[shipnil]

Originally Posted by JeepCaptain

Sep 2 2011

Leh-Kargil- Sonmarg- Srinagar-Patnitop-Jammu-Pathankot

Jeep Captain's Photologue


Finally we stopped at a road side tyre mechanic in Srinagar byepass and he found the culprit! This was daunting us since last 4 days and cant belive we were driving with this from Hanle!
Also look the condition of the tyre- This is a fairly new Maxxis Bravo HT 760 Tyres. Did a big mistake by coming to Himalyas with HT tyres :(

Attachment 922944

This is a pretty big nail. Hard to understand how you could not spot it on your own. This forum has a very good thread on how to repair a tubeless tyre on your own. If you have had that puncture repair kit, you need not have to wait till Srinagar.

[honeybee]

JeepCaptain, a while back you mentioned the vehicles started performing better as you drove to lower altitudes. What sort of change was observed in the vehicle performance at higher altitudes?

Also about the tyres: Which tyres would you recommend for use in the region?

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by honeybee

JeepCaptain, a while back you mentioned the vehicles started performing better as you drove to lower altitudes. What sort of change was observed in the vehicle performance at higher altitudes?

Also about the tyres: Which tyres would you recommend for use in the region?

The performance of the vehicles gets impacted mainly due to the thin air at higher altitudes. So like a human a car is also not able to breath as freely as it would on lower altitudes, hence the air fuel mix is not perfect and the vehicles lacks the power it would have when one is at sea level.

Also the pressure changes can impact the vehicles performance. For example the Brakes may start malfunctioning (it happened to us this time) or the power steering may become stiff. This can happen to any air tight system in the vehicle.

Also if one is going to the Himalayas in an SUV, all terrain AT tyres would be a must. On smaller cars one should try and use harder compound tyres with a thick and tall side wall.


I have commented upon the basics......now over to JeepCaptain for his views....

[JeepCaptain]

Originally Posted by shipnil

This is a pretty big nail. Hard to understand how you could not spot it on your own. This forum has a very good thread on how to repair a tubeless tyre on your own. If you have had that puncture repair kit, you need not have to wait till Srinagar.

Dear shipnil, I know. We did check couple of times. But did not find that nail. May be we were too tired and not focused. And more over it was not a critical situation where we had to fix a puncture. We were losing air.. by the amount of 6--8 psi every 200 kms. And we had a very good Bushranger Electric compressor with which we could refill in 5 mins and continue.

BTW- we also had puncture repair kit with us. Did not try to use it. Bcos it was lying in a bag in the back of Bolero and we had another 10-15 bags on Top of it.Was too lazy or tired to pull out all the bags and look for the puncture repair kit

[JeepCaptain]

Originally Posted by honeybee

JeepCaptain, a while back you mentioned the vehicles started performing better as you drove to lower altitudes. What sort of change was observed in the vehicle performance at higher altitudes?

Also about the tyres: Which tyres would you recommend for use in the region?

Dear honeybee, Yes there were many things which was noticed.

Engine was performing better. Increase in power and acceleration. Thanks to thicker air.
Less black fumes while accelerating.
Braking improved.
Power steering also started handling better.

Regarding Tyres- I suggest A/T tyres for Himalayas. HVK uses Yokohoma Geolandar and he was very happy with it. BFGoodrich is also good. Good Year, Continental are also good.

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

The performance of the vehicles gets impacted mainly due to the thin air at higher altitudes. So like a human a car is also not able to breath as freely as it would on lower altitudes, hence the air fuel mix is not perfect and the vehicles lacks the power it would have when one is at sea level.

Also the pressure changes can impact the vehicles performance. For example the Brakes may start malfunctioning (it happened to us this time) or the power steering may become stiff. This can happen to any air tight system in the vehicle.

Also if one is going to the Himalayas in an SUV, all terrain AT tyres would be a must. On smaller cars one should try and use harder compound tyres with a thick and tall side wall.


I have commented upon the basics......now over to JeepCaptain for his views....

Thanks Kaushik for your inputs/feedback.
Regarding tyres, you are absolutely right.

[honeybee]

Well, I hope the cops in the region don't hold you to the readings on your PUC certificates!

JeepCaptain's comment about the puncture repair kit reminds me of a post by HVK on organizing the luggage so things like this can be retrieved quickly.

Thanks, both, for the inputs!

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by JeepCaptain

Regarding Tyres- I suggest A/T tyres for Himalayas. HVK uses Yokohoma Geolandar and he was very happy with it. BFGoodrich is also good. Good Year, Continental are also good.


Thanks Kaushik for your inputs/feedback.
Regarding tyres, you are absolutely right.

I was myself using the Yokohama Geolanders A/T S on the Gypsy and they performed extremely well. Perfect grip, really ruff and tuff and not a single puncture in the entire 15k kms of driving in the Himalayas, on various OTR trips, highway and city driving.

[hvkumar]

My Scorpio also used Yokos Geolanders, did very well, but took a lot of damage (sidewall cuts) and 2 tyres burst later after returning to BOmbay

[JeepCaptain]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

My Scorpio also used Yokos Geolanders, did very well, but took a lot of damage (sidewall cuts) and 2 tyres burst later after returning to BOmbay

Sir,
You know even my tyres on Bolero ( Maxxis Bravo 760 HT) suffered lots of cuts and was damaged badly by the end of the trip. And had to be replaced after it reached Kerala.

I think the best thing to remember is . Do not goto Himalayas with brand new set of tyres. Go with half life tyres and with one more extra tyre and couple of tubes.

[honeybee]

Have we reached the end of the travelogue, because I am eager to also know the total damages to all the vehicles (and the owners' pockets!)?

What if you were to take the bad roads real slow? At the cost of prolonging the travelling time and consequently not being able to cover as many areas as you did, would that help protect against the abnormal wear and tear (not only of the tyres but also the other vehicle parts) ?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Have we reached the end of the travelogue, because I am eager to also know the total damages to all the vehicles (and the owners' pockets!)?

What if you were to take the bad roads real slow? At the cost of prolonging the travelling time and consequently not being able to cover as many areas as you did, would that help protect against the abnormal wear and tear (not only of the tyres but also the other vehicle parts) ?

Will give our respective account of vehicle costs soon!

It is not just about going fast or slow. Road conditions are bad in some places, problems are more because of GC problems, rocky surfaces & water crossings.

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by JeepCaptain

Sir,
You know even my tyres on Bolero ( Maxxis Bravo 760 HT) suffered lots of cuts and was damaged badly by the end of the trip. And had to be replaced after it reached Kerala.

I think the best thing to remember is . Do not goto Himalayas with brand new set of tyres. Go with half life tyres and with one more extra tyre and couple of tubes.

One of my friends did Leh last year on (believe it or not) MRF Zigma's in his Gypsy. He mentions he had zero punctures, no cuts, no issue what-so-ever. Infact , his Gypsy still wears the same Zigma shoes till this date and we've done atleast 5 OTR's with the same shoes. I know its a little difficult to believe but I've witnessed this myself. I am sure it has more than luck involved in all this.

[JeepCaptain]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Have we reached the end of the travelogue, because I am eager to also know the total damages to all the vehicles (and the owners' pockets!)?

What if you were to take the bad roads real slow? At the cost of prolonging the travelling time and consequently not being able to cover as many areas as you did, would that help protect against the abnormal wear and tear (not only of the tyres but also the other vehicle parts) ?

Honeybee, End of Travelogue?? We are only on September 2nd. The Expedition ended only on September 7th in Kerala. Atleast for Discovery Bolero.
Lot more to come and more action and stories.
Watch this space.....

[nix1976in]

Originally Posted by Gentle Giant

One of my friends did Leh last year on (believe it or not) MRF Zigma's in his Gypsy. He mentions he had zero punctures, no cuts, no issue what-so-ever. Infact , his Gypsy still wears the same Zigma shoes till this date and we've done atleast 5 OTR's with the same shoes. I know its a little difficult to believe but I've witnessed this myself. I am sure it has more than luck involved in all this.

Not too difficult to beleive, I have had a similar experience. My Xylo running on 30K old stock tyres did not suffer any lasting damage and am still running them quite well at 40k. The only puncture that I suffered in my 2.5 yrs of ownership was on the Ladakh trip and that too at Amtritsar and not in the mountains. Maybe it was more than luck...but the tyres have held up!

[JeepCaptain]

Originally Posted by Gentle Giant

One of my friends did Leh last year on (believe it or not) MRF Zigma's in his Gypsy. He mentions he had zero punctures, no cuts, no issue what-so-ever. Infact , his Gypsy still wears the same Zigma shoes till this date and we've done atleast 5 OTR's with the same shoes. I know its a little difficult to believe but I've witnessed this myself. I am sure it has more than luck involved in all this.

Gentle Giant, I trust you.. and I think it all depends on the route you went and the time of the year. Most of the routes we went, Kinnaur, Spiti, Sarchu, Zanskar valley , Turtok etc had lots of rocks, water crossing through boulder, rock filled streams. Too much of towing/recovery esp for my discovery Bolero and finally the cloudburst in Zanskar valley caused maximum damage to the tyres of our vehicle.
And please remember the sedans in our teams. Both swifts and alto did not do the Zanskar valley route. Hence they were in better shape.
And HVK's scorpio tyres took maximum damage since that was the leading vehicle.
We also had to drove through lots of fallen rocks ( fresh and with sharp edges) which were falling naturally and also due to blasting for road widening in many parts of Ladakh.

Originally Posted by nix1976in

Not too difficult to beleive, I have had a similar experience. My Xylo running on 30K old stock tyres did not suffer any lasting damage and am still running them quite well at 40k. The only puncture that I suffered in my 2.5 yrs of ownership was on the Ladakh trip and that too at Amtritsar and not in the mountains. Maybe it was more than luck...but the tyres have held up!

nix1976in, You were very lucky.. I think. Also read my reply above.