I get them installed in the next couple weeks.

I still am a bit sensitive to highway driving and in particular two-lane highway passing acceleration. I am likely to pick up something tamer as a second set.

But for clearance (1 1/8" improvement), durability, grip, the BFG's sound like the best choice for the more ambitious mountaineering journeys.

Thanks again, be reporting back soon.

 

Just wanted to chip in with my opinion:

I'm running the BFGs. What was said above has held true for me..mileage decreased by about 2-4 mpg city, not quite as bad on the highway. I haven't noticed any change in acceleration, but I tend to take off pretty slow as it is.

<bfg fanboy mode>I've run BFGs on every offroad rig I've ever owned, mud terrains or all terrains depending on application, and I LOVE them. They're tough as nails, and have some of the best tread patterns on the market for offroad use.

You can't go wrong with BFGs! The all terrain is a little bit louder than stock tires, but it's a LOT tougher, it self-cleans well, provides good traction in 95% of the situations you will find yourself in, and looks darn good, to boot. I really like the way they fill the tirewell on my steel sprung v6.</bfg fanboy mode>

A couple pictures of my rig with 265/70x17s:

Tire:

Right side:

Posing:

 

I am feeling a little "elevated" tonight

Just got the 265/70/R17 BFG AT KO's installed.

Here are a few initial impressions after mixed street / freeway driving -

Looks - Much meaner look. Combination of the tread design, 2 more inches of diameter, one more inch of clearance height - the Touareg is very much the offroad machine now. No more explaining - it says it.

Performance - For ordinary driving, pretty much similiar - maybe a tad heavier feel. Acceleration was good, not quite as snappy as the 255/60's, but I play with Sport Gear mode plenty when making 2-lane highway passes anyway, so just a slight tuning on my part.

Clearance - Hey, I can tell you a whole tire store full of mechanics couldnt believe it would work - they never put 265/70's on a Touareg - but yeah, those tires clear! That said, I won't get too bouncy on a fast hardpack. Maybe the clearance is more than normal to accommodate the air susp option. Once we got them on there, the looks I got were amazing.

Perception - I now got to flip my speedo thinking. No longer is my speedo faster than actual speed, its now shows *slower* than actual speed.

So thats about all I can say for 30-40 short (longer for the lease) miles.

I'll drop an update here after a week of use, then maybe after rally.

I can now see why Flirzan likes to showcase his rig everytime a tire size is mentioned Good for you Flirzan... keep at it. Like this beast!

 

The BFG's are beastly looking. Too bad they were not in the cards for tire replace this year.

 

Measured Minimum Clearance - 9 5/8 inches (9.6") with the 265/70's

edit - note, this is on a Steel Suspension

 

Measured Minimum Clearance - 9 5/8 inches (9.6") with the 265/70's

For anyone interested, Here are some "official" clearance values for the Touareg with air suspension.

The first are from VW for "standard" tires (29"), second value is for Bridgestone A/T REVO's in 265/65-17 (30.5") and the third are for BFG AT's in 265/70-17 (31.8"):

Loading level - 6.3" - 7" - 7.7"
High Speed II - 7.1" - 7.85" - 8.5"
High Speed I - 7.5" - 8.25" - 8.9"
Street Level - 8.5" - 9.25" - 9.9"
Offroad Level - 9.4" - 10.2" - 10.8"
Xtra Level - 11.8" - 12.55" - 13.2"

All numbers are approximate, YMMV, do not try this at home, etc., etc.

HTH

 

Thanks, yeah, I added a clarifier that my measurement was for Steel suspension.

13.2" clearance - that is true under axle clearance? and would Jeep drivers with 33's take a double take at an intersection? In any event, 13.2" would be a hike up to the drivers seat

 

ha ha ha... I love my Treg. 265/70/17 Goodyear MTR's Ground Clearance? Over a foot from the floor up to the frame rail. Don't worry there will be more next week when I get a minute. The V6 is okay except for in the real deep stuff. On the interstate running 3 digits is tolerable. Low range helps in the deep. Yeah, the MTR's are a bit noisy, but they look way cool and you can't beat them off-road. I'll put up with the noise as long as the radio keeps rockin. Makes a great conversation piece when you're pullin out a jeep on the trail. Hoping for a set of 33's for Christmas. Just installed a ceramic brake kit from EBC. Helps slow this pup down with no fade. Awesome! Here are some pics. http://forums.clubtouareg.com/album_personal.php?user_id=11887

 

"Rock-on"!

Ok, are we starting some sort of lift war? Who is next to put on a set of 35's with a gargantuan lift kit (and it STILL cruises great on the freeway)

 

You really won't be able to go to high for you will run into issues with the angle of the half shafts being too drastic. I have a friend that does crawling and bought a Jeep Liberty at one point. He wanted to lift it up like he did his CJ but found since it had the regular car type suspension in the front with half shafts rather then a solid axle that you can't take it too far. We would be worse off since the Tregs are independent the whole way around. There would deffinitely have to be a limit as to how high you could take it.

 

A quickie report after the Colorado Rally...

Offroad - Very happy with the performance of the BFG's. That said, the Nitto's, Nokians, and many of the other offroad-category tires exhibited at the rally were shown to be excellent. For me, it was the added clearance (on steel) and ply-protection that sold it for me. One nasty behavior - the tread pattern likes to collect small rocks that can be thrown back at your following trailmates.

Onroad - They do feel a bit 'heavy' - its a big tire. I need just a tad more foot on the accelerator - not quite as zippy as the stock. Wet traction excellent! My fuel mileage on the interstates was comparable to other V6's. Not the best comparison since everyone's driving habits are different. Likely will fit a set of highway tires/wheels for seasons when I dont offroad.

 

Actually the Nokians that I, Dick and Nancy were running were by no means offroad tires, but did very well imo. They did very well in that slick slimy mud trail we did the very first day on the rally. I would not necessarily recommend them to anyone wanting to nothing but offroad but they are not bad.