Justin and Bec Lorimer are one of Australia’s most prolific touring families, amassing an audience of over 500,000 social media followers documenting their travels around Australia over the last six years. It’s not uncommon for them to explore over 50,000km both on-road and off annually - the ultimate Aussie torture test for the brand new Open Country A/T III!
We’ve been through a few tyre brands over the years, and before a short stint on another brand’s Mud-Terrains, we were running a well-known Hybrid-Terrain tyre. We were on the Gibb River Road and suffered a few blow outs on the Hybrid-Terrains, and the only thing a retailer in Broome could sell us to get us on the road again was a set of Mud-Terrains.
I absolutely hated them! They were loud and heavy and uncomfortable - absolutely not in line with our style of touring, so I immediately started researching for an All-Terrain that was more aligned with our lifestyle.
After tyre failures with other brands, our number one priority was reliability. I’d done a fair bit of research and had seen how well the Open Country A/T II had stood the test of time in Australia, and how well its successor the Open Country A/T III had been received overseas. The minute they were available in Australia, I jumped at them!
As soon as I announced that we’d fitted the Open Country A/T III to the 200 Series and the van, we were inundated with messages from die-hard Toyo Tires’ fans! Many were on to their second or third set of Open Country off-road tyres, and the overwhelming feedback was how reliable they were, and how long they lasted.
We ended up fitting the Open Country A/T III to the 200 Series and the van, in 285/70R17 fitment and Light Truck construction all-round. The tyres might seem like overkill for the van, but now we’ve got the same sized tyres, it saves us having to carry as many spares, and beefing up the van tyres gives us extra confidence when we’re towing a four-tonne trailer off-road.
We do plenty of on-road kilometers, and Open Country A/T III would have to be the best tyres we’ve ever had on the car! They’re much easier to turn than the muddies we took off, and because they’re such a nicely balanced tyre they’re much quieter more comfortable inside the car - and when you’ve got three kids in the backseat, anything to reduce the humming and droning you get from other tyres is a huge positive!
We’re still early days in terms of tracking our fuel economy, but I’d say partly because they balanced up so well, as well as the technology that’s gone in to the tread design and the tyre compound that we’ll end up 1-2L/100km better off after switching to Open Country A/T III as well.
We’ve recently completed the Snowy Mountains Highway and towed the van downhill through rain and sleet, and had total confidence the entire time, which is reassuring when you’ve got the family in the car. Contrast that to pulling up at the beach and dropping the pressures, and the whole combo’ just moves so much better down the beach on the Open Country A/T III!
For our style of touring, having a quality tyre like Open Country A/T III gives us peace of mind.
Keep up to date with Justin and Bec’s adventures across the following social platforms:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/tripinavan
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TripInAVan
Facebook: www.facebook.com/tripinavan
