2nd busted Cooper AT3 tyre from a flat

[Ozzy119]

That's the second Coopers At3 now destroyed due to a flat. The problem seems that with rear flats the car (mine doesn't have TPMS) doesn't notice the tyre is unwell. In both occasions I had about 2 mins of slightly unusual driving sensation before the tyre hits the rims and with weight of the car its all over. Crushed with wires punctured out. I travelled less than 30m in crawl to pull over safely hoping to save this tyre.

That's 2 busted ones and 3 punctures for me with these Coopers. I've stated before I have zero confidence in them.

Possibly changing to Bridgestone sooner than expected.

[Dagilmo]

I've had the same experience with two rears. One GG At2 on the narrows bridge in Perth and a second BF KM2 on the dirt north of Kalgoorlie. Both tyres distroyed. The GG didn't worry me as it was old but the BF was near new.

[BMKal]

Very first trip home from Perth to Kalgoorlie after I bought the D4 - I had a flat rear right on the OEM supplied Continentals.

Didn't go completely flat, but enough to bring up an alarm "compressor overheating" after the suspension was attempting to compensate for a while (happened between Kellerberrin & Merredin).

I pulled over and pumped up the tyre - it did not appear to be damaged. It got me the rest of the way home to Kalgoorlie, but the following morning when I went out to the shed, it was flat.

Took it down to the tyre repair place to repair what I thought would be only a slow leak, only to discover that the inside wall was damaged beyond repair. Cost me $400 to replace with the same brand tyre.

The Continentals have since been replaced with Mickey Thompsons - and a decent TPMS (purchased from Landybitz on this forum) was installed at the same time - no problems since.

So - while I am not in any way a fan of Coopers (would never even consider them after past experiences) - the problem described in this thread is by no means exclusive to Cooper tyres - the same will happen to any brand if you have a leak / flat tyre and do not detect it in time. The suspension on the Land Rover can make it very difficult to detect a flat tyre until it is too late.

The obvious lesson - buy a decent TPMS. At less than the replacement cost of a single tyre, it's cheap insurance. ;)

[Dagilmo]

So - while I am not in any way a fan of Coopers (would never even consider them after past experiences) - the problem described in this thread is by no means exclusive to Cooper tyres - the same will happen to any brand if you have a leak / flat tyre and do not detect it in time. The suspension on the Land Rover can make it very difficult to detect a flat tyre until it is too late.

The obvious lesson - buy a decent TPMS. At less than the replacement cost of a single tyre, it's cheap insurance. ;)

I agree. Just to clarify, I wasn't blaming the tyres. Mode of failure was exactly as you described. GG probably suffered from the drive (after deflation) over the narrows but I decided the cost of a tyre was better than stopping there to change. The BF was a bit different. Must have been running low for a while as it blew a large hole in the side wall. It was as hot as hell and smelt of burn rubber (took me back to my conveyor belt splicing days)

TPMS on the shopping list! Whats the go? The sensors in the cap or in the tyre? Also how important/accurate are the temp reading?

I'm also not a particular fan of Coopers but the two sets I've had were treated poorly (driven over everything at all levels of inflation) but never failed. Not a fan as the wet bitumen road grip was down right dangerous. Both were on a D40 Navara. The STs I could hardly take off from lights in the wet with out wheel spin (was alot of fun at times though:D). While the STTs had me sidways at 80 after the cruise control kick in up a hill and they broke traction. Generally a fan of some sidways action but not so much fun unexpectedly on a busy road in the city.

[Peteren]

TPMS on the shopping list! Whats the go? The sensors in the cap or in the tyre? Also how important/accurate are the temp reading?




I have a Tyredog unit that has valve cap sensors. Works very well, sensors don't leak so the tyres stay up. Do go through batteries on the sensors.
One advantage of these sensors is that you can remove them and keep them safe when you get tyres changed, lots of internal sensors get damaged by ham fisted tyre techs.
The temperature feature is handy when towing a large van, its surprising how quickly the rear tyre temps go up!

[BMKal]

I opted for the internal sensors, as you cannot "lose" these through knocking them off in rough conditions (would be rare, I know) or knocked off by light fingered people or kids.

The batteries in my sensors are basically guaranteed to outlast the vehicle, so no problems with batteries.

I have mounted mine directly in line with the valves, so I know exactly where they are, and can make tyre fitters aware of their location. In general, I use the same tyre fitters all the time, and I am always in their workshop with them giving them a hand, so damage to the sensors is not really a major concern for me.

One advantage of having the valve cap style though is that, when you rotate your wheels / tyres, you can simply swap the valve caps between wheels to keep the same wheel position pressures etc shown on your receiver unit. I have to re-program mine every time I rotate the wheels - not a big thing but for me, it's sometimes like re-programming the remote for the TV/DVD - easier to get the kids to do it. :D

The unit I have will display either pressure or temperature - you can flick between displays with the push of a button (I imagine that they would all have something like this). I leave mine set to display pressure, and I set both upper and lower alarm levels - all seems to work very well for me.

Also, the unit I bought will monitor up to 14 wheels - just have to buy more sensors if I want to tow a large caravan or something. ;)