Ive been looking at various tyres for my Portal axled Range Rover and i was thinking about buying some simex ET2's and cutting some of the center nobbles off. Would that make the tyre ilegal for Road use? I know that you can re-cut truck tyres so whats the diffrence?

No idea if it is legal - but that would make a bloody good tyre! Not a million miles from Dumpers.

Si

i've no idear what it is but theres a ratio of rubber to groove that tyre manufactures complie to ie yokohama AO32R's a road/race tyre for mini's (road legal) have big flat blocks of rubber for traction but this means the grooves are about 10mm wide where as a normal road tyre has small blocks of rubber but lots of 3mm grooves.
also truck tyres are marked up on the side wall as regrooveable and i think it maybe ilegal to regroove a normal tyre unless so marked. your best bet is to speak to your friendly MOT man see what he says

that wasn't much help really was it hey ho

mike

not legal for on-road use, but you could say they were knocked off whilst off-roading!

sorry meant to add that re-grooved tyres are illegal for cars or utility vehicles under 3500KG, so just put 1500KG's in the back for on-road use and you should be ok

Steve

or SVA your vehicle on a commercial ticket- that would get round the problem wouldn't it?

Sorry but why would this not be road legal? Its an unusual wear pattern (not sure how it is induced and would be keen to learn more) but the tyre still maintains adequate tread across the tyre and around the circumference. It is also not regroving as it it only the tread block that has been worn away, not the base carcass being cut into.

look I'm not being an areshole and saying this is illegal you should not do it.

Could you get away with it? - yes most probably. I doubt you'd have an issue with it. Your insurance company would have an issue with it if they ever found out.

Is it illegal? - yes. The tyre has been altered from it's original approved state. Under current UK law this is illegal for passenger cars and commercial vehicle under 3500KG - no ambiguity there.

At the end of the day do what you like

Cheers

Steve

well i think ill do it anyway, its no diffrent to loosing a few nobbles when offroading
Its not like im going to be taking it far on the road anyway with Portal axles and if i did get pulled over im sure they will be more interested in how fast i was going (or not with portal axles) rather than a few nobbles missing on my tyres, thats if they can even spot the diffrence !

Thanks for the advice, its always good to know where we stand when you get pulled over by the Law(so we can always have a good excuse!)

What would you use to cut the nobbles off?

Forget the legality issue, From an off road point of view does anyone have experience of using modded ET2's off road? I would imagine they self clean and grip better in the soft with a little less grip on rock etc? I like the look of them a lot.

A tyre-cutter, ask at your local truck place or google it for pictures. It uses high current passing through a thin metal blade, you then push this blade using the tool's handle through the tyre tread, dont go too deep though

My mate has regroved his Grizzly Claws to prolong their life

Try ebay, they go for £50-100, the best are the German ones, cant remember the name

Lewis

they are easy enough to cut with a tyre regrooverIt will take a few hours to cut the nobbles off but will transform the performance of the tyre.




I did think about the fedima (simex copy) that are the same height as the ET2 but the rubber compound is harder so they dont grip quite so well on rocks.

Are Dumper/tractor tyres really that good? We were having a simex/bogger/other offroad tyre vs. dumper tyre discussion in the pub on sunday - but none of us had actually driven a Land Rover with dumper tyres

Lewis

Yes and no. Neither have I but have been away on many occasions with people with them fitted, usually 11.5/80x15.3 size. In conditions where you need to keep chewing they are awesome, though they make a mess of the ground even when not spinning and many farm owners here don't like people using them for that reason - my father (in the days before there were any roads here) banned them from most of the farm because of the mess they made of tracks. On the road most are only rated to 25mph so probably illegal though that doesn't stop people here using them on road however the noise is a bit high and they shake the vehicle to pieces! For climbing they are pretty awesome too, but I've seen one situation where they actually didn't work well climbing a mountain because they would tear the top off the ground and then dig in to the soft peat where my wide BFG's floated over the thin mat of turf on top and drove straight up.

They are AWESOME

Trialed on a set of cut dumpers for a few seasons (untill they were banned).

The grip was fantastic, better than any other tyre i've used since, maxicross, grizleys, simex, and boggers all seema bit tame compared.

If you would be willing to spend good money and buy goodyears or michelens they are speed rated and last a lot better on the road.

Just be careful you don't cut too much out Chris or you'll be back where you started

I trialled for a year on dumpers with the awdc, and they are awesume in a straight line, when you turn tho, the back pushes you on quite alot (fiddles cure this) and on side slopes they slide (can be dodgy!)
I had them on my series 2 for a few days serious off roading and on road, they are AWEFULL!

Hmmmm I could always cut every other nobble off either between the side lugs and stagger them so there is always 2 lugs diagonally and horizontally, that way they would be no more aggressive than a simex et. I will have to check that it works out evenly around the circumference of the tyre first.
I don’t want to end up in special class again

Why not just fit the 35" ET's?

Steve

I could do but i like to be different!!

Simex don't work on rocks either.

krawlers or boggers work well on rocks

Even BFG muds work better on rocks than simex!

I was given the impression that the ET2's are much better than the ET's on rock, and with tread mods are just as good as ET's in mud. Every tyre is a compromise but the ET2 is one i would be willing to make on my truck

Chris check these out e-bay 140063183653

would be nice but i dont need the mach 5's as i have volvo rims. so not worth paying the extra £.

Looking at the photo, you need to be careful how you cut. I noticed that some of the remaining treads look like they have been under cut and will rip off really quickly, esp on road!

A few of the Polish guys cut the left and right blocks out and leave the centre line in - they seem happy with them

i've found the simexs work well enough on rock only rock i've drove on is at walters arena( seven sisters) in wales aired down and found that the big side lugs hook on the rock, not real rock crawling but not much of this type of site in uk anyway, if you know diffrent do tell as i enjoy big rocks

pretty much most of the others sites that you didn't go to tango... all of them had massive rocks involved.. don't know what the tyres were like mind because we (adrian and I) wasn't using them.

you should check out santa challenge next year mate - - majority is rock over there... well two sites anyway.. the others are mud/grass and more mud/brick.

JOY..JOY ..JOY.

I can see the 36" in the pictures work well, although a tad wide. Has anyone on here actually tried these modified tyres?

Daan

I do not know if he attends this forum any more, but that looks like tha work of Master splicer AKA TD5 power on Devon.

He did this some months back as the 36' ET2 was proving far from perfect.

As for the real results? not sure still waiting for him to give an opinion.

Jim

Ps: Simex work well on rock, well compared to what else is available

And that's why we have Special Class

Actually now renamed 'Class 1 - Unlimited Modifications' for next year

Ive been watching this thread coz im coming towards time that I need to replace my tyre's. Ive been running 35/10.5x16 fedima sciroco's but they are gettin a bit long in the tooth now. They are awsome in mud, on grass, soft going etc etc and ive never been out driven on the soft stuff to date (with the exception of someone on a newer set of the same last weekend, Grrrrrr) but they are very poor on rock and stone so Ive been looking at going Simex as ive been impressed with what ive seen so far. Has anyone gone from the fedima's to simex and seen a hage difference? I imagine they would as they seem to flex way better than the fedima and I think the rubber is softer.

The problem I have is I dont want to drop down to a 35 inch tyre (although the fedima is marked 35 it compares to a 36 inch simex). But although I want better performance on rock I do a huge amount of soft ground driving and the ET2's sound less than Ideal in the mud! I supose a 36inch ET1 is the ideal but I dont think they do them.

Are 37 x 13.00 Boggers too big? Not much wider than the Simex I'm using (35x10.5s) and a fair bit taller. They're probably my current choice although I'm bound to change my mind again before I buy a set of tyres

They probably arnt too big actually, Depends if they are a small 37 or a large 37 if ya get me! Tyre size's tend to vary from make to make dont they. The only reason I wouldn't be too keen to go bigger is the gearing as I have 4.11-1 R+P's and like it as it is plus some events having a max size limit but im defo open to all options. Not been impressed with the Pitbulls ive seen so I wouldn't be to keen on them. Not seen Boggers used, I dont like the anacondas which I think are a similar tread pattern but the bogger could be a totally different tyre.

Steve, looking at the sizes they're just under 37" (36.8"). The only bad word I've heard about them is they can be a bit interesting on side slopes although Jez tells me its no issue as they tend to slide then grip.

FYI 36 x 13.5 IROK is the same diameter (looking at the figures), slightly narrower and only has a very slightly shallower tread. This is annother tyre on the short list.....

Never seen Iroks in the flesh but they look impressive, How are they compared to simex in the mud? Are they the tyre that bath tub uses?

This is what I'm trying to weight up. Bathtub seems to do OK on them as does DiscoDino.....

My simex were useless on rocks.

boggers are day and night compared.

hows This for rocks!

At korc

Simex are useless on rocks.......?

Big statement

I find Simex acceptable, when airred down to sensible figures Eg: between 5 and 15psi.

Simex flex there side walls well, unlike the cheaper copies and are very difficult to beat as an alround tyre.

On the limited rock crawling we have in this country ia have had the pleasure of competing againist other makes and marques of tyre at the rock crawl at Tong (Biggest in the country)

And to have to say that that day Simex creamed all the boggers....

But then i suppose it could have been luck....

But Dan you are right, in as much as there are better OUTRIGHT rock crawling tyres, But all round tyres...? I'll stick to Simex for the time being

Jim

Ps: Just wish they made them bigger

Well an all round tyre thats acceptable on rock but will mainly be used in soft going is what im after. I really do not want to loose any of the soft ground ability I have with the fedima (which are very good) but would like something just a bit better on rock. I think if it wasn't for the down size in diameter id go for the simex ET's. Im thinking of going for the ET2's and cutting them as above but how much will this damage the rock performance? Will they still be any advantage over the fedima? I think the extra flex will probably be enough to make them better but who know's without trying it!

Don't we all.....

so did any one ever try this keep looking at my 36's and think about it, but i don't want to trash them if they don't grip any better after a weekend of cutting

Let's put it this way...the ETs don't love the rocks, and I hated them on the rocks...the SS Iroks did much better there...as with everything, it is a compromize...the Iroks don't do as well as the ETs un the mud, but that's the only terrain I give up on with the Iroks that shine in all other terrains...Boggers aren't great on the rocks either, but by simply offering more than 36" sizes, they will outshine the ETs