These tyres rock!

It was the vertical slab of rock half way up the steep climb that really showed up the impressive traction of the new BFG. Many cars had struggled to clear that obstacle, made more difficult by the morning rain that had left the polished rock even more slippery than usual. But the tighter tread pattern of the new Mud Terrain T/A simply meant there was more rubber against the rock so the Cherokee easily rode up the 18-inch high rock step on tickover as surprised onlookers watched in astonishment.

We’d already had an indication of the new tyres’ effectiveness in a forest section where the route took us up a ridiculously steep climb threading among trees that left just inches to spare on either side of the car as it climbed. The surface was loose earth, made even looser by the passage of dozens of motorcyclists whose aggressively-lugged tyres had churned up the ground as their trail bikes struggled against the gradient. Even tricked-up Wranglers and Land Rovers with locking differentials had difficulty making the climb, many requiring winch assistance even to get away from the awkwardly-angled start which involved a sharp right turn among trees so closely packed that a high-momentum charge would certainly have ended in bodywork damage. Even running at motorway pressure the BFGs hauled the Cherokee round and up the slope with impressive ease. There was a brief glitch in the proceedings half way up the slope, where the track zig-zagged sharply to the right through another ten-foot gap between trees – too close to charge through at speed. With momentum lost on the angled track the Cherokee got cross axled and lost traction – even the new BFGs couldn’t help with a wheel on each axle spinning helplessly in the air. But that wasn’t the end of it; we backed down a little, restarted with ease once the wheels touched down again and by taking a much wider line – scattering onlookers in the process – managed to get the Cherokee aimed through the trees with hardly any fuss.

A highlight of the first’s day’s driving was the famous rocky drop where even the most well-sorted off-road car needs to be guided by spotters every inch of the way. Here the extra tread on the new BFG, wrapping over into the sidewall, added significantly to our ability to control the movement of the car accurately as it edged delicately over the rocks.

We also really appreciated the extra grip from the new tread pattern on two near-vertical drops, one a good four-feet high, where other cars simply slid to the bottom no matter how gently their drivers had edged over the top. The Cherokee stayed glued to the rocky surface all the way down, the only shock being the crash of the tow-hitch against the rocks after we’d reached the bottom.

Realising that the going on the third day of the event was likely to be more demanding, we dropped the pressure of the BFGs to ensure even better traction; tough sidewalls have always been a feature of the BFG construction, but the sidewall cords of the new tyre are 33 per cent stronger, matched by a stronger three-ply sidewall casing, so we had no doubt that the tyres would stand the strain of hard work at low pressure. The result was stunning. Certainly there were a few obstacles where the Cherokee needed winch assistance, but so did many others – and often the problem wasn’t down to a lack of traction, but simply to a lack of ground clearance: the Cherokee was running 225/75x16s – 29 inches across – compared with the significantly taller 33x10.50s fitted to most of the other serious off-roaders accompanying us on the event. On sections where ground clearance was less of a factor the Cherokee was easily able to keep up with, and at times outperform, more seriously-equipped vehicles.

Even a cursory glance at the new BFG Mud-Terrain tread pattern suggests that the main reason for the change is to reduce highway cruising noise – course-treaded tyres naturally set up a howl when driving at speed on tarmac. We can confirm that the new tyres still howl, but in a significantly more refined manner than their predecessors. On-road grip is also noticeably better, leading to more stable cornering at speed and more effective braking. Usually any efforts to improve a tyre’s on-road performance will reduce the effectiveness off-road, but this certainly isn’t the case with the new BFG Mud-Terrains, which we now have good reason to believe are better off-road than ever – witness the fact that although our Cherokee is wearing the battle scars of this demanding event (broken tail lamp cluster, some scratches and a few bits of dislodged plastic trim) there isn’t a mark on the BFGs.