Test 3: Traction in sand:

This test was a make or break affair.a 600 kg Jurgens XT140 off-road trailer was loaded with 150 kg (thus 750 kg in total) and hitched to the Ranger. The bakkie had to pull its own weight and that of the loaded trailer through a prepared sand track with a 10-degree inclination. The control Ranger, with tyres deflated to 1.4 bars and all electronic systems switched off, drove the track until it got stuck. The starting point was then set from the point where the vehicle barely made it through the course. If any of the test tyres successfully negotiated the course, the control mark was to be moved forward until the test vehicle did not make it anymore. In this test the new Wrangler AT Adventure showed its mettle – setting the benchmark nearly three meters clear of its closest challenger. The new Generals, the GT Radials, and the new Dunlops also fared well, while the gap between the BF Goodrich, the Michelin, and the Bridgestone tyres were achingly small.

Test 4: Gravel acceleration:

The object of this test was to measure traction on a loose gravel surface with the tyre pressures lowered to 1.4 bars. It entailed an acceleration test (foot flat, all electronic systems disengaged), measuring the time it took each set of tyres to propel the Ranger to 80 km/h; the rationale being the better the grip and traction on this surface, the shorter the time needed to reach the desired speed…

As to be expected, it was a close affair, with all the times of the tyres – except the Kumho – separated by less than a second. The best performers were the Conti, beating the Generals by a hundredth of a second, with the Firestone, Nexen, Pirelli, Michelin and BF Goodrich tyres also doing well.

Test 5: Incline traction test:this

test – devised to challenge the climbing ability of the tyres against an incline – turned out to be a real tiebreaker.the Jurgens trailer was again hitched to the Ranger, and the bakkie then had to pull its own weight, and that of the loaded trailer, up a steep incline in first gear lowrange at 2 000 rpm, with all traction control systems switched off. If a tyre completed the ascent, it scored maximum points, while tyres that did not make it, were penalised with 2,5 percent (the average percentage difference in the other tests).

However, some tyres activated the safety override on the electronic brake distribution of the Ranger and stability control systems while scrabbling for grip, and we decided to deduct 0,5 percent in these cases.the Dunlop Grandtrek AT3 Gs, Velocity Raptors and Hankook Dynapros surprised by clawing their way through the test, while four tyres – the BF Goodrich, Yokohama, Pirelli, and Kumho – did not make it.