Gravel Tyres on tarmac?

[lusciousthelock]

So, My Humber has some nasty tyres on and all 4 are currently flat. Last time I drover her, she was very... 70's. I thought I was in the opening credits to The Sweeney. Originally fitted with cross-ply tyres, a modern size would be something like a 13 165/80 on a 4.5j rim.

The old girl is just a toy really, and I enjoy pushing her limits and treating her a bit harder than I should. I'm thinking of turning her into bit of a rat rod / survival car and being a very slidey car, how would fitting Gravel tyres affect handling?  I'm thinking, more grip in the bends but more road noise and drag. Whats longevity like? How are loose surface tyres on tarmac for day to day living?

[Rich]

Well, my experience of anything like this is driving 4X4's with varying degrees of ridiculous tread. Let's dicount the Disco I had on Insa Turbo ST's because that doesn't really compare being full time 4WD and being very tall.
My Jeep however is RWD, running a GripMaxx AT with plenty of grunt from the 4 litre and that still handles very competently. They are a ripoff of the well known BF Goodrich AT tread, but are quiet by AT tyre standards.



Fitting a similar tread in a modern compound in a similar to stock size shouldn't really affect it that much, just expect it to be a bit noisier, a bit less grippy than a premium road bias radial and possibly wear a faster.

[stealthstylz]

I used to put them on the back of FWD stuff because they made the back end really loose so you could send them sideways.

[lusciousthelock]

Ah, shame as that's almost the opposite of what I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to find the grippiest tyre I can on 165 to bring the back end in check. She has this really nasty habit of changing from second gear to third (autobox) going round roundabouts, which causes the back end to do all manner of strange things. So, if i'm a little too enthusiastic, it can be quite violent.