Tyres

[Batman]

Time to replace my standard tyres with something better. I want to retain the 16 inch rim on my Disco 2, but get a better tyre. Was considering the Cooper ST until I discovered it is only avaiable in passenger car for the Landrover, and on a recent 2 week rally one of our support vehicles got 4 flats in a few days. Although it spends more time on the road, it needs a strong puncture resistant tyre for using on offroad hardcore rally tracks part of the year (not driven at normal offroad pace either). Not much of an ask, and I don't want two sets of wheels. Any feed back on successes welcome.
Batman

[rocket scientist]

Batman,
I have been running the current set of Cooper S/T's on my County for about three years. Have not sustained any major punctures, only slow punctures which I have been slack in repairing as quick as I should.For that reason they have been very forgiving.
I live on a dirt road and spend a fair bit of time on tracks around the Vic high country, so the tyres do get a reasonable workout.
Only problem with this set is chipping on the rear tyres.
The first set I put on in WA and got 110,000km of service, and that was with a wide variety of bush, sand, and highway use.
Local tyre dealer reackons the Coopers are probably not as good as they used to be.
He says the Simex tyres are good value for the money. Any opinions on Simex Tyres?

Cheers,
Rocket Scientist.

[Redback]

A word of warning on Cooper STs, they don't go well with the traction control on Disco 2s in offroad conditions.

BFG, Khumo, Nankang, Federal, Goodyear all make a good AT type tyre.

Baz.

[p38arover]

I want to retain the 16 inch rim on my Disco 2, but get a better tyre. Was considering the Cooper ST until I discovered it is only avaiable in passenger car for the Landrover,

:question::question:

I'm running 245/75R16 Cooper ST on my P38A Range Rover.

Ron

[cookiesa]

Time to replace my standard tyres with something better. I want to retain the 16 inch rim on my Disco 2, but get a better tyre. Was considering the Cooper ST until I discovered it is only avaiable in passenger car for the Landrover, and on a recent 2 week rally one of our support vehicles got 4 flats in a few days. Although it spends more time on the road, it needs a strong puncture resistant tyre for using on offroad hardcore rally tracks part of the year (not driven at normal offroad pace either). Not much of an ask, and I don't want two sets of wheels. Any feed back on successes welcome.
Batman

We have 225/75/16 LT Cooper ST on our Series 1 Disco. They are listed on the cooper tires site under LT so me thinks someone is having a lend. Or did the tyre size change?

[PAT303]

I'm running michelin lattitude A/T's on our Disco and they are a great allround tyre. Pat

[DaveS3]

I'm going to try the Mickey Thompson FCII next.

This seems to be a stronger tyre than most at a reasonable price. They seem to get good wear and have tough sidewalls ( more than I can say for BFG and the like)

I can get 285/75/16's @ $280 fairly easily with a little bit of haggling, so a smaller size should be cheaper.

Keep these in mind.

Cheers
Dave.

[cookiesa]

That's what I wanted to get.

I don't have a lift so can't get them in a small enough size to fit the Disco standard.

[isuzurover]

If I were you I would consider MTRs. Probably a bit more aggressive than you are after, but they have amazing traction in the wet and dry (IME - better traction on wet bitumen than most ATs), are very tough, and have a decent lifespan.

EDIT - MTR = Maximum Traction Reinforced.

[blitz]

I have 265/75/17 BFG AT's on my disco series I, and I must admit I am not overly happy with them. BUT I have to quanitfy that - they tear chunks out of the tread on gravel roads, the gravel gets stuck in the tread and a big chunk comes out.

So it is not so much a poor tyre as much as a poor tyre choice due to them not being suitable to my application.

when I finally get new tyres it will probably be a set of Coopers for the road and the Dry and a set of mud boggers for off road and the wet. Because I realise that I cant get the best of both worlds in one tyre, when I play I play hard but when I use it as a 'normal' car I am very sedate

I think the biggest thing you have to consider is just what are you going to be asking of your vehicle and therefore your tyres, this has to be an honest apprasal as the damn things are expensive if you get it wrong. AT's are a good step up from what they come out with, nad are a good starting point to off roading

cheers and good luck with it

Blythe

[mcrover]

In my opinion and the opinion of a couple of tyre fitters I do a bit of business with, alot of the chipping and wear issues are to do with tyre width in relation to how it's driven but in saying that, my Jeep used to take chunks out of S/T's on sandy gravel roads.

I know the wider tyres provide more stability and look a crap load better and I dont know the reason behind it but most of the people with chipping problems are running wide tyres and generally drive harder because they can on dirt roads.

I run 235 85 16's BFG AT's on my D1 and I dont find them unstable at all though I generally get a bit left behind by the big tyre crews until the slower stuff evens the score and then they dig much better and dont slde around as much as the bigger boys.

I know there are going to be people probably going to not like my comments but Im not saying you chouldnt have wider tyres, I have just noticed in 10 years of working in a tyre joint and what my suppliers have agreed with me about the wider tyres.

It's your choice in the end but I would stay well clear of coopers, too many horror stories and there's a constant there was a bad batch story but it seems that that bad batch was every thing up to when I need tyres.

Do a search for tyres and spend the next week reading about all the horror stories about all of them, I went back to BFG AT's as the last set got me 130000kms and I go 4wding about every second weekend when we can and only ever got 1 puncture in that set but there are people who havnt had a good run with them so make your own mind up.

[Batman]

Thanks everyone. Everyone has good arguments, and I have to say after years of rallying I guess it can also come down to luck too, mind you I have has a lot of luck with kevlar reinforced rally tyres, extremely hard to puncture, but wear out fast. Due to a very good offer on a set of BFG AT's at a special sponsorship price, I can't pass them up. After a bit of research today with our suppliers, I also discovered that to my amazement nearly all the AT tyres avaialble in 235/70/16 are passenger car construction, not LT. Don't they think we Landrover Disacovery owners take our vehicles off road? I know its really hard to get decent tyres for the D3.
Batman

[Andrew]

"A word of warning on Cooper STs, they don't go well with the traction control on Disco 2s in offroad conditions."


What nonsense is that, as if the traction control knows what kind of tyre you have. Probabbly more to do with the driving style I would suggest.

[MarknDeb]

we are getting Mickey T ATZ's fitted this Friday, 245/75 16, did all the stuff to find out the best match and thats a hard job, we got it down to Coopers and Mickey T's, roughly same price, load ratings and speed rating much the same but a mate got the MickeyT's on his Landcruiser and they are very nice to ride on.

[cookiesa]

I can't get to a dealer to see them, how do they compare to the Cooper ST pattern in terms of openess, or are they closer to the Cooper ATR?

[HangOver]

Nexen are quite cheap grip well in the wet and driy good off & on road but I think they might wear quicker than other tyres. but as they are so cheap it's ok

[HAK]

"A word of warning on Cooper STs, they don't go well with the traction control on Disco 2s in offroad conditions."


What nonsense is that, as if the traction control knows what kind of tyre you have. Probabbly more to do with the driving style I would suggest.


yeah I thought that it was a little bit of bolony also maybe he ment it makes the traction control work harder even si I dout it

I was going to go for the Cooper STT, IMO others such as baja claws simex, all wear out way to fast for my bugget


Good year MTR i think they look ok also

[Slunnie]

"A word of warning on Cooper STs, they don't go well with the traction control on Disco 2s in offroad conditions."


What nonsense is that, as if the traction control knows what kind of tyre you have. Probabbly more to do with the driving style I would suggest.
No Andrew, you may not understand. Actually the Cooper ST works badly with the traction control. It's got nothing to do with 1 part knowing what the other part is. One of the problems with the Cooper ST is that it is a tyre that is not tolerant of wheelspin - the reps will even tell you that the lugs breaking off that particular tyre is more prevalent in the rears of part time 4WDers who are not prompt in using the little stick. The issue with the Disco2 and its traction control is that the traction control needs wheel spin for the system to operate and start braking the spinning wheel, and it is this same wheel spin which causes the outer lugs on the ST to seperate from the carcass.

[Ken]

Im running Goodyear MT/Rs on my D2 and have nothing but praise for them great in the wet on road and Awesome off road in the mud 265/75/16 no scrubbing no cutting just fit em and enjoy

[Disco Steve]

Nexen are quite cheap grip well in the wet and driy good off & on road but I think they might wear quicker than other tyres. but as they are so cheap it's ok

nexen's are a brilliant tyre for the money. I had the HT's and the AT's both lasted 70000km's and drove realy well. and i only paid $150 per tyre:D:D:D:D

[WildDisco]

Maybe I haven't looked in the right places but it seems to me Mickey T dont get complained about much.

Can anyone comment on how the MTX or ATZ have handled real world testing.

[MarknDeb]

My mate fitted the MTX's to his Landy and loves them, they handle like a dream on road (no wet in Brisbane to test that yet) I filled in the info pack details on the website and they sent me a DVD with the info on it, the vid was informative about the tyre designs and what they are best for
http://www.mickeythompsontires.com.au/

I will be going to THE SANDS 4x4 park with the new tyres on 10 11 12 August so i can tell you what they are like off road after then

[Redback]

No Andrew, you may not understand. Actually the Cooper ST works badly with the traction control. It's got nothing to do with 1 part knowing what the other part is. One of the problems with the Cooper ST is that it is a tyre that is not tolerant of wheelspin - the reps will even tell you that the lugs breaking off that particular tyre is more prevalent in the rears of part time 4WDers who are not prompt in using the little stick. The issue with the Disco2 and its traction control is that the traction control needs wheel spin for the system to operate and start braking the spinning wheel, and it is this same wheel spin which causes the outer lugs on the ST to seperate from the carcass.

Always the diplomate;)

Baz.

[vnx205]

Always the diplomate;)

Baz.
I assume a diplomate is someone who is diplomatic in his dealings with you because he is a mate.:p

[Redback]

I assume a diplomate is someone who is diplomatic in his dealings with you because he is a mate.:p

Could be a better speller too:p

[blitz]

never heard of nexen? got any info on them?

Blythe

[HangOver]

never heard of nexen? got any info on them?
Blythe

Odd I can't even find the home page for Nexen?

If you google " Nexen review " you'll find a few forum posts about them. I have yet to see a negative post.

[MarknDeb]

Odd I can't even find the home page for Nexen?

If you google " Nexen review " you'll find a few forum posts about them. I have yet to see a negative post.

I got my ATZ's fitted today and boy they are nice to ride on, very direct great cornering, cant wait till next wekend to give them a run off road.

I got a brochure on Nexen tyres today, they are under the YHI group and here is the web site
http://www.yhi.com.au/

[DRS]

MarknDeb,
How are the ATZ's going?
I have been looking for tyres for my D2. Loooking at the MTZ or the FC II.
Hard choice.
Anyone running either tyre?

Dave

[MarknDeb]

MarknDeb,
How are the ATZ's going?
I have been looking for tyres for my D2. Loooking at the MTZ or the FC II.
Hard choice.
Anyone running either tyre?

Dave

Hey Dave, they went great down at "The Springs 4x4 Park" the other weekend, real steady on the foot as to say, she never slid or fealt off on the rocky stuff. Running around the last 2 days in the wet are a bit hard to judge as roads still very greasy. On some wet corners it started to under steer a little but in the dry well as good a grip than the Michies that came with her