Advice Needed: Sourcing Tires in South America

[littledetails]

I'm planning a 2024 overland trip across South America: from Cartagena, Colombia to Ushuaia, Argentina. My trip will take me through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. I like to get off pavement and hope to explore backroads and mountain roads in these countries to access remote and scenic locations.

I would like some advice from folks who have done a similar trip on the availability of some tires that I'm considering. The vehicle I plan to take is a 5th gen Toyota 4Runner. The smallest wheels available for it that will clear the brake calipers are the stock size of 17 inches. I know I want an all-terrain light truck tire in a stock or near-stock size. I'm considering:

1. Toyo Open Country A/T III in the LT235/80R17 size.
2. Toyo Open Country A/T III in the LT265/60R17 size (stock 4Runner size).
3. BFGoodrich KO2 in the 265/60R17 size (stock 4Runner size).

Part of the reason I've selected the 4Runner as my vehicle platform is that it is sold in all of the countries that I will be visiting. Should I run into any mechanical or maintenance issues, I expect that there will be some familiarity with the vehicle among local mechanics, and some dealership support in major cities. What has been harder to determine, is whether these tires I'm interested in are actually available in Latin America should I need to replace one. Availability of spares is a critical consideration for me when selecting a tire for my trip - right up there with the tire's performance and durability.

Toyo has a Latin American website - http://toyotireslatino.com - where they market the Open Country A/T III (including in the sizes that I am considering) and provide easy access to a list of distributors by country. I've explored some of the websites of these distributors and it seems that they either don't carry the A/T III (only the older A/T II) or have the A/T III but not in any of the sizes that suit my vehicle.

BFGoodrich's Latin American websites (e.g. https://www.bfgoodrichcolombia.com) were less up-to-date with some broken links to distributors that seemed to have even less inventory available.

Here's what I'd like to know:

• Am I looking at the wrong tire brands for Latin America?
• Should I expect to have to custom order replacement tires in these countries?
• Is there a better way to source tires suitable for overland vehicles in Latin America?

 

[sg1]

On my trip on the Panamericana I went through 3 sets of tires. I had 225/75R16 which were easy to get. I found the best prices in the free trade zones in Northern Chile (eg Arica). Friends bought in Paraguay. The stock sizes of popular cars are the easiest to get. I never focused on a particular brand. Just took what I could get provided it was an AT tire in the right size with sufficient load index. Usually they only have one brand in stock anyhow. Most countries have tire dealers with an online shop where you can check what is in stock. Just look for the size and type of tire and not for a brand.

 

[alanymarce]

• Am I looking at the wrong tire brands for Latin America?
• Should I expect to have to custom order replacement tires in these countries?
• Is there a better way to source tires suitable for overland vehicles in Latin America?

I'm a little too busy to duplicate what you;ve already done in terms of googling, however here are some thoughts.

1) South America is a lot of countries - the answer will not be same for all of them, e.g., it's difficult to get ATs in Brazil - they protect the local tyre manufacturers, who don't make ATs, so any you find are imports with high import duty so very expensive. Now, you don;t plan to go to Brazil so this is irrelevant, however the point is that each country will be different.

2) You can find Toyos and BFGs in most places - we have Toyos on our Montero and I see both brands on vehicles here in Colombia and in Argentina, where we go fairly often.

3) I believe that you can find tyres in the major cities - so plan your replacements for when you are in these - i.e., don't try to get the last km out of your tyres. We had to source tyres in Bolivia, and had to order them from La Paz (we were in Sucre, which is the capital of Bolivia, but it's not that big a place). It took two days (they had loaded them on the 'bus the first day but took them off to carry more passengers!). Once again, it will depend on the country whether you can find what you want;

4) IS there a better way? Not really - unless you plan on hauling a trailer with extra tyres (with all of the downsides, including the risk of being accused of being a tyre importer, etc.) you should in my view plan on sourcing locally. BUT, look at availability again - I know you've done this, however I suggest picking a big dealer in each major city and contacting them (phone often works better than email) to understand the situation. I recall when we needed tyres in Brazil we sent 80 emails before we found what we needed, at a dealer 2000 km away, although on our planned route.

 

[billiebob]

Someone who did this trip said the number one tire in South America, Africa too, was the 7.50R16 tire. Brand made no difference, the 7.50R16.... in bias ply or radial was everywhere... new or used.

7.50R16 was the standard tire of F250s in the 1970s, my 1977 F250 had them mounted on split rims.

7.50R16 in metric is 185/100R16.... tall and real skinny.

I run them on my Rubicon and they give me 5mpg over the 33/10.50R15s I used to run.... 95 miles more range to every tank of gas.... And they ride soo much smoother. Plus they last 25% longer.... 100K kms vs 75K kms for any of the DTs, ATs, KOs, MTs I have run in the past.

7.50R16 vs the stock Rubicon 245/75R16.... a bit taller, a lot skinnier, a way better tire.



With multiple countries getting hung up on Brand will hit hard if you need a new tire. But finding a tire to replace a damaged tire if you have the most common tire size is pretty simple.

17" rims might also limit tire choice.

 

[helenandtoby]

When it hits the fan, be sure to keep your options open.

We lived in Honduras for two years, and our full-size Blazer was eventually running on tires that didn't match in brand, tread, width, or diameter!

So, look for used tires. In San Pedro Sula, the tire store got in a full-size container of used tires from So-Cal every two weeks. We would spend a happy morning sorting through them.
Good luck on your trip!