Battle to Be The Best: The Australian 4x4 Mud Tyre Test

And In This Corner...

Battling it out against our hero were some decent slices of rubber from our friendly competitors:

• Bridgestone Dueler MT
• Sunwide Huntsman
• BF Goodrich MT TA/KM3
• Kumho Road Venture MT51

Gathering at the Pheasant Wood Circuit, a little south of Sydney, each tyre had to be a 265/65R17.  They were then fitted to a production model Ford Everest.  Although there was nothing special about the vehicle itself, sitting behind the wheel was Paul Stockwell, an Australian racing champ who knows how to push tyres to the edge.  Paul was aided by a Vbox Data Logger to measure the G Force, speed and track position.  

Round 1: Dry Braking

This test was pretty much what you’d expect.  The Ford Everest is accelerated to 100km/h before the brakes are hit hard.  The winner is simply the tyre which takes the least amount of distance to come to a complete stop.  Which in this case was the Bridgestone Dueller, managing to pull up in 46.04 metres.  

In a tight contest, the Razr stopped in 47.93 metres. The worst performing tyre was the Sunwide, coming in 5th place at a distance of 48.07 metres.  

Round 2: Wet Braking

We know the ability to brake in the wet is a key consideration for any tyres, especially for mud tyres.  Bang on some new mudders and one of the first questions you’ll be asked is ‘how do they perform in the wet?’  So - how do the challengers perform in the wet?  Sliding across the line in last place was the Sunwide Huntsman again, with a total distance of 58.45 metres.  

Round 2 is the round where our hero comes good, storming to 1st position after coming to a complete stop in 52.51 metres.  That’s a full 1.3 metres ahead of the 2nd place tyre and underpins why we’re keen to tell you about the Razr’s ability in the wet. 

Round 3: Dry Cornering

It’s pretty rare (thankfully) that tyres are tested by having someone hammer the brake down as hard as possible.  A much more likely scenario is driving a little too fast around a corner and getting the butterflies as you instantly realise your error.  

To determine the best tyre for dry cornering, the team at 4x4 Australia put the tyres through their paces by having them speed around 3 corners.  The total elapsed time would decide the winner (1st place to the shortest time).  So who could hold on and whizz around without slipping out and letting go?  Yup - it’s another round to the Razr in 15.77 seconds.  The Bridgestone and BF Goodrich tyres were 4th and 5th in this test.  

Round 4: Wet Cornering

Same theory as the previous round but only 2 corners.  And they’re wet, of course.  It’s probably a more likely diving scenario too.  You’re heading home after a sprinkle, taking a corner at the usual speed only to discover a nasty bit of standing water has accumulated.

When that does happen, know the Razr is the best choice.  Winning another round, our hero took the turns in 11.28 seconds.  Following up in 2nd place was the BG Goodrich (11.54sec), then the Sunwide (11.76sec), Bridgestone (11.78sec) and Kumho (11.84sec). 

Round 5: Price

So - prices change*.  All we can say here is we know how we price our tyres and think it's reasonable for the quality they offer.  But this round called for an assessment of retail prices with a few points up for grabs (but just a maximum of 10 points - so not enough to really influence the outcome of the other 4 rounds which offered up to 100 points per round).  

No surprises, Sunwide claimed this round with the lowest retail pricing.  The Razr was a middle-of-the-pack performer, coming in 3rd and cheaper than both the BF Goodrich and Bridgestone tyres.  

Seconds Out...

We know, this is us writing about a tyre test so you might think we have an ulterior motive. Well...before we get to that, let’s have a look at the final scores from each round:

*Prices shown are in AUD from 2020, supplied by a single source.  They are not indicative of current pricing and we recommend you contact your new nearest fitter for accurate pricing.