New boots

As an off-road driving enthusiast I've always put great emphasis on owning the right vehicle at the right time and have always modified and accessorised my vehicles heavily; standard vehicles are simply not made for what I do. I get into the rough stuff, wilderness places, and my hunting, hiking and camping trips take me to remote locations where one needs to rely upon one's equipment, knowledge and skill for safety's sake. So, my vehicles are always modified and made more capable and ready for action.

In the past, when buying a new truck, I've always accessorised it very soon after purchasing and that means things like factory suspension, fuel tanks, side steps, under-vehicle protection and tyres get removed and thrown away - There is no market for such items here. It's a bit wasteful to be honest, but I've done it rather than wait for the factory things to wear out. Three years ago when I bought my current vehicle, a V8 Toyota Land Cruiser, I decided I'd accessorise a little more slowly. Spending $25,000 in one hit always hurt somewhat anyway. I left the vehicle in factory trim for over two years which gained me some use from the original parts and then I began replacing them with the tougher and more appropriate off-road-specific items. Rather than simply get everything I've planned it out and added the items as needed and in order of priority. I've still spent a lot of money, but it's been spread out over the last year and that's made it a little lower-impact on my finances.

The boots

When I purchased the vehicle I started saving for new tyres immediately and since 2018 have put spare change into money boxes, literally, to go towards the tyres. I wanted to wear out the factory tyres first anyway, and I thought it would be a low-impact way of getting the new ones.

I'm not far off making that purchase as the factory tyres are getting a little tired, and over the weekend looked into some pricing. (Tyres getting tired, see what I did there).

I'm going to buy B.F. Goodrich K02 A/T tyres which I've had on my last two trucks. They are reasonably quiet on the road due to ingenious sipe technology (Google it) and in rough terrain, rocks, gravel, sand and mud perform flawlessly. They have strong sidewalls and can be deflated from my bitumen pressure of 40psi down to an off road pressure of about 13-14psi safely without fear of them rolling off the rim, if driven correctly. Perfect. In short, they are a tough tyre and will get me anywhere I need to go.

I'm replacing five tyres, four wheels plus the spare, as it's dumb to replace four then stake or slash a tyre out in the wilderness only to have to put an inferior factory tyre on as the spare. Plus, my OCD nature doesn't like mismatched tyres. I'll rotate the four and leave the spare brand new for when I need it.

I went to check pricing and got a bit of a surprise the other day. I knew they wouldn't be cheap but didn't realise they'd jumped so much in price. Thanks covid you filthy bastard.

The numbers

My vehicle uses 285/60 R18 116V tyres. That's 285mm wide, 60% side profile (60% of the width) and 18" inner edge diameter to suit the 18" wheels I have. 116 is the load rating, in this case 1250kg/tyre and V is the speed rating which means 240kph.

I got a price of $430 per tyre including balance and fitment plus $5 per tyre to dispose of my existing tyres for recycling. That's $2,170AUD for the five I need. Things that make you go hmm.

I have $2,200 saved up and had hoped to put new boots on my Land Cruiser and my smaller town car with that but it looks like I'll be $600 short which fucken sucks. I've got the money of course but I'd really hoped to put tyres on both cars using the savings I'd made over the last few years by putting coins into money boxes. I used to work in the off-road industry for a while and know people so I'm going to make some calls and see if I can get them down a little bit it's doubtful I'll save the $600 in discounts I'll need on the K02 BFG's to get the little car tyres.

I've been waiting for my tyres to wear out so I could get the Land Cruiser booted with those sweet BFG's but I think I'll have to bide my time, save up some more small change and be patient as I'm pretty keen to fulfill my goal of paying for them with loose change I've saved up. I'll get there eventually and will feel dammed good about it.