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Slightly bigger tyres for Pajero


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Hi all.

I am new to this forum and after a few hours of browsing, I decided to sign-up based on the helpful insights shared by the members.

I've recently bought a Pajero 2014 3.5 LWB and will need to change tyres soon as the road noise seems to be more than what I'm used to (previous car was a Fortuner with the same tyre size). Currently installed is Michelin with size 265/65/17 with manufacture year of 2015.

Anyway, I'm considering getting a slightly bigger tyre specifically a 285/65/17  for cosmetic purposes. What would be the trade-off (if any) for this change against the existing tyre size with regards to the following:

  • ride comfort
  • road noise
  • fuel consumption
  • odo readings

Appreciate your inputs.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

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Welcome to Carnity and congrats for your new ride.

First and foremost Michelin is one of the best tires and probably the quietest as well. What road noise you are referring is may not be because of tires, but Pajero cabin sound insulation is not the best in class. I'm sure many other Pajero owners here can confirm that too. @Rahimdad @hossein @Julien V

So if tires have enough tread, then don't replace now as Michelin have very high treadware anyways that is known to last 40-60k kms. Which Michelin tire is that? Maybe share its tread pic, so we can advise further.

For planning an upgrade, if you can choose Michelin Latitude (slightly expensive) is one the best tires money can buy. Upgrading from 265 -285 (2 cm width gain and 1-inch height gain) will not have any rubbing issue as it will be just 1 cm wide on each side. And no major noticeable difference will be on comfort (slightly more stable due to extra width), noise (no change), fuel consumption (a tiny bit more - theoretically), odo reading (slightly more like 118 will be 120 due to 1-inch tire height more on every rotation).

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Adding to what @Gaurav said, if you are going up in size just for looks, I would advice to get the highway type tires rather than All-Terrains or Mud-Terrains. Those would just add on to the noise because of the aggressive thread pattern. 

Make sure to re-calibrate your odo or calculate your speed levels. Tire calculator says 3.3% increase in diameter so your oddo reading will be showing lower by 3.3%. 

Enjoy :) 

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@Keithryan welcome to Carnity.

I am driving the Pajero 2014 3.8 LWB and changed the tires to Kumho KL21 265/65R17 as soon as I bought it 2 years back and have had no issues with any cabin sound. They are Korean tires and are very smooth and lasted me a little over 60K Kms already. I have used the slightly more expensive made in japan tires for my Nissan Pathfinder 2001 model, that is the Nitto Duragrapplers for which I have posted a review on Carnity.

Regarding the increase in size, usually with a factory setup you might face some rubbing issues, best to try on and turn from side to side to make sure they are not touching anything in the wheel well. I would not recommend to increase the tire size unless it is for a specific purpose. For looks, quality and well priced tires go for the Yokohama Geolander ATS. They are very quite on road, have good looks and long lasting.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks @Gaurav for the insights. I will take some photos in a while and post them here. As for the sound, its your standard heavy whirring sound that gets louder the faster you go. I had a 2011 Pajero in 2014-2015 which did not have that sort of sound. So I hope its just the tyres. Anyway, have a look at the photos I'll be posting in a while and see if its still good for another year (as it did just pass RTA a couple of days back).

@Jocreative yes, definitely H/T. I am actually looking at the Yokohama Geolandar H/T. 

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Pajero engine noise comes inside the cabin too, if firewall opening under footwell has been left open in past.

For isolating the engine noise vs tire noise, find an empty road and drive up to 120 and then shift to neutral to let the rev drops and notice if it was engine roaring noise of 3k rpm bothering you or tires humming noise. If it's tires noise it will still stay in neutral, but if engine noise, then you know you should check the firewall opening in the footwell.

Disclaimer: Shifting to N at 120 is not safe and advisable, so do it quickly for 5-10 seconds and in an empty road.

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Well with 600 treadware showing, this much tread can easily run for a year more unless there are some uneven wear or unusual cracks.

If passing is done recently, I wouldn't be worried about safety as those guys check the tires very well from the safety point of view. Secondly, it's almost three years old tire with a production date of 3515 means Sep 2015 and available for sale in early 2016 till 2018 now. Michelin has good 3-5 years usable life.

Take a plastic glove and run your hand on all tires slowly to see if there is any unusual bulge, although it's not normal for Michelin rubber but still worth a check. If anyone tire has a slightest of bulge then that can also produce a lot of humming noise in cyclic order at low speed and loud uniform humming at high speed.

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Thanks @Gaurav . Ok, I can probably deal with road noise as long as safety is not compromised (and shelling out > Dhs 2K!). I was concerned about those small crack-like lines on the shoulder and in between the treads. I'll probably ask the workshop/garage to check them for bulges and rotate them as well.

Btw, I am about 75% certain its road noise from the tyres I hear, hoping its not the wheel bearings that's causing the humming sounds. I was just surprised that cabin noise (road, engine, and wind) are far more prominent in a Pajero than a Fortuner, which itself does not have that good soundproofing either. Good thing the Pajero has an awesome sound system to drown them out!

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