Why do so many people run Simex copies, sorry "Insa Turbo Special

[Chicken Drumstick]

Went to a pay & play site this weekend, and something that struck me was, almost every vehicle there. And by this I mean there were 50 or 60 vehicles, and they were all running Simex Extreme Trekker copies. The only people that weren't, were myself and the 3 other people I went with.

It makes you wonder, if the 4x4 community a bit sheep like sometimes? Not saying these are bad tyres, far from it, the Simex's are brilliant, although most people seem to have no idea who or what Simex are and are convinced this is an Insa turbo tread pattern...

That said, as good as these tyres are off road, they are all lousy on road. And there are other good off road tyre treads too. And while the Extreme Trekker works well on many terrains, sometimes despite it's looks, it may not be the best.

I was rolling about on a narrow set of proper 7.50 sized diamonds, and in all honesty on this site these seemed much the better tyre to have for this terrain.

But diamonds are old hat and 7.50's too small for the main flock these days...... BAA BAA

[ejparrott]

I run AT's!

[miketomcat]

I think your right plus simex pattern look cool don't they....?

Personally I think your hard pressed to beat the bfg km2 for great off road ability, more than acceptable road use and wear.

Mike

[muddy]

Because they are probably the best pattern for all round off roadyness, and how many pay and players are daily drivers?

I use the kaimen style ones and some cross contacts on the road so I may aswell have the most aggressive I can get away with.

Will.

[Nigelw]

The Cooper STT are the most agressive tyres I will own these days, my reasoning is that if the terrain is so bad that they suffer traction wise, then I need to find another route, if thats not an option then out come the tyre chains

Incidentally, that idea came from a German fella I know, he runs BFG A/Ts and has a set of chains for the odd time the ground is sticky enough to possibly stop them, he recons that a lot of folk waste far too much money on aggressive tyres and the higher fuel consumption that comes with them, when they could just fit some chains for that 5 or six days a yea that they might actually need aggressive tyres.

[Chicken Drumstick]

Guess it depends on use. But chains just wouldn't work for me. I don't want to be rolling about in the mud trying to fit them because I've got stuck. And I'm not sure if they'd work in the mud either.

My Landy see's a lot more than 5 or 6 days off roading too. Most times I drive it, it will go off road to a greater or lesser degree.

[Cynic-al]

When my SJ got pinched I bought an RRC as I wanted something different to the SJ. I put insas on it because they're cheap, easily available and... lots of land rovers that I watched at P&P sites have them and seemed to do well on them. It all comes down to the terrain though, a flatter wider tread with more contact area seems to do better on rocks etc. however how much of the average UK P&P site is rocks and how much is slop?

I think a lot of competitors are going away from that tread pattern, prehaps to get bigger size as much as anything.

Someone did put a black sheep sticker on my car, maybe thats really what they meant!

[Team Idris]

We all ran 7.50x16 SAT's in the 90's, and I mean everyone ran SAT's or rangy tyres. There were V8 series going sideways around traffic islands all over the country Other than that it was 7.50x16 many-ply road pattern. And a few had the old landy pattern, which I still have, and they are bad at road and off road work. Before that it was the normal landy pattern or you re-cut Bar treads. (The dog played with the wigley bit cut from the middle of dads tyres for years). Anyhoo, where I'm going with this, is that there is a tyre for a time period. The only one that stands the time test is the tractor pattern.

I like the Special track as it is cheap, aggressive, and you can run it for everything except comps

Not knocking the sheep either. The milemarker is an excellent non-sheep winch, but the KAM diffs made me feel sheepish until I got them to work right. There's a lot of mileage in following the herd

[GW8IZR]

SAT's were fantastic tyres and I'd put another set on my 90 today if they were available

I'm sure there is an element of rose tinting in that :-)

[mickeyw]

When it comes to play days, if you're not running tyres as big or aggressive as the flock, you struggle to get places.

Like Idris says, we all used to run 7.50 SATs or bar grips, because that was about all there was. As tyres have got taller, the ruts have got deeper - that's why I now run 255/85R16s BFG muds in the drier mud.

At this time of year though I play on 33" Silverstone Extremes (same as the Insa Turbo), because everyone else has made that much of a mess, it's darned difficult with anything less.

[Team Idris]

Rose Tinting Could be. At 12 years old mine were terrible, but was that because they were hard? I didn't break a diff until I put special-tracks on. The only real difference is that cross-cut centre tread. The SATs took a fair mullering on welsh slate to their credit.

I had a set of those RRC tyres on my Diesel S3 years ago. They were stunning on packed snow. I suspect for snow you want a tyre that spends a lot of time on the road, so the corners of the tread are square and sharp?

[oneandtwo]

I am on my second pair of insa special Traks on my old 90. I use it in the summer on the beach for launching my rib and used in muddy fields for off road towing. Prior to the Insas I used Deestone Extra Grip 750 and the insas are brilliant in comparison on the sand.

Both sets however have cracked really badly and need replacing again, the tread hasn't worn at all but the cracking is all around the base of the lugs, possibly too much flex in the tall lugs when used on the road - the steering is awful with them fitted, again due to the lugs flexing - I put a set of the old BFG mud pattern tyres on as a test and the steering was pin sharp again, but the 265 tyres were too wide for my Wolf rims.

I might try the slightly less aggressive pattern next, I think they call it Insa "Sahara"

[GW8IZR]

They (SATS) were narrow and tall which seemed to work out well for me and I agree they took a lot of abuse round Mach.

I had them on my RRC for a while as well.

Trailaing on dumpers was an interesting insight and having one set backwards seemed a good combination but others just ran them in the correct direction and seemed to do just as well.

Its all quite subjective - what works for you is what matters

[Chicken Drumstick]

We all ran 7.50x16 SAT's in the 90's, and I mean everyone ran SAT's or rangy tyres.

Nope not here. XCL's.

[Chicken Drumstick]

When it comes to play days, if you're not running tyres as big or aggressive as the flock, you struggle to get places.

Well sadly I proved that wrong at the weekend. My narrow 7.50's got everywhere anyone else did and my vehicle became the tow/recovery vehicle for the people I was with. Which ended up with me recovery all 3 of them and the only time I got stuck was while recoverying a Disco and using my vehicle as an anchor I got pulled into a hole.

But that's kind of my point, in a tongue in cheek kind of way.

Just because the very "special" tracks from Insa Turbo look aggressive and everyone and his dog is running them, doesn't mean they are the best for all terrain types and conditions.

[GW8IZR]

there is also an element of all the gear and no idea ;-)

I often recall accessing a radio site in Cumbria, my normal vehicle was off the road and I had to use a 2wd van.

Stuck in the gate I resorted to asking the farm site owner to help.

He towed me and the van up to the site in a rusty subaru pickup with road tyres so bald you could see the canvas.

Lesson in off road driving learned!

[honitonhobbit]

I run Maxxis 764's - the new style - on the Disco 1. Superb tyre - far better than the KM2 all round

I've got AT2's on the D2 - nice on road and not too bad off

The Mighty G has Fedima copies of SAT's on in a 7.50 stylee - almost unstoppable off road but on road and early 4x2 petrol engined G can be somewhat bowel lightening on any form of tarmac

[4x4 nut]

Depends on the terrain. Simex Extreme Trekkers were developed following the launch of the Malaysian Rainforest Challenge (RFC) back in 1997. Dunlop incidentally were sponsors of the first RFC and owned the Simex brand.

When the monsoon rains hit, the clay logging tracks which are used on the challenge instantly turned into skating rinks, so a particular type of tyre was needed that both dug into the bottom of the track and the sides of existing deep ruts (ruts caused by log-hauling trucks BTW), hence the aggressive lugs on the sidewalls of Simex Extreme Trekkers. Before that it was Silverstone who led the way, Dunlop simply didn't need such an aggressive before `97.

Next came Bronco tyres in Leek, Staffordshire who brought out their Grizzly Claw re-tread tyres. These were good off-road, lethal on-road (wet roundabouts especially!!!) but were super noisy on tarmac and the lifespan was rubbish. Rock would rip off the lugs, and even driving too and from events on public roads would see your new investments wear away so quickly. Bronco Tyres eventually went bust, I don't think the AWDC ever did receive their sponsorship cash from Bronco for the competition back bore the company's name?

Insa Turbos were simply a copy of Simex's tyres, albeit an inferior copy wear-wise. They were however considerably cheaper, so it was left to the Challenge competitors to buy Simex, whilst regular Pay 'n' Play drivers tended to purchase Insas. Far superior to Broncos, they are still a poor imitation compared to the real tyres of the world - Super Swampers (Oz), Simex, Silverstone. It's all a matter of how deep your pockets are; that's life!

[aniesigh]

I followed a whitbread round a stage at a winch challenge on Sunday, he was on 35" simex's and I'm on 37" treps. Both 300tdi auto and both have front & rear lockers. He winches 8-10 times, I winched once

[mickeyw]

Well sadly I proved that wrong at the weekend. My narrow 7.50's got everywhere anyone else did and my vehicle became the tow/recovery vehicle for the people I was with. Which ended up with me recovery all 3 of them and the only time I got stuck was while recoverying a Disco and using my vehicle as an anchor I got pulled into a hole.

But that's kind of my point, in a tongue in cheek kind of way.

Just because the very "special" tracks from Insa Turbo look aggressive and everyone and his dog is running them, doesn't mean they are the best for all terrain types and conditions.

I should have worded my comment better by specifically mentioning depth of ruts. If the ruts are made by trucks with 33" tyres, the 7.50x16s will more often than not get stuck on their diffs.

there is also an element of all the gear and no idea ;-)

How true! Insas, Simexes et al tend to have pretty tough sidewalls. To get the best performance from them they need running at pretty low pressures - far lower than is safe for road use. I often see trucks driven to a site on seemingly rock hard knobblies, these guys will be the ones struggling for grip when the more compliant BFG MTs might be faring much better.

It is an age old thing lowering tyre pressure when on difficult terrain. I am not necessarily talking about going so low as to need bead lock rims. Even dropping 10 PSI from road pressures will make a difference, which is why I tend to carry a means of tyre inflation for the end of the day.