M/S tyres - Any good for muddy access roads

[d215yq]

Hi all,

I've forgotten about replacing my car for the moment as it's quite possible I will be buying a specific rural house. Problem is it has a non made up road for the last 600m that undulates and is hard clay/dust. As I'll be doing up the house will need to drive right up to the door. When seeing the property it was dry and the W124 managed OK although the front bumper (i assume) scraped at one point - though my fault for not putting the wheels over the highest part and came back down it no problem. When wet not so sure it would grip enough to get over the undulations - though the current owner did have a normal FWD car and not a 4x4 and said it shouldnt be necessary.

I'm needing to replace the rear tyres anyway (3mm left, cheap brand, and the one already repaired has now got a slow puncture). Can get mud/snow tyres for same price as normal ones so questions are.

1) Do M/S tyres make a big difference for when it rains and the ground becomes muddy (wouldn't be deep mud but could be a softish surface as I saw already ruts/tyre marks in the road
2) If house purchase falls through can they just be used normally (i.e. at 35 degrees on normal asfalt) without downside (I assume there is one or everyone would just use M/S tyres - maybe higher fuel consumption?)
3) Can I just put them on the rear - front tyres are newish and as it's an access road and flat (though undulating) and driven at 5mph I am only interested in RWD traction and not razor sharp stopping/steering whilst on the mud. It is at least legal here to do that but is there any reason not to?

I only have experience with winter tyres (which I wouldn't put on all year round) but none of M&S which are supposedly one size fits all...

 

[umblecumbuz]

Really, unless the track is on a definite slope, a normal two wheel drive car with standard tyres should cope without problems.

On Gozo we have a few steep tracks, but very little rain, so they're not a problem - but in Wales we have muddy tracks on hillsides everywhere. Usually two wheel drive vehicles cope (postmen, Sainsburys delivery vans, courier trucks etc) but now and then a 4x4 is warranted.

I run winter tyres all year round which probably helps.

 

[Blobcat]

M&S tyres do make a big difference, I use them on my 110 - they are 20% off road and 80% on road (BF Goodrich All-Terrain) - Mud Terrain are even better but 80% off road and 20% on road.

I wouldn't put them on a road car particularly though as they're noisier (can't tell in a Land Rover though...) and not as suited to tarmac as pure road tyres. Depends on how much "off road" usage you need really.

 

[LostKiwi]

The biggest issues with M+S tyres are:
1. Noisy
2. Increased fuel consumption
3. Not suitable for high speed
4. Can be imprecise
5. Generally don't like high temperature.

This relates mainly to my experience of rally tyres (arguably more than you require).

The simplest way to fix this issue is to spread gravel on the driveway. If you build it up enough the surface will pack down and the gravel will provide good traction

 

[d215yq]

M&S tyres do make a big difference, I use them on my 110 - they are 20% off road and 80% on road (BF Goodrich All-Terrain) - Mud Terrain are even better but 80% off road and 20% on road.

I wouldn't put them on a road car particularly though as they're noisier (can't tell in a Land Rover though...) and not as suited to tarmac as pure road tyres. Depends on how much "off road" usage you need really.

Just as said, possible 600m when it rains (not that often) otherwise the warn rear tyres coped OK. So are you saying you wouldn't put the 80/20 on but would put the 20/80 on? Or are you saying you wouldn't put any of them on at all.

To be honest the road was not too bad but it did have dips that were just over a a car length and could imagine if not going fast could get stuck in between in real wet conditions. And heading over it with enough momentum would risk bottoming the car out/giving the suspension a hard time. Sort of thing where getting stuck once would annoy me more than a bit more tyre noise forever, the 300D isn't the quietest engine anyway so might not notice too much...

 

[d215yq]

The biggest issues with M+S tyres are:
1. Noisy
2. Increased fuel consumption
3. Not suitable for high speed
4. Can be imprecise
5. Generally don't like high temperature.

This relates mainly to my experience of rally tyres (arguably more than you require).

The simplest way to fix this issue is to spread gravel on the driveway. If you build it up enough the surface will pack down and the gravel will provide good traction

Thanks - "high speed" is that like motorway speed or something I wouldn't do anyway (like 90mph+).

Trouble is I would only own the last 100m so I don't think I can go about chucking gravel on the public highway as I wish. Suppose I could wait til it rains and dig out the humps in the road manually to smooth any problematic bits if I really wanted to.

Seems maybe I should just carry on with dry tyres and wait and see if purchase goes through and if I get stuck if so many downsides, the thing is they are marketed as a tyre for all year round!

 

[LostKiwi]

If it's really bad try something like these:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/311897633163

 

[Blobcat]

Just as said, possible 600m when it rains (not that often) otherwise the warn rear tyres coped OK. So are you saying you wouldn't put the 80/20 on but would put the 20/80 on? Or are you saying you wouldn't put any of them on at all.

To be honest the road was not too bad but it did have dips that were just over a a car length and could imagine if not going fast could get stuck in between in real wet conditions. And heading over it with enough momentum would risk bottoming the car out/giving the suspension a hard time. Sort of thing where getting stuck once would annoy me more than a bit more tyre noise forever, the 300D isn't the quietest engine anyway so might not notice too much...

Probably new decent tread road tyres would do for you, as LK above M&S are probably a bit extreme for your needs

 

[Oarsman]

For my money you can't beat Pirelli Scorpion Zeros. I have them on the Range Rover and they are great on all slippery surfaces. Also good on tarmac. Relatively quiet and good mileage. They are worth the few £'s extra.

 

[John Laidlaw]

^ this- my XC90 has the Pirelli Scorpions and they are a great ‘all rounder’

 

[LostKiwi]

Pretty certain that Scorpions won't be available in car sizes. They're an SUV tyre

 

[John Laidlaw]

Pretty certain that Scorpions won't be available in car sizes. They're an SUV tyre

Indeed- oops forgot to go back to the thread beginning !