Look After Your Tyres, and They'll Look After You
If you want your tyres to look after you in the bush, you've got to look after them first. A quality all-terrain like the Bridgestone Dueler 697 is built to handle thousands of kilometres of touring, but a few simple habits will make a huge difference to performance and lifespan.
The biggest one is tyre pressures. Run the right pressure for the terrain - higher on the highway, lower on rough tracks and sand. You'll get better traction, a more comfortable ride and help protect your tyres from unnecessary damage.
Back on the blacktop, regular maintenance is just as important. Rotate your tyres every 10,000km to keep wear nice and even. Front tyres tend to wear more on the shoulders, while rear tyres tend to wear more in the centre, so rotating them regularly helps maximise the life of your Bridgestone Dueler 697s. While you're at it, have your wheel alignment checked too. A poor alignment can scrub out a perfectly good set of tyres in no time and affect the way your four-wheel drive handles.
A few minutes of maintenance now means more kilometres of reliable touring later.