[Steeroid]

Thank you for the update. It looks like the tyres may have a role in the balancing issue, though I cannot understand alignment going kaput after the tyres were fitted - what does alignment have to do with the tyres, unless the unbalanced wheels were dragging the vehicle in one direction?

[condor]

@Abbey4u, please check again. Like Steeroid said, tyres can only affect the balancing of the wheel. But when it comes to alignment, it is more in the suspension than in the wheels.
Un-balanced wheels can drag the vehicle - so as long as the wheels are balanced, even this should happen.

When doing alignment, the adjustments to the vehicle are done on the suspension components - specifically, the caster, camber & toe. Wheel balancing is a complementary factor only. Even rotation is often done after the alignment itself is done - this again indicates that the wheels can be in any position (rear / front / left right) without affecting alignment.

[Samurai]

abbey4u, I see some fundamental confusions in your review.

Originally Posted by abbey4u

1. After the tyre change the balancing and alignment went haywire, so it scary driving at a speed over 100.

Balancing should be done after mounting a new tyre on a wheel since the mass distribution across the tyre is never perfect. When I mounted the Wanderers on my GV wheels, I had to put excess of half Kg of weights, just one of the tyres took 220g. I don't recall adding so much weight before this. Did make me quite uneasy though. So, if you are saying balancing went haywire after changing the tyres, there is no surprise. I am surprised that the tyre shop didn't balance the wheel right after mounting the tyres.

Originally Posted by abbey4u

While at skoda, told by worker that 3 wheels have bent alloy rim specially from inside. i remember my trip to chattisgarh where i went over a really bad pothole which even resulted in one of my headlight broken. It seems that resulted in bent rim. but i really don't know whether that should result in wobble at high speed or it's the tyre which is s problem or still the wheel balancing is not done properly.

Better fix the rims ASAP.

Originally Posted by abbey4u

2. Steering seems to be more responsive, i think partly because of new tyres and partly because they seems more of road tyres compared to HT tyres which i earlier had.

Wanderer is an all-terrain (AT) tyre, they are less suited for roads than a HT tyre. It is not the other way.

Originally Posted by abbey4u

3. High speed cornering is not good compared to previous tyre (yoko geolander 051)
4. high speed stablility is not good compared to previous tyre.

Yes, that is exactly how it should be. You moved from HT to an AT tyre. Your high speed cornering and high speed stability will suffer. There is absolutely no surprise here. The AT tyre is behaving exactly as it should compared to HT tyre.

[abbey4u]

Originally Posted by Samurai

abbey4u, I see some fundamental confusions in your review.

Balancing should be done after mounting a new tyre on a wheel since the mass distribution across the tyre is never perfect. When I mounted the Wanderers on my GV wheels, I had to put excess of half Kg of weights, just one of the tyres took 220g. I don't recall adding so much weight before this. Did make me quite uneasy though. So, if you are saying balancing went haywire after changing the tyres, there is no surprise. I am surprised that the tyre shop didn't balance the wheel right after mounting the tyres.

Better fix the rims ASAP.

Wanderer is an all-terrain (AT) tyre, they are less suited for roads than a HT tyre. It is not the other way.

Yes, that is exactly how it should be. You moved from HT to an AT tyre. Your high speed cornering and high speed stability will suffer. There is absolutely no surprise here. The AT tyre is behaving exactly as it should compared to HT tyre.

the tyre shop did balancing and alignment after the tyre change, but did a pretty bad job on the same. so i had to get it rebalanced which again seems to be not prefect.

Mine is wanderer sports, these are not AT tyres similar to wanderer. It's the same tyre which comes in duster. the pattern is not of an AT tyre.

Any idea if alloys rim can be fixed?

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Thank you for the update. It looks like the tyres may have a role in the balancing issue, though I cannot understand alignment going kaput after the tyres were fitted - what does alignment have to do with the tyres, unless the unbalanced wheels were dragging the vehicle in one direction?

Actually the tyre shop did an alignment and balancing after the tyre change, surely they did a shoddy job of with it and things went bad. After the alignemtn was done at skoda things are good for alignement part, but balancing is not correct. One thing to note here is skoda did balancing of wheels after removing tyres (i.e. just on rims), looks like i need to get things rebalanced from some good shop with tyres on it.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by abbey4u

One thing to note here is skoda did balancing of wheels after removing tyres (i.e. just on rims).

Please do not let your vehicle's service centre (ESP Skoda) do the balancing - that job is better done by a specialised tyre shop.

It does look like the Wanderers have tyre manufacturing issues if they require that many weights to balance (ref. Samurai's 1/2 kg weights).

[abbey4u]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Please do not let your vehicle's service centre (ESP Skoda) do the balancing - that job is better done by a specialised tyre shop.

It does look like the Wanderers have tyre manufacturing issues if they require that many weights to balance (ref. Samurai's 1/2 kg weights).

lessons learnt the hard way however i still think they do a good job for alignment. since i am flying out of country tomorrow, i will get balancing done once i return a week later.

[abbey4u]

Had a word with tyre shoppe in noida, they do fix and straighten bent alloy rims. Approximate cost was anything between 1-2k (however they said they can only confirm the actual cost after seeing the condition). However they will take around 2 days to fix all three rims. Should i go ahead with fixing? Anything i should know before i hand it over to them.

I am planning to get 1 alloy fixed at a time (so that i don't have to give my car to them)

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by abbey4u

Mine is wanderer sports, these are not AT tyres similar to wanderer. It's the same tyre which comes in duster. the pattern is not of an AT tyre.

This thread is about all-terrain Wanderer and not the newer highway Wanderer Sport. I better reflect this on the title to avoid the confusion.

[Nikhilb2008]

Originally Posted by abbey4u

Had a word with tyre shoppe in noida, they do fix and straighten bent alloy rims. Approximate cost was anything between 1-2k (however they said they can only confirm the actual cost after seeing the condition). However they will take around 2 days to fix all three rims. Should i go ahead with fixing? Anything i should know before i hand it over to them.

I am planning to get 1 alloy fixed at a time (so that i don't have to give my car to them)

I am not a big fan of getting alloys repaired or straightened. The only way people can do this is to heat the wheel. Heating it makes the alloy lose it's properties.

I know it's expensive and we as Indians are always interested in saving a buck, but it is not worth risking your life and your car.

Get a new alloy if the bend is too much.

[antihero]

Has anyone had some experience with wanderers on a Maruti Gypsy? I use 215/75R15 profile tires and I am looking for a change this summer.

The cost difference between the wanderers and Yokohama Geolandar ATS is < 1000 Rs / tyre. But the geolanders are not especially good with rocky terrain (or so I have heard).

How does this tire compare against the gold standard (in my opinion) of AT tires i.e. BF Goodrich AT/KO?

Looking forward to an update.

P.S. My usage is 80% bad to no roads (rocky / mountains / snow / ice) and 20% highway and I don't exceed 80 on the highway

[Samurai]

Last week I had given my Vitara for 90000kms service. I asked the SA to look at my MRF Wanderer and guess the kms it has covered. He said 10,000kms, and I answered 33,000kms. That too while driving on bad roads quite regularly like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LIPBQRg0eo

[antihero]

Originally Posted by Samurai

That too while driving on bad roads quite regularly like this.

Any rock damage to the sidewalls so far? I ask because mountain bad-roading can be unforgiving and I have shortlisted these tyres as the next replacement on my Gypsy when the Michelins run out.

Originally Posted by Samurai

I asked the SA to look at my MRF Wanderer and guess the kms it has covered. He said 10,000kms, and I answered 33,000kms.

Turns out this tyre is typical MRF. Hard wearing compound with decent grip and road noise.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Last week I had given my Vitara for 90000kms service. I asked the SA to look at my MRF Wanderer and guess the kms it has covered. He said 10,000kms, and I answered 33,000kms. That too while driving on bad roads quite regularly like this.

I am now at 50K with my Wanderers. It still looks good to go for another 10K easily.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by antihero

Any rock damage to the sidewalls so far? I ask because mountain bad-roading can be unforgiving and I have shortlisted these tyres as the next replacement on my Gypsy when the Michelins run out.

Nope, none. My Jeep tyres (Yoko Geo AT/S) has seen many side wall punctures. But the MRF on GV has never had any issues.

[jaysmokesleaves]

This is what i think of MRF Wanderers from personal experience.