unimog tyres

[grizzly7]

hi
i need 6no 13.00 r20 tyres, preferably michelin xzl's, preferably in south east uk!!
any ideas???

any help would be gratefully appreciated

ta muchly, jason and claire

[Toby2]

I ended up having to buy new. I looked for a while for second hand tyres to go on my Unimog - there are occasionally tyres turning up on Ebay and from the major Unimog dealers - companies such as AC Price actually have a section on their website. Unfortunately in all these cases, you are looking at second hand tyres that are available because new ones have been fitted but people don't tend to change them when there is loads of life left. I struggled to find full sets with the right tyre pattern with enough life left on them to make them worth while. In the end I put a new set on which cost me about £1050 for 4 10.5r20's on a tractor style mud pattern. I was thinking about putting 12.5r20s on but they required new wheels as mine aren't wide enough, they would have required me to buy a 5th tyre / wheel because I couldn't have used the originals as spares and the tyres cost that much more - I would have been looking at just over £2000 new (5 tyres, 5 wheels). Given its a 404 which only cost £1700 for the whole truck, that seemed a lot to spend on it. Ended up buying from a commercial / agricultural tyre supplier.

[grizzly7]

ta much, i'm beginning to think the same myself.
what sort of ride/mileage did you get from tractor type treads?

i have found these:-

Used tires worldwide (OTR, earthmoving, cover, ...) ATB Tires

L.W. Vass, Landrover and Bedford specialists, vehicles, parts and custom modifications supplied

Aircraft tyres Agricultural tyres 4x4 tyres OTR tyres import/export new tires,used tires,remoulded tires

so it may be cheaper to visit holland!!

does anyone have experience of using 2nd hand tyres? especially in sahara low pressure conditions?

i suppose its obvious to say the age isnt going to be known, so does a 50% worn tyre become more of liability if its 5 years old rather than two? therefore making 2nd even more of a lottery?

i'm not going to put remoulds on tho!

[stanoverlander]

Hi

I now own Chris Scotts MAN and put some new XZLs on it at Christmas, the tyres that came off were 12.5 20 Mich 'x's i think. They are 'ok'if you want them cheap for running about on as they are clogging my yard up. However if you are off on a big trip i wouldnt hence i replaced them. The ride from the XZLs ismuch better as they are equivelant to 14s. Its also a question of personal approach but i wouldnt set off on any second hand or dubious tyres as they are doing a lot of work for you. Get the best you can afford as tyre problems are no fun on a big truck. Have seen them stiching the sidewalls up i Algeria as there are none around.
As for the ag tread ones, some of them are very uncomfortable to drive on for long periods as they can be rock hard. The noise can also be annoying. Again michelin do the best one- XM47s but get XZLs they are really worth it. Also some of the ag ones are not speed rated for mogs so be carefull - Call Alex at ACPrice as he can get them from Germany but the Euro exchange isnt helping at the moment. I got mine from a local commercial tyre dealer who had a contact who buys XZLs for the military. I can get prices if you want..

Stan

[Toby2]

Re your question - ride I find quite good, still rides well, great offroad and sits well on road - mileage - don't have clue - As I only do about 1000 - 2000 miles a year I suspect its a few years before I will be able to answer that question.

As for second hand tyres, as per above post - if you are just pottering round on them then fine but wouldn't risk it on a longer trip. When I picked my mog up, I checked all the tyre pressures and they were fine but as I drove it the 100 miles back home, one of the front two started developing a huge bulge on the inner edge. Fortunately my wife was driving behind in a conventional car and spotted it - (I guess you have a lot of time to look round at things when following a mog which is varying between 10mph on the hills up to about 50mph on the downhilll slopes for 100 miles). Changed it before we had an accident and put it in the bed in the back. Went off like a small bomb the next day due to the sun heating it up. Neighbours through the gas mains had gone off, got the whole street out. Anyway we were lucky, given how high the ride is, I suspect it would have a been a very unpleasant accident if it went on one of the downhill stages when I had some speed up.

Noticed there is a set of tyres going on Ebay at the moment - as to whether they will work on a mog or not, don't know. Are you running 9" or 11" rims? Suggest the tyres on ebay would need at least an 11" width. If you want to see them search under Unimog. They are nothing to do with me so not plugging anything, just saw them there last night.

[grizzly7]

moglet is currently being fiddled with by the ever helpful Simon at atkinson vos, in preparation for a year plus trip. i know he can get some new ones, tho i hadnt thought of ringing around other mog dealers for prices.
Stanh if you dont mind getting prices that would be appreciated. two different friends tried thru friends of theirs who work in more everyday tyre dealers but came back telling me xzl's dont exist!
simon does have some lovely shiny new ones but are run flats! he has no idea how to get them off the rims, so i'd have to buy them rims included and bin the whole thing when i get a flat!! :confused1: not that hes trying to sell me them, they just look nice!

i think 11"wide is a bit small tho. i'm quite surprised how few people seem to sell new or 2nd hand tyres like this. moglet has got good but very road based tyres on at the min if anyone wants!!

[Toby2]

re 11" wide - I don't know from you mails which mog you have and therefore how large a tyre you can accomodate. On my 404 the options were either a 10.5r20 which requires a 9" wide wheel or 12.5r20 which requires a 11" wide. I guess if you have one of the new mogs that could take a larger tyre again, you may also need to get a wider hub.

Re the other dealers, well as you seem to be finding, there aren't many people swapping tyres so by ringing round dealers you increase your chances. AC price is a useful one in that they actually have a section on their website but most of their options were 2 of 1 size and 1 of a different style etc. When I rang up to try and work out whether they had 4 of the same type, i didn't get very far. After several conversations, gave up on it.