Doublestar Wild Tiger T01 Tyres

[Horatius]

Here's a review of a set of cheap off road tyres (cheap at the time anyway). For those with idealogical, political or racial objections to the purchase of such tyres due to the point of origin, this thread isn’t for you and there’e no need to read on. Don’t do it to yourself lol. For those interested in an honest cheap tyre review though, it might be of use.

Having tried such cheap tyres before out of necessity (all I could afford at the time) and unfortunately finding them utter crap without exception, I thought it might be interesting to see if they have improved much.

The short review is that these are the best ute tyres I have ever had (for the style of driving I do, which includes lots of remote off roading). Though I have never had top end “name brand” tyres that cost 2-3 times the price these were purchased for, so can offer no direct comparison there. I also notice that the price of these has now gone up considerably anyway (got 4 of them in 265/70 for $600 fitted).

They are marketed as an “MT” style tyre, though IMO are really more of a genuine “AT”. As most of the tyres now sold as “AT’s” are basically highway tyres with advertising hype anyway IMO. Most of them don’t even have the heavy duty construction that should be the bare minimum to be advertised as being capable “off road”. At any rate I ran around for quite a while on Toyo “HT’s” that performed as good as any of the mid priced ($200-250) brand name AT’s I have used (Dunlop, Toyo, Pirelli, Bridgestone etc).

The main thing I looked for was reliability (strength). These are particularly strong especially the sidewalls, they don’t deform or bulge the way “AT’s” do when when I let the pressure down (usually 18-20 psi, though I have had them down much lower in slippery conditions). No flats, though I have picked up some tek screws. Only one made it through the tread and needed a plug (it didn’t leak at all, only noticed it when I rotated them) several others just required removing as they didn’t reach past the tread blocks.

The surprising thing with these is how well they drive on the highway. Noticeably better than any of the mid priced brand name “AT’s” or even mid priced passenger car radials I have driven on. Especially in the wet. I was expecting them to be iffy lol.

As soon as I hit dirt road I let the pressure down commensurately and these are very comfortable, especially over corrugations, they seem to help the (lack of) suspension. The tread blocks really grip the road also and stop much quicker than “AT’s” which tend to lock up and skid over the surface on gravel roads. A few critters are very lucky I had these tyres on.

I got these after going through one particular steep track with lots of rock ledges and loose shale type of stuff. The Pirelli scorpions I had got a shard straight through the tread completely stuffing one tyre, a large precarious looking gouge in the sidewall of another and in general were cut to pieces (I wouldn’t recommend them for anything other than “light” offloading, not strong enough).

I have been through the same track since on these latest tyres, basically without a scratch.

Another comparison is the same track where I had a steep exit out of a gorge for about 5km in the snow. The “AT’s” struggled and once I hit tar was still in 2nd/3rd gingerly going up steeper parts because of spinning wheels. In similar conditions the tyres I have now did the same thing noticeably easier and once I hit tar was able to comfortably chug along in 4th at about 60-70 kph. A big difference.

Though in general dry low range 4wd conditions at low speed, not really any noticeable performance difference.

A few negatives are…road noise. Not that bad really, but it is noticeable. They’re also heavier with more rolling resistance, so I wouldn't get these (or any sort of muddies) if most of your driving is in the city as you know these things are on when taking off lol. Fuel consumption has also gone from 9.5 to 10.5 - 11 litres per hundred kms.

After a little over 40,000kms they are starting to lose grip off road, though looking at them I could probably get another 10 - 15k of highway driving, which isn’t suffering at all yet. From people who use muddies all the time and do similar type of driving I’m told this is about average though, regardless of brand.

All in all, for the price, they have been an excellent and reliable off road tyre.

 

[Erick]

All this tyre talk and never once a mention about ply rating or load capacity. The two go hand in hand anyway. More ply’s , tougher tyre. Currently running 10 ply’s for $160 each. Can put a ton on the back and not even have to put extra air in the tyres. Although I do anyway if the trip is more than a few km.
Having had mixed experiences with both know brand and unknown, I’ve come to the conclusion we’re pretty much buying blind. Who knows the how and where of anything that is made anymore. What factories and brand names are owned by who.
And for the ‘China phobes’, they make what we want. Crap or good- your choice.

 

[Horatius]

All this tyre talk and never once a mention about ply rating or load capacity. The two go hand in hand anyway. More ply’s , tougher tyre. Currently running 10 ply’s for $160 each. Can put a ton on the back and not even have to put extra air in the tyres. Although I do anyway if the trip is more than a few km.
Having had mixed experiences with both know brand and unknown, I’ve come to the conclusion we’re pretty much buying blind. Who knows the how and where of anything that is made anymore. What factories and brand names are owned by who.
And for the ‘China phobes’, they make what we want. Crap or good- your choice.

Fair enough, but I did mention that standard AT's don't have a very strong construction. Which is fine if you don't carry heavy loads regularly or go off road much. For a good ute tyre a "Light Truck" rating (which will have a higher load rating), should be the minimum IMO. It's usually shown with the advertisement. For instance normal AT's have usually a "110 or "112" load rating (I think "112" is recommended on the D22 tyre placard, so would be the minimum you should use). Whereas these particular tyres have "114/117" rating (which seems normal for "LT" tyres).

Any reasonable mud tyre will have a high load rating by default, they are generally some of the strongest tyres you can get, and these tyres are no exception.

The "ply rating" doesn't mean that much re modern tyre construction and is just what the manufacturer deems as an "equivalence", and seems more about advertising . It's the load rating that is important.

It's also not just about heavy loads on the highway with +40 psi. It's also about carrying a loaded ute over rough undulating tracks off road with <20psi that's also important. That's where the strength of MT's is useful.

Though not all tyres sold with a higher load rating are the same either. The Bridgestone AT's I have at the moment have the same load rating as these although I am loath to drop the pressure too much, as the sidewalls bulge and could leave them susceptible. I regularly ran these MT tyres at 16-18 psi off road without problems and the sidewalls didn't seem to deform at all. Although the lower you go the more risk of popping a bead.

The strength/thickness of the tread blocks is also important. I have had AT's staked straight through the tread by sharp sticks and even lumps of basalt (?). No such problem with these. Picking up tek screws in these is usually just a matter of taking them out with pliers. They are so strong and thick that unless it's a quite long screw it won't cause a puncture. Though if you do need to plug them, you'll have to literally drill a hole for the plug lol.

Of course all of this is somewhat meaningless if they don't hold the road. I had to swerve and hit the anchors to miss an echidna the other night, in the wet with loaded up ute, in the rain. Was doing less than 60kph, but the tyres locked up and I think it sped up initially, as though on ice skates. Something I find normal with both mid range passenger radials and AT tyres.

The tyres reviewed here didn't have this problem (at least not to that extent) and really held the road better on tar, especially in the wet, while on dirt roads they held the road exceptionally well.

I can't think of any situation where they weren't better. Though they don't last that long, the extra rolling resistance means the car is noticeably slower to take off, and I dropped 1 litre/100kms in fuel efficiency.

With tyres it really comes down to what you want out of them, and the conditions you drive in. For some people load rating isn't as important as how long they will last. For others it's how they hold the road. For others it's reliability off road. Or a combination of all these things.

 

[BarneyB]

Although I'm more a fan of the mid-range brands like Kuhmo, Toyo, Cooper, Falken etc
I think these tyres deserve consideration purely for the awesome name.

Not one star, but two!
Not a Puma or a Coyote or a Dueler or a Hawk......but a Wild Tiger!!!!!
Rumour has it next years' new model is the Triple Star Rabid Bunyip.
(sorry Horatius, couldn't help myself)

Jokes aside, I'm coming around to the idea of some cheap MT's for this summers' camping & exploring trips.

 

[Erick]

And just to really make it interesting, when I do find a tyre I like, when it comes time to get new ones, that tyre exists no more, even when the company does.

 

[Horatius]

And just to really make it interesting, when I do find a tyre I like, when it comes time to get new ones, that tyre exists no more, even when the company does.

You can still find stock of the T01's, but they're getting rare. They have a new model mt tyre that's taken its place but afaik no one in Aus has been able to get any of their off road tyres since covid.

These ones look good. Originally these are what I wanted, but couldn't find them in the right size at the time, round this way at least.

I have generally had name brand tyres too, because the cheapies that I tried back in the day were crap. I feel that's changing though, and China might eventually take over the tyre industry.

I know of people who spent a lot of money on name brand mt's (with obligatory white writing lol) and been disappointed. I get the feeling some of them, at the overblown prices they are asking, are as much about having the right brand/fashion accessories and keeping up with the Jones's.

 

[Horatius]

Although I'm more a fan of the mid-range brands like Kuhmo, Toyo, Cooper, Falken etc

I ran around on a set of Toyo Open Country HT's for a while lol. Completed lots of tough tracks and found no difference between them and most "AT's" I have used. One of the reasons I think most of what are sold as AT's are basically highway tyres with lots of sales hype (with the exception of some of the more aggressively styled ones).

ps. For example the Bridgestone Duellers I have now (and I think were standard on D22's?) are basically highway tyres IMO with "AT" stamped on them. Not that they're a bad tyre or anything. Probably a good choice for outback touring where there can be an awful lot of highway miles to get to what are basically just dirt roads anyway.

Though choices were very limited at the time I got them (pandemic - supply chain issues).