Rattling sliding door blinds

I spent a lot of time chasing and curing rattles in my Kingham after I bought it 15 months ago, including all the favourites like the loose sliding door blind, the rattling door catches, the microwave, the oven etc. with varying degrees of success but the biggest overall difference was achieved by taking off the standard van tyres and fitting General Grabber AT3 tyres, 235/65 R16C. These are specifically designed for our types of van and have a high load rating whilst really transforming the ride. I have seen no significant negatives, e.g. fuel consumption appears similar, tyre noise no different. They have more supple side walls and quite simply ride very much more smoothly than the old Contivans. They also perform much better on dodgy surfaces, wet grass etc. Only available in 16" to date but well worth considering. My original tyres had done less than 10,000 miles and I was a bit embarrassed to be throwing them out so young but the improvements in ride (hence rattles!) and handling are well worth it.

Good questions Tim.

I have only done about 4,000 miles in the van since these tyres were fitted sometime late summer 2023 so no, not a full season, but they seem fine under all the conditions encountered so far. I do tend to do a lot of exploring down little lanes etc. which is quite a good test.

More to the point perhaps I have had GG AT3's or their predecessors on at least three Discoveries and one Shogun for many years and over extended periods, meaning that I have run sets of these tyres on those vehicles for their full lives, which were normally 80 to 100 thousand miles, before replacing them. I do a lot of business mileage! I also last summer fitted a set on my VW Touareg and these are performing beautifully in all respects. On a very quiet performance car like the Touareg there is a tiny amount of road noise noticeable on some surfaces, but a vast improvement on that car too in terms of ride comfort, general handling and tracking etc.

I don't do any serious off-road stuff any more, just muddy tracks and fields when out hunting sunken boats etc., but in this era of potholes it is quite nice to feel that you have tyres that will stand a few more knocks than the average road tyre!