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It’s a question we get a lot here at Unsealed 4X4: Which mod should I do first to get the most benefit off-road?
For me, the biggest difference you can make from stock to your vehicle’s off-road ability is to fit some proper rubber. It won’t give you the insta-cred of a winch or lightbar, but a fresh set of wheels and some sexy new tyres are still the biggest difference you can make to a stock vehicle, both in terms of looks and capability.
I recently got my grubby mitts on a bone stock single-cab mighty-tritey, which was about as exciting as a vegan barbecue, so 20 seconds later I was on the blower to Predator Tyes to get a set of 265/75R17 XAT New Mutant XATs sent out. I then placed a call to the helpful folks at ROH and ordered up four of their blacked out Assault rims, which are load rated for up to 1500kg per wheel – way more than I’d need.
A quick session on the tyre machinery later and the somewhat weak-kneed Triton was starting to look a whole lot more track-ready. Really is amazing what some wheels and tyres can do eh?
How the Predator XAT went on-road
I am not a barbarian, so of course I drove the Mitsi straight to my local off-road playground, which incidentally covered about an hour’s worth of road driving. If you’ve ever driven an unladen single-cab ute on the blacktop before you’ll already know that their ride could best be described as roughly equivalent to a skateboard’s. You feel every bump and dip in the road keenly through your lower spine and as for handling, well, it’d be nice to have some. Which is why the first thing I noticed after fitting the XATs is how much nicer they made the drive.
The wider contact patch gripped the road a lot more surely than the cheese-cutter HTs, and the softer compound soaked up the bumps much more smoothly. That feeling of being shot out of your seat and into the roof while going over a speed hump was toned down significantly, and even the road noise seemed quieter.
I’m not 100% sure if these attributes will fade as the tyres wear in, so watch this space, but on the initial drive the difference was appreciable.
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How the Predator XAT went off-road
In a word, the Predator XATs performed excellently on the dirt. Sure-footed, plenty of grip and bagged nicely over whoops and washouts. On the steeper, muddier climbs they got the Triton to the top with a little wheelspin, but let’s be honest, that’s way more the ute’s fault than the tyres’.
One point to note is that the XATs run a 2-ply sidewall, and I actually reckon this is a good thing these days. I used to be a hardcore ”give me 3-ply sidewalls or give me death!” sort of wheeler, but with modern rubber compounds and the advantages of running less weight (better economy and less power sacrifice ftw!) I’ve come around to the fact that unless you need the absolute utmost in puncture resistance (the Predator XMTs still run 3-ply walls, just FYI), then I reckon these are actually a better bet on a daily-driver slash weekend touring rig.
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The team at Predator tell me that the tread has been designed to offer great lateral traction from the staggered shoulder lugs and hefty 12mm of depth when on low range obstacles, while still delivering better-than-decent handling from the “X” tread pattern and the aforementioned dual sidewall design when on the faster dirt and bitumen.
I’m not exactly sure what all of that means, but I can say that they’re not lying. As a tyre for a daily the New Mutant XAT is so far shaping up as a pearler. To be fair, though, at the time of writing I’ve had them on for a few hundred kays and precisely one wheeling trip, so we’ll check back in after a few thousand klicks of daily tool hauling and a few sneaky weekend trips up the beach and through the bush to see how they fare.
Personally, given that in this size they’re well under $300 a tyre, making them substantially cheaper than a lot of others on the market, and they’re backed by a super competitive 80,000km warranty I reckon on first impressions that they might just be a legitimate AT title contender.
Colour me impressed, but let’s find out how they hold up over the next few thousand km. Just quietly I’m kind of hopeful that these may be one of the best options in a very crowded market.
I’ll let you know as soon as I do.
Read more
First impressions: Predator New Mutant X-AT tyres
5,000km later: How are the Predator New Mutant X-AT tyres holding up?
You’ll regret ignoring your wheel alignment – here’s why
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