Tire advice for "Mongol Rally"

I just put 2200 miles on a set of gravel tires in 3 days...3 made it home and still looked full tread depth, the other one had some sort of issue and went flat after having sidewall bits start flapping in the wheel well.

Dave

Total vehical weight will have a massive effect on tire life. The smaller the car and tire, the more critical weight becomes.

Steel wheels can be hammered back into shape. Tubes can be patched. Tire beads can be broken loose with the jack. You need to get really good at repairing tires.

The available tire selection for Mongol size cars is not that big. Your tire criteria are: availability in England, highest load rating, highest tread wear rating, mud and snow rating. Stay with the origional size for the vehicle.

The key to Mongol sucsess is to keep rolling. When you break down you need to get moving again as soon as possible.

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

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mongol999

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Aaron Luptak

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Carl S
BFG A/T comes in 195/75/14. Load range D, 25.5" overall diameter, 16/32 tread depth.

My Girlfriend is going with me and wants to paint the car like a cow - I'm not keen but if it keeps her happy I'll try to indulge her. I've started looking into vinyl wraps as an option, as the car will be sold once it gets to Mongolia and I can't see a cow paint job helping the value of the car any.

Buy a white car, and have black spots pre cut in vinyl. easy.

So having gotten some info about making the car look like a cow - I agree the easiest way is to get a white or black car and pot spots on it. Alternatively I might just get a super cheap paintjob like a cow. Even a cheap vinyl wrap is 1500 pounds, so thats out of the question.

Regarding the BFGs, you can't buy them in europe because of some rule regarding the source of the oil used to make the tires. I emailed tirerack.com and can get them shipped for about $70/each. As with Rallymech's suggestion, I might look at what snow tires are available in the UK.

It looks like Hella 500FF lights are good & cheap, so I'll probably pick up a pair of those.

You need to get your priorities sorted out. Cow spots are literally the last thing that you should be thinking about. I have driven across Africa. I know what I am talking about.

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

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Rallymech
You need to get your priorities sorted out. Cow spots are literally the last thing that you should be thinking about. I have driven across Africa. I know what I am talking about.

Did you do it with your girlfriend? My satisfaction from doing this drive will be directly proportional to the performance of my car AND the happiness of my girlfriend.

I brought up the ancillary stuff to try to give the people here more color into myself and the experience. My initial request received many helpful replies and a request to fill in my profile, so I thought I would share more than just a tire question with people. My post doesn't need to strictly be a sterile tire conversation.

And, while we're swinging our life experience dicks around, I'm an electrical engineer, I rebuilt car engines for fun in college, and I've overseen in varying capacities (from being an observer to being the boss) large industrial operations in several African countries, South America, and Australia. Which means I've spent more than my fair share of time living & traveling in difficult places.

Anyway, thanks for your advice.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2013 08:53AM by mongol999.

Paint scheme is important.

Important question? Any third wheels or just the two of you?

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Grant Hughes

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NoCoast
Paint scheme is important.

Important question? Any third wheels or just the two of you?

I think having someone to "moderate" would have been a great addition to our team, but it was hard finding someone who could come with us. Most of my friends are late 20s through mid 30s, and there aren't so many of those that can take 6 weeks out of their lives to do something like this. And any that could usually don't have the few thousand dollars it costs to do it.

So, its going to be just her and me. If you have any advice on how to keep from killing each other, I'm all ears

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mongol999

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Rallymech
You need to get your priorities sorted out. Cow spots are literally the last thing that you should be thinking about. I have driven across Africa. I know what I am talking about.

Did you do it with your girlfriend? My satisfaction from doing this drive will be directly proportional to the performance of my car AND the happiness of my girlfriend.

I brought up the ancillary stuff to try to give the people here more color into myself and the experience. My initial request received many helpful replies and a request to fill in my profile, so I thought I would share more than just a tire question with people. My post doesn't need to strictly be a sterile tire conversation.

And, while we're swinging our life experience dicks around, I'm an electrical engineer, I rebuilt car engines for fun in college, and I've overseen in varying capacities (from being an observer to being the boss) large industrial operations in several African countries, South America, and Australia. Which means I've spent more than my fair share of time living & traveling in difficult places.

Anyway, thanks for your advice.

Nobody was swinging their "Life experience dicks around".
You're the one that asked for help, and who didn't write a thing indicating you have a clue about anything beyond the St. Johns River.
Nothing about where you've lived and worked, vactaion/travel experience...
I have bolded so far the most important thing above.
You are doomed.
Imagining you doing this with a girlfriend...you are doomed and insane---
UNLESS you tell us that you've at least driven around USA "roughing it" for a 2-4 weeks with said girlfriend and still are alive.

Have you?

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Not sure if you ended up doing the Mongol Rally or not yet, but here are my tips to you:

Pre rally: Spend all your waking hours prospecting sponsors to lessen the financial burden on you.

1.Ground clearance and vehicle weight are your best friends. Select vehicle accordingly. And if you think you need to bring that ____ with you, you are wrong. You'll be bogging your car down withan extra 2 X 20L gerry cans of fuel once you leave Europe, so dont forget that this adds considerable weight. (mount them low in the car ie behind the front seats, and strap your silly extra comforts to the roof ie clothes). You will break springs, but you can get them replaced pretty easily. You will likely need it after the Pamir - so get these things fixed (and everything else in Almaty, Kazakhstan).

2.Do the Southern Route no matter what - in the 'stans is where the real adventure is.

3.Be prepared to pay a pretty penny when arranging transport on the boat across the Caspian Sea - and a headache of post soviet burocracy paper work just to get into Turkmenistan.

4.Make sure you have a 4L bottle of oil with you at all times. The benzene in central asia is terrible and will make you burn a lot of oil. Driving 12 hours per day for 2 months in 50 degree deserts also doesn't help.

5.Do not give police any documents or paper work EVER. Play stupid, and simply say "No" to all requests, or "I don't understand". They will give up and leave you alone after a bit. They are all corrupt anyways once you leave Azerbaijan.

6.Border Guards - these are the ones you need to listen to.

7.Tires: you will get flats - no biggee you will end the rally with 4 different tires of different makes, and different sizes most likely.

8. Don't pay for insurance in the UK. Despite it being illegal, once you are out of Europe, it wont matter because youre not covered anyways.

9. Secure your battery very well and glue up your terminals. Routes in teh stans are so bad that yes it will jump out and its probably best if it doesnt short out on the under side of your hood.

10. Leave visa entry and exit dates +-5 days on your expcted entry date. Shit happens

11.Mongolia will beat the shit out of your car, regardless. But you will love everysingle bit of it. Where there are river corssings that have 5 bigwheeled tractors run by locals to help drag your car across - it is mandatory. Dont try to cross on your own power or find a better spot to cross.

12. You will not have a solid poop for 2 months - get used to it

13. Save canned soups/stews/chilis etc until you hit central asia. Don't be tempted to eat them in europe where you actually have incredible selection available to you. You will need it .

14. Buy a 'storm kettle' to boil water fast over open flame. Best invention ever.

15. Do NOT drive at night.

16. Learn how to select a good watermelon.

17. You will reach some altitudes of 23,000 ft and because of it, you will encounter altitude sickness. Drink lots of water, bring pain killers, and be careful.

18. Altitude will drain your car of power. When in doubt, gear down. Keep your car as light as possible by avoiding unecessary gear. Fuel economy in high altitidue will be great, but you wont be going very fast.

19. Accept the fact that you will become the best recycler by the end of the trip. Saving slivers of bars of soap for the next time you have access to running water, collecting garbage from the side of the road incase it might come in handy to lash together your radiator shroud etc.

20. Make use of natural water sources as often as you can.


Message me if you have any specific questions.

http://www.towelcityracingtires.com/14__Ice_Racing_Tires.html

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"Talk about drugs. Driving a car like that, going that fast, it’s like all the drugs at once." - Tommy Byrne

"Now, Pinky, if by any chance you are captured during this mission, remember you are Gunther Heindriksen from Appenzell. You moved to Grindelwald to drive the cog train to Murren. Can you repeat that?" - The Brain

https://www.4x4at.com/tyre-size-19580r15-insa-turbo-sahara--94q-mud-terrain-remould

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"Talk about drugs. Driving a car like that, going that fast, it’s like all the drugs at once." - Tommy Byrne

"Now, Pinky, if by any chance you are captured during this mission, remember you are Gunther Heindriksen from Appenzell. You moved to Grindelwald to drive the cog train to Murren. Can you repeat that?" - The Brain

Pay attention to anything on this subject Rallymech has to say. He didn't just drive across Africa, he was involved in the factory toyota team when they ran Dakar.. so, like, the Word has been Spoken...

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Jay Woodward
Snohomish, WA
'90 Mazdog Frankenprotege
Chronologically, 46...

The mongol rally isn't a 'rally
as we'd define it; Its pure chaos and not really a race. Advice aside from car recovery and make shift repairs do not apply. All of the cars are 'donated' to the mongolian government at the end of the race. You can't enter the country with a vehicle and leave by plane without turning over the vehicle.


I'm not sure how I stumbled upon this years ago, but its a blog with people that randomly caught up to people doing the mongol rally. They were biking across Eurasia. The story starts about here and goes for pages. Decent story to keep you interested if you want to kill some time.
http://journal.goingslowly.com/2010/09/border-crossing-and-blizzard-in-no-mans-land



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2015 07:41AM by czwalga.

looks like a grand adventure best of luck to you and yours

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I would rather drive a slow car fast as a fast car slow!
first rule of cars: get what makes you happy, your the one paying for it!