First time off road!!! weeeeeeeeee bang oops :o)

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I've just got back from my first off road session at dalby forest. What a day, i had the best time ever. well up until my right foot got a little carried away and started to go a little too quickly and my fourtrak started bouncing around on a muddy rocky road until it slid sideways and came to a stop with a bang! it didn't take long to realise my left front tyre was no longer intact with the rim. oh dear how embarrasing Blush

However after changing the wheel with my useless bottle jack (must get a high lift) i carried on and had the time of my life, if not traveling a little slower than before. Although it did bring to my attention problems that i wasn't aware of just using it on the road. I think a couple of my dampers are bust as it seemed to bottom out all too easily, i wondered what the thud noise was when i went over speed humps. Any idea how easy they are to replace or if you can uprate them? and i defo think i need some more ground clearance and more traction, im running on skinny 215's at the mo so im thinking of buying some 31/10.50-15's from bronco on new 8in rims they are the all terrain retreads from colway as the fourtrak will spend 90% of its time of road but will ocassionally want to get its feet dirty. are these tyre ok for that purpose? oh god let the spending begin :o

Boony muddy pants

That sounds like a good tyre

That sounds like a good tyre choice, though I might sugest geting BF Goodrich AT's if you can afford it, as they will not wear down as fast as the re-treads. As for the size. I've had the exact same size wheels and tyres on a standars F80. They will fill the wheel arches nicely. They will hit the chassis/springs at full lock. All this means is that you'll get an interesting thumping sound & a coresponding shuder of the car occasionally when doing tight manuvers (due to the lugs on the edge of the tyre tred hiting the chassis/springs), and a nice set of shiney parelel lines on the chassis.
What you do need to check is that on a majour cross-axle the front wheel that is trying to exit the wheel arch via the engine bay does not make contact with the top of the wheel arch when on lock. Mine did not, but tired springs/shocks may alow it. If this happens the tyre could grab the bodywork and drag it into the wheel arch. Not tcondusive to a legale road vehicle to go home in.

Any veiws expresed in this thread by me are purely from my own experience, and (sometimes) falible memory. Hope my comments help, but please don't take them as gospel.