The DOKA needed new tyres over the Xmas break - the existing tyres were well worn after five years and 80,000kms or so. Push came to shove during the 1000km blast to Sydney when a careless curbing at some time in the past manifest itself as a small sidewall split in one of the front tyres. The sidewall didn't fail but it didn't look safe either.

Complication was the fact that the DOKA is a syncro so it needs four identical tyres so everything has to be changed at the same time - not one or two here and there. The added trick was the spare which was the original 195/70R15C Kleber that has lived under the tray since it was delivered. So I needed five new tyres.

The current boots were GT Radial Maxmiler CX in 205/65R15C and they'd done really well. However, I also knew that despite them being a placard size they were resulting in a distinct underread in speed - at a posted 110km/h I was actually doing between 98 and 102km/h (depending on the GPS box). It also meant I accumulated kilometres faster than in reality. I also wanted a bit more height off the ground for dirt roads and the perception of more dirt road grip wouldn't go astray either.

Therefore, some time back, I identified the GT Radial Maxway in a 205/70R15C size as a potential replacement option.


A call to the closest dealer in this brand produced a fitted price of just $140 per tyre for an all up cost of $700 and there was plenty in stock (not bad for the week before Xmas). Apparently they are a popular CommoFalcon ute fitment.

Job done. First thing we noticed was the different tread noise. This is a rather open tread (big enough to catch pea gravel) so there's some tyre whine. Performance wise.....they are effective tyres - not much more can be said. They certainly stick to windy back country asphalt, climb unsealed fire trails, cope with long distance high speed cruising and heavily loaded ute trays. And now when the speedo reads 110...a bit of GPS checking (with a couple of different units) suggested that I was actually doing around 107 or 108. Much better.

Very happy. And well worth a look.