 I
bought a Land Rover Discover 3 TDV6 S in August 2005 and I am
still amazed about this amazing vehicle, my 4th Discovery.
Land
Rover Discovery Review.
I use my vehicle mainly on tar road as most of the 4X4 owners, but
I am driving this vehicle to be able to go on safari into Africa
to countries like Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi
etc.
I fitted Bridgestone Dueler AT tyres on my previous Discovery 2
and on a safari of more than 7000km through Mozambique, Malawi and
Zimbabwe, negotiated very bad roads while towing an off-road
trailer without having one flat or damaged tyre.
My new Discovery 3 was factory fitted with Good Year HP tyres
which gave a very comfortable drive on tar. On my first trip
off-road which included about 5kmof slightly rocky terrain on a
farm in Mpumalanga, the side wall of one of the tyres was damaged
and could not be repaired. I gathered more information on these
tyres and was informed that it is 90% on road / 10% off road tyres
with a high speed rating.
After 30 000km, the tyres shown substantial wear of about 50%. I
found this strange as I got more than 80 000km on a set of BF
Goodrich tyres on my first Discovery.
In planning a trip to Namibia which will include the Richtersveld
National Park, I started looking for tyres that will be suitable
for the type of terrain that will be negotiated. I contacted most
tyre manufacturers in South Africa and could not find an off road
tyre in the size 235/70/17 or even close to that. The only tyre
available for the vehicle was the factory fitted tyre.
The closest tyre available was a Cooper ST 245/70/17 with a 50/50
on road off-road rating. This tyre is used by Kingsley Holgate on
his expeditions. I was concerned about the fact that the tyre was
bigger and had quite a rough track profile. I decided keep on
searching and found a Cooper ATR on the Cooper Tyres website in
the USA in exactly the size I needed (235/70/17). On the web are
many testimonies on the excellent performance of these tyres on
and off-road.
I contacted Dunlop SA and was assisted by Gerhard Pondard who
immediately agreed to import these tyres with his next order. The
tyres arrives after six weeks and was fitted by Rob’s Tyres in
Centurion within a week after it’s arrival in Durban.
The set of tyres looks great on the Discovery 3 and I can not
detect a difference in the on-road drive or an increase in road
noise. I now have the confidence to go off-road and visit the
remote places in our beautiful country and it’s neighbours with a
trip to the Serengeti in the future.
The tyres are available from Dunlop Dealers in South Africa at
about R1900 each. They brought in about 60 tyres to start with if
I am correct
Charles Moolman
|
