The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[amazonmark]

JUst wondered how others got on with tyre wear on their Amazon? My fronts seem to be shot after about 10,000 miles after having the tracking etc checked with the original OE equipment

One garage said that when Toyota put 18" wheels on the Amazon they didnt alter the geometry set up so when you turn corners and go round roundabouts then it has to really scrub the tyres

Also what All Terrain tyres have people fitted and what would you recommend?

Cheers

Mark

[Google]

[lucky]

Mark.

I have had a recommendation to rotate tyres on my 80 series because of the same issue - my fronts scrubbed out the inside edge after about 12000 miles although tracking, castor etc were all OK. Th LC is a heavy beast and hard on the fronts, especially because of the fact that we always go round roundabouts the same way (well hopefully) and there are a lot where I live so the passenger side front gets a lot of extra load.

I am running 17 inch wheels on mine with Cooper ATR 265/70/17 tyres. From my experience they are excellent, good grip on and off road and they are quiet.

They are also cheaper than BFGs and also they come in the larger wheel sizes.
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1999 Land Cruiser Amazon VX Active 4.2TD Auto
Gloucestershire 4x4 Response
Landcruiser-rocks

[smilerbaker]

yep had the same problem, inside edge on my fronts were worn but tracking etc was fine

[RADIOTWO]

I fitted 16" wheels and BFG's and is now fine

Steve

[lucky]

Be interesting to see what happens on my 17 inch with Coopers. Previous were on 16 inch standard alloys with some unknown make of HT rated tyres on the front and General XP2000 on the rear.
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1999 Land Cruiser Amazon VX Active 4.2TD Auto
Gloucestershire 4x4 Response
Landcruiser-rocks

[realspeed]

Looks as if I shall have to replace the original tyres at around 25,000 mile mark the car having covered 21000 at the present time

Realspeed

[Grumpy Old Man]

When I bought my Amazon, it was fitted with Michellins. I got massive understeer going into corners and it was a constant battle with the steering wheel when trying to go in a straight line. It wallowed and felt like a soggy sponge.
Last week, due to tyre wear, I decided to replace all four tyres with BF Goodrich A/T..275 x 70 x 16. Due to the wide profile of the tyres, I decided to have them tracked to run parallel. It's like a different car...No wandering, no understeer ( which frightened me to death the first time I went into a corner... I turned the steeering wheel and the car actually changed direction) and it feels great. It really is like a different car.

[Wandering Willy]

As another GOM, I am interested in your idea of setting the front wheels parallel. I would never have though of it. Presumably the tracking was previously set toe-in. Do you know by how much relative to the standard setting? Max Ellery says it should be 0-2mm so the standard is nearly parallel anyway.

My Amazon came with Michelin tyres. They were in a poor condition - one had a damaged sidewall. They seemed OK on the road but I wasn't sure how they would be on muddy tracks and I wanted tyres with a more agressive tread. Pirelli Scorpions seem to be good, with a slightly blockier tread that the Michelins but I saw some Yokohama Geolanders and they looked about right. I was a little concerned that they would 'sing' on the road but they are as quiet as the Michelins. The rubber is soft and seems to grip well.

I have to say that my style of driving is rather sedate. I don't fancy fighting 2.6 tons of car round tight bends so I haven't pushed it nor intend to. Driving style has a great influence on tyre wear.

With blocky tread and soft compound I don't expect a high mileage from the Geolanders - the Michelins would probably have done better. The car had 53,000miles on it when I bought it and I think some of the tyres could have been original but that's only a guess.

As I have a GX rather than a VX, my car doesn't have the self-leveling suspension. Therefore, when empty it rides rather high and the Geolander tyres seem to have a lot of give in the side walls. This helps the grip on soft land (sand/mud) but doesn't help its stability on winding roads. Also, the wheels are 16" rather than 18 which later Amazons have as standard. The bigger wheels let you fit lower profile tyres which again give a more stable car but reduce off-road ability a bit.

Over pot holes and single bumps the car rides very well but on worn roads the car jiggles about and is rather sick-making (as my dogs can testify - often). These tyres may be contributing to this and it's my main criticism of the car. I wonder if new shocks would help. For now, I just avoid badly surfaced roads as far as possible.

As a final comment, I bought the tyres via the internet and fitted them myself (on the back patio). They went on easily with a couple of 12" tyre levers and some soapy water. This was helped by the soft side walls. I haven't had them balanced and this hasn't been a problem - at least up to 75. I just lined up the red dot on the tyre with the valve to balance the light spot on the tyre with the heaviest point on the wheel but given the size of both I doubt this makes a big difference.

Willy

[armstrong75]

I am just changing my Dunlop Grandtrek AT23 tyres at 67,000 miles.
At the last MOT (63,000) I was given an advisory that the tyres were getting dodgy as both edges of each were becoming feathered.

I took it to my usual tyre depot and they told me that they had been run under inflated and that the centre of the treads had many thousands of miles left on them, but I have always used the pressure recommended in the hand book.

I was told to always increase the stated pressure by 2 PSI to ensure that the tyre ran with less edge on the road.
So I increased the pressure and have driven to Spain and back adding 4000 miles since the MOT. If winter was not approaching I wouldn't change them for another 4000 miles.

I commented to the tyre depot that I felt 63 000 miles was a good tyre life, they said put Bridgestone Duellers on and see what good tyre life really is.........so I will see!