My steering has been getting a bit wondery of late, and while I know any play in bushes etc underneath can cause tramlining/vagueness etc, my tyres are definitely in need of replacement. I have adjusted the steering box with no effect either on the wondering thing - and the indy had it a week ago or so and couldn't find play in anything underneath. I may call upon the almighty Marty though and his shiny tool to replace the 18 year old radius arm bushes for good measure at some point.

Currently I have Nexen Roadian HPs on it - and they've been fine I guess. A slightly damp field though has them totally flummoxed. I mean - trying to park in a field I'd have better chances in a RWD BMW with no weight over the back end. That was months ago too, now the front two don't have much left on the outer edges (worse on the inside, but not massively so), and all four have some perishing/cracking going on on the sides.

General Grabber AT - they seem to be a popular choice with little complaining of tramlining etc? Seen quite a few posts where people have had problems with other tyres and put these on, problem solved. While my P38 will spend most of its life on roads, I'd like it to be able to take on some mild off roading at some point. Or you know, park in a field without going sideways.

Thoughts?

Obviously it looks like your tracking is out there Sloth. Sidewall/cracking etc though, just how old are your tyres ? Pressures ?

I have tended to stick with Scorpions; I have noted that If you use chunky off-roaders then handling on-road is affected detrimentally.

(PS: I do hope that by 'Marty's shiny new tool' you mean his 20T press....)

Sorry should have added - alignment etc was done not long ago, maybe a monthish? It was out before then. It doesn't pull to one side, rather it just... wonders! Wherever it pleases, certainly dependant on the road surface.

I've heard mixed things about the Scorpion tyres that are available now, so somewhat ignored them.

I don't know how old the tyres are - I've had the car since January, but I'm guessing they're pretty old to be cracking/perishing.

Yes erm the... press ;)

I used to use Scorpions but found they werent grippy in snow and I would slide on a simple turn.
Been using Grabbers for a couple years now and prefer them. Although I dont do offroad they look like they will handle it, I havent slipped in any snow with them on.

Hmm, I was planning on getting Nexens for mine when I replace the current Toyo's I put on 4 years ago...

I might look at Grabbers instead then if they have a good reputation....

I've got Grabber AT2's on mine. Absolutely no complaints. Good on the tarmac- not too noisy, and, when I've needed to, seem to clear mud from the tread pretty well to "moderately" off-road. <br>
They wear flat across the tread run at the std 28/38 predominantly on tarmac. My fronts are down to around 8mm now (rears 9.5) so will be replacing them when down to around 5mm with..... <br>
more AT2's! <br>
With a bit of internet digging you can get them for £107.00 ish delivered. Make sure that they're AT2's though as there's also a Grabber AT!

The Nexens seemed decent when I got the car - certainly it handled far far better than my old car with its pretty-much-new no-name cheapy road tyres, but the wondering has become progressively worse of late and isn't as 'arm chair' relaxing as it should be.... I've actually done about 8,000 miles so far, quite a bit more than I'd realised or planned to do in it.

You can crack the date code to find out when they were made: <br>
https://www.kwik-fit.com/tyres/information/tyre-age

Goodyear Wranglers on mine, good on the road, wet or dry, and seem to work pretty well on the slippery stuff too. They are cheap on mytyres.co.uk, came out as the cheapest of the known makes when I got mine.

Oddly only two of the four tyres had date codes - both the same though. 5th week 2010 - so they're just over six and a half years old. Done well I guess, but time for a change.

Swapped the fronts with the rears to see if the wondering changes till getting new tyres next week. I think I'm going to go with the GG AT - or AT2... maybe the AT2.

Confusingly, AT2 are the earlier model, apparently killed off by Euro noise regs but you can still find them if you hunt around. I have them on my Jeep. They're really good all rounders and absolutely stunningly good in snow although I have a size that was Mud and Snow rated, not all sizes have the snowflake symbol. They look the part too, which is vital ;)

I couldn't find the right size locally for the P38 so it's wearing AT which are supposedly new and improved in every way while conforming to lower drive by noise limits - which sounds far too good to be true. They're very good on the road, I haven't off roaded the P38 yet but I hear they're better than they look on mud but a friend of mine has a disco4 with them and took a lot of grief recently for getting stuck on flat wet grass... but I wasn't there and he might have had the handbrake on for all I know :)

Just had a little drive around on varying roads after swapping front/rear tyres - seems like a huge improvement. Had to do something for the time being - the last couple of days has been driving me mad. Pun totally intended. Will see how the HGV grooves on the way to work fare tomorrow morning - trying to drive with a lighter foot at the moment... very annoying when being sent all over the road.

I think I'm going to go with the AT... I think. Going to order online and have them fitted somewhere locally. £452 for four. Oh... need a new unbuckled alloy too...

I can get both for the same price. They seem to be favoured equally really. How do you even get stuck on flat wet grass? Even my Nexens don't get stuck... you just end up nowhere near where you want to be :)

I'd say that was a good price, cant remember exactly what I paid but it was at least £100 more than that.

Sloth, if the HGV grooves have been giving you such grief then I would not suspect the tyres so much but the suspension (as you did yourself in post #1)...

As you will know the front axle/diff. is not just held in place by the Radius Arms but also the Panhard Rod; Check the bushes on that in particular (as if shot there can be quite a bit of lateral movement on the move): In fact check the bushes all round while you are at it !?

Yeah I'm not ruling out I may have some worn bushes etc too. Much better on the way in to work this morning though, so I'm thinking the tyres are the majority of the problem.

I'll slowly go through things and replace them for good measure - can't hurt.