Toyo Australia Abandons Market (M 608z)
It appears Toyo Australia has let the sunset on a tyre many of us used as standard on our motorhomes. On 6 December 2021, they announced that they will no longer be stocking any M 608z 285/70r19.5 Tyres in Australia.
This means the 285/70r19.5 M 608z is no longer available for those of us that have taken them on as our tyre of choice. ATW enabled Toyo Australia to firmly adopt the M 608z as the standard for many of the Mitsubishi / Isuzu Heavy motorhomes, that is the setups that weigh in above the 4,500kg mark.
As these tyres wear out, some people are reporting having to purchase a complete wheel and tyre sets to keep their off-road truck on the road! We found ourselves in that position a few weeks ago with 2 damaged spares. One tyre had cracked around the rim and the other had lost a 50 cent sized chunk from its tread. We didn’t want to risk using them as spares while we got the last of the usage from the other 4 tyres. A little panicked we did a lot of research in a few days. One suggestion that made a lot of sense to us was made by a Perth company ATW (Associated Tyre And Wheel). Thank you guys for the help, details follow.
When we fitted our ATW Toyo M608z, we had to get an engineering certificate. Happily, due to the tyre’s high load ratings (namely 143/145M), we also scored a lift in our GVM from 6,000 to 6,500kgs. The tyre recommenced, the Westlake CM986 has speed and weight ratings of 144/146K, a similar to the M 608z. This has meant we were able to avoid re-engineering or dropping our GVM back to 6,000kgs.
We were also told this was something many people were not aware of when changing the tyres, that using the 37-inch tyres (which are larger than the M608z in height) that are on offer (particularly the FG649) could mean their GVM would come back to 6,000kgs due to their brake capacity.
We purchased 2 x CM986s and placed them on as steer tyres. This has also meant we will get more life out of the remaining Toyo M 608z that are currently on 4WDAUS.
We believe the Westlake tyre is a rebadged Goodride CM986 and we know from our travels these have been in the market for many years. We have, since fitting them last week travelled over 2,000kms on them and have been pleased so far with their wear and road performance. The photo above is the Westlake CM986 after completing the Great Central Road. After we complete our current trip and trialling these on the front of 4WDAUS we will decide as to buying a further 4 tyres. Fingers crossed that this simple solution avoids a more costly purchase of tyres, rims and certification.
Questions re Cost?
Tyre only is coming in about $440/tyre
Questions re Compare Tread and general appearance?
You can feel the knobby sides on the steer tyres when corning on a sealed road.
