michelin XZY* 7.50 on the rocks
 

hi.
i'm new to the forum and would like to ask a question about the tyres i have on my landrover 110 station wagon. currently my tyres are michelin XZY* 7.50 r16 (wolf wheels) the tyres were new last year and perform ok except from being the worlds heaviest. i have done about 8,000 miles and they are showing no wear whatsoever. my question however is regarding their suitability for rocky terrain. the reason is that this summer, i'm going to Iceland for a couple of weeks. i won't be doing anything silly/stupid as i'm travelling alone (family in a single vehicle). however, my understanding is that the majority of the 'roads' in the interior are made up of volcanic rocks which are very abrasive and i want to ensure that the tyres are up to the job.what do you think?

thanks.

jasper,

The Mich's are heavy because there' s lots of rubber on them. That precisely makes them take more abuse from stones than many other brands.

Check here: Michelin XZY and search this forum fore more threads on XZY

are you therefore saying that the XZY's are suited to this sort of terrain?

(i was tongue in cheek about the weight. its also because they have more steel plies than most other brands)

The XZYs will not be the grippiest tyres on the market but will probably be the toughest. The sidewalls are very resistant (they don't deform very well though, if you want to use low pressures) and you won't notice any wear at the end of your trip (if you don't intend to do anything silly). I've had mine for 30000 african kms so far and they're still in very good nick.
I had some XZLs before, they were brilliant except for the wear on rocky pistes. Scary at the begining of the tyre life, worrying once the threads were at about 50% and fine when they were nearly slick (after 30000km) ie they didn't get much slicker. I only just made it with 6 tyres through 55000kms in Africa but if I had to do it again I would go for the XZYs.
My conclusion is that yes, they are very suited for this sort of terrain.

thank you swissT. i have done more searching on the web and nobody seems to have a bad word to say about them! however, its more encouraging to get feedback on a forum like this one.

L.W.Vass have a stockpile of these tyres, and 130" rims, at a very resonable price! £40 each for the tyres i think it is.

I've had XZY's for 6 years continuously and can tell you that they are the toughest. In Iceland, where I've spent several weeks on 2 trips thet will be fine if you keep out of soft sandy gravel where because of their narrow width they will sink unless you are already deflated down to 1 bar or so. As mentioned earlier get them from VASS and in Iceland which is cool you can use standard tube type rims (use Michelin tubes, not rubbish cheap ones) or if you prefer go tubeless with rims again from Mr.Vass.

Andrew.

I just done 40,000km on a new pair and they hardly look worn - though they aren't bullet proof! I was actually quite surprised how thin the side wall was, and how little was in it. But they were fine in rocky Morocco as well. For the price, they were brillent (£75 + vat new from Vaas, £55 for part worn)

http://www.roamingyak.org/temp/tyre_madebighole.jpg

http://www.roamingyak.org/temp/tyre_dead.jpg

XZY's
 

Jasper,I have recently put a new set of XZY's on my 79 series LandCruiser ute as recommended by Geoff Kingsmill. I have only done anout 2,000km so far on the new treads. The only comment I have is they tend to track along grooves or ridges in the road. I usually run the tyres at 40psi, but now run the front tyres now at 30psi, it seems to have remedied the tracking to a fair degree. The all up weight of the rig is about 3,000kg.What tyre pressures do find best for your 110?Chris

We use 7.50 XZY's for about 60.000km thru Africa, and couldn't have been more happy. Although not the best in sand (we had to take them down to around 8-10 PSI quite often), they certainly seemed to take sharp rocks and gravel better than XZL's, and other AT type tyres we came across.