2 spare tyres for the cape

[matske]

travelling to the tip in 2 weeks time how important is it to have 2 spare tyres up there? i am running out of room in my truck and was hoping to only take 1.
anybody had any bad experiences up there?

[yetti]

gday matske,

mate i live here and in my experience, if you take 10 spares you wont get 1 flat, and if you take 1 spare...you need three!!

If space is a drama, take one spare and take some tyre pliers....they are the go. at worst take some plugs they can save your bottom!! personally though, i'd take 2 spares and some tyre pliers!

anyway...have a cracker trip and drive safe.

cheers

[ant]

Got to agree with Yetti here.
I usually only travel with one spare.
My worst trip was blowing three tyres in one run- all three were from a very high profile brand.

More importantly, make sure you are running the right pressures for your vehicle and load and you are in for a better shot.

Tyre pliers and a few spare tubes (as they don't take up much room) would be handy.


Far too many people take up way more then they need. You usually find that, after the third of fourth trip, that you pack a little more sensibly.
Having said that, I still take up more than I need - this is mainly fishing tackle though so that is excusable.

[plucker]

I usually carry 2 spares in remote areas, and have a air compressor on board.

Nowdays you can buy a little kit - $30 ish, that plugs holes in tubeless tyres, and fits well into any nook or cranny you have left in the vehicle.

I love tubeless tyres cause you can just keep on pumpin up the tyre when it has a nail in it and it only goes down slowly. If it was tubed you would have to change it.

Usually by the time I get back from remote areas, I have to drive in to the tyre shop to get them to fix the one going flat on the vehicle.

[Brigalow]

Just running through some old photo's and remembered this wonderful setup we ran across up at the falls...a king size version of a kaymar wheel carrier...
You had to see it to believe it...a giant rack on the back with four wheels stacked/loaded on...ground clearance must have been all of six inches.
To this day I wonder how they managed to make it to the top...
Oh by the way,these guys were so well prepared they even had snow/mud chains across the top two wheels ready to go.

[batesy]

Plugs, single spare, cheap-arse compressor ... and a prayer before each drive.

We got one puncture in 50,000 km of driving on a couple of sets of Hercules. I used to run super-high tyre pressure (against all good advice ... 'cause, well, I know best - at least that's what my missus keeps reminding me!!)

If you wanna go real remote ... take two spares ... and a mate.

[outbackjack]

I would agree, two spares. I blew a tyre on the way up to Weipa and with out a spare I was a tad nervous. The tyre blew in a major way with a nail at least 7 inches long in it.

Cheers

[Brigalow]

I would agree, two spares. I blew a tyre on the way up to Weipa and with out a spare I was a tad nervous. The tyre blew in a major way with a nail at least 7 inches long in it.

Cheers
Im with you there with two spares....early last year I copped two blow outs before Archer River heading north..the first on the shail rocks between Lakelands and Laura,ripped a sidewall ...and the second just before Archer I hit a deep dusthole and the sucker went off like a bomb with bull dust over and under the bonnet like you would not believe....
I managed to borrow a spare at the Archer from contractors for "just in case"to get me through to Weipa and a couple of new wranglers.
Yep two spares for me everytime...

[Luke001]

I stuffed 2 Mickey Thompson MTZ's in a three week trip last month on easy roads, one just out of Weipa any another on one of the bypass roads. Will try Wrangler MTR's next time.

[ljboons]

Always carry 2 spares, one split under and a full size on the KMAR rear bar and have only used the split on someone elses car in 10 years and lots of off roading.

[highlift80]

Just running through some old photo's and remembered this wonderful setup we ran across up at the falls...a king size version of a kaymar wheel carrier...
You had to see it to believe it...a giant rack on the back with four wheels stacked/loaded on...ground clearance must have been all of six inches.
To this day I wonder how they managed to make it to the top...
Oh by the way,these guys were so well prepared they even had snow/mud chains across the top two wheels ready to go.

the ol girl would of been light in the steering

[Brigalow]

the ol girl would of been light in the steering

I think the 2 guys in it must have taken turns on sitting on the bonnet...

Im a bit mad at myself for not taking a closer look at the rig...as we were leaving and they were just comming into the falls (real slowly)

[ljboons]

Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armour 285/75r16.
Recently returned from my second trip to Cape York with these tyres and got a flat 1 klm from Landcruiser Park office (Trip started here) and ended up destroying it. Am now waiting for Goodyear to replace it as none in Australia at the moment.
Note: have tyre protection plan, so see how it goes.
First flat in over a dozen trips to the Cape and it happened near home.


_________________
thanks
Leo
94 base with lots of bits

[highlift80]

My last trip to the Cape I fitted a new set of M/T tyres drove from Melbourne up the Cape, round Cairns, Townsville area's for 5 weeks came back down and got a flat tyre in the main street of down town Beaudesert. A small piece of steel reo sticking out of some broken concrete in the gutter. I thought it was pretty funny at the time when I thought about where I had just come from.

[geoffjy]

Since i put the Baja MTZ's on in May this year, i have travelled 16,000km up and down Cape York and around the Tip and cant fault them yet. No punctures as of yet either. One thing of note, the Coachman's Track managed to tear off small pieces of rubber here and there but only superficial stuff, nothing serious.

[the tractor]

i've used mickeys for a while now on the work truck, mine have taken of whole pieces of tread on the maytown/old coach road