Will nobbly tyres allow me to grip better on these?

GervisLooper

I got a bunch of these: https://www.mudcontrol.co.uk/

They work great to stabilize the land however I tried to drive on them today and got stuck twice!!

It is not only the issue of mud coming through, which I am able to manage with the other grass mesh underneath.

Even without loads of mud on the mats the van spun because the tyres just spun on this hard plastic.

It grips ok on the flat but there is quite a slope where I want to run them. The slope is not really steep but the van spun really easily and I don't want to try again now until I have more tools in my arsenal.

I got up and out of the slope the first time pretty quickly but the second time it took ages and almost gave up! I got so worried and exasperated as the sun started to go down. I was so close to packing it in and just leaving it there on the slope then finally I got out somehow!!!! Much chucking of sand and gravel, which weren't working on their own then finally did some kind of rocking motion with the van which got it out.

I was elated.

I am wondering now though how I can get the van to grip on these things which cost a ton.

Would nobbly tyles help to grip onto these hard plastic slabs?

It is so worrying getting stuck too I want to do belt and braces so might also get a tirfor winch as well. Don't care if it takes ages as long as it would help me out.

facade

If it is because the plastic is smooth and wet then you want tyres with lots of sipes (the tiny little slits in the tread patented by Mr Sipe, who was supposed to have cut slits in the soles of his boots to avoid slipping on wet floors).

So mud & snow or Winter tyres should do the trick. Knobbly tyres or bar treads with smooth lugs on them won't work on a smooth wet surface..

The disadvantage of sipes (from anecdotal experience) is that they pick up tiny stones & flints, and you are forever flicking them out when ever you walk past and notice them.

Arunmor

Why are you trying to drive a van that no doubt is 2 wheel drive and on road tyres with high tyre pressure up a muddy hill?  

Lay a proper track, dig it out and fill it with type 2 stone and level of with type one or planings.  You will probably need some way to keep the water off the track.

fatbelly

The concept of sipes applies to all-season tyres and I found these allowed me to get out of car parks on wet muddy fields when summer tyres gave no grip.

Another idea might be to use winter tyres that still give decent summer performance like

https://www.continental-tyres.co.uk/products/car/tyres/wintercontact-ts-870

Mildly_Miffed

Arunmor said:

Why are you trying to drive a van that no doubt is 2 wheel drive and on road tyres with high tyre pressure up a muddy hill?  

Lay a proper track, dig it out and fill it with type 2 stone and level of with type one or planings.  You will probably need some way to keep the water off the track.

Yep, that's basically what the loooong previous thread said.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6583060/good-winch-for-pulling-2-ton-van/p1

forgotmyname

Arunmor said:

Why are you trying to drive a van that no doubt is 2 wheel drive and on road tyres with high tyre pressure up a muddy hill?  

Lay a proper track, dig it out and fill it with type 2 stone and level of with type one or planings.  You will probably need some way to keep the water off the track.

We call them 2 wheel drive but we need to remember when a single wheel loses traction gets almost all the power making
it one wheel drive.  One wheel is spinning away with no traction and the other wheel does nothing unless it comes with some

form of locking differential.

Mud tyres have their place but on plastic matting is probably not one of them.  Late 1990's I went off roading with a vehicle
specific club so the vehicles were fairly even just a facelift version which I had which provided an extra 30cc on the engine and
a couple of BHP and torque higher not a lot.  Some had modified them and large mud tyres but on one slippery slope I was the
only one to make it to the top with my factory fitted Bridgestone road tyres.

Fitting mud tyres may affect the van more than you think. Worse fuel consumption, braking and extra noise which is a constant
annoying drone.

GervisLooper

facade said:

If it is because the plastic is smooth and wet then you want tyres with lots of sipes (the tiny little slits in the tread patented by Mr Sipe, who was supposed to have cut slits in the soles of his boots to avoid slipping on wet floors).

So mud & snow or Winter tyres should do the trick. Knobbly tyres or bar treads with smooth lugs on them won't work on a smooth wet surface..

The disadvantage of sipes (from anecdotal experience) is that they pick up tiny stones & flints, and you are forever flicking them out when ever you walk past and notice them.

Thanks. Will check them out. Indeed it is the plastic slippiness that is the problem. Actually I think it is the opposite that being dry made them even worse. I layed them in heavy showers and the tires seemed to get more traction compared to yesterday when the sun had baked the surface and tires dry.

GervisLooper

Arunmor said:

Why are you trying to drive a van that no doubt is 2 wheel drive and on road tyres with high tyre pressure up a muddy hill?  

Lay a proper track, dig it out and fill it with type 2 stone and level of with type one or planings.  You will probably need some way to keep the water off the track.

It isn't muddy once the stabilization underneath and the linked slabs are on top though.

A proper track requires planning permission which would likely take months and maybe close to a year looking at previous applications for the area and these can just be chucked down as they count as temporary tracks. I can also move them where I want like lego if I wanted to run it somewhere else or use them for walkways/bases/whatever. Much more versatile.

GervisLooper

fatbelly said:

The concept of sipes applies to allweather tyres and I found these allowed me to get out of car parks on wet muddy fields when summer tyres gave no grip.

Another idea might be to use winter tyres that still give decent summer performance like

https://www.continental-tyres.co.uk/products/car/tyres/wintercontact-ts-870

Interesting. Well plastic surface is the main issue in this case as the idea is to avoid it running in mud at all once I have played around with the configuration of the slabs. Sure a bit of mud may come through here and there so if the tires can manage some then all the better.

No idea what the current tires are. Probably just the bog standard ones for the ford van as it was hardly used and probably got all or nearly all its original parts.

I wondered if that sandpaper sheet stuff used for roofing might be another option to lay on top of the plastic surface?

GervisLooper

forgotmyname said:

Arunmor said:

Why are you trying to drive a van that no doubt is 2 wheel drive and on road tyres with high tyre pressure up a muddy hill?  

Lay a proper track, dig it out and fill it with type 2 stone and level of with type one or planings.  You will probably need some way to keep the water off the track.

We call them 2 wheel drive but we need to remember when a single wheel loses traction gets almost all the power making
it one wheel drive.  One wheel is spinning away with no traction and the other wheel does nothing unless it comes with some

form of locking differential.

Mud tyres have their place but on plastic matting is probably not one of them.  Late 1990's I went off roading with a vehicle
specific club so the vehicles were fairly even just a facelift version which I had which provided an extra 30cc on the engine and
a couple of BHP and torque higher not a lot.  Some had modified them and large mud tyres but on one slippery slope I was the
only one to make it to the top with my factory fitted Bridgestone road tyres.

Fitting mud tyres may affect the van more than you think. Worse fuel consumption, braking and extra noise which is a constant
annoying drone.

Yes this has been mentioned in the other thread/s. What genius thought up this 'open differential' thing? "One wheel is spinning, I know lets put all the power to that one wheel"! I suppose there was some logical reason for it but I am yet to hear it? Does it work better for tarmacced roads or what?

The sipe tires sound the better option from what others have replied.

GervisLooper

Mildly_Miffed said:

Arunmor said:

Why are you trying to drive a van that no doubt is 2 wheel drive and on road tyres with high tyre pressure up a muddy hill?  

Lay a proper track, dig it out and fill it with type 2 stone and level of with type one or planings.  You will probably need some way to keep the water off the track.

Yep, that's basically what the loooong previous thread said.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6583060/good-winch-for-pulling-2-ton-van/p1

Yes and I think I mentioned it in the other thread that I don't need planning permission for these which I would for a proper track as detailed more in the post above.