Thread: Choosing new Tyres...wow there's a lot, bit of help plz?

I was once told by someone the only good Coopers is the beer Never been a big fan of them, remember when a rep came to a club meeting back in the early 2000's when the ST pattern first was released and sold about a dozen sets to club members, nearly everyone of them had issues with delaminating treads so I have steered clear ever since

Cheap tyres are good but like most things you get what you pay for, nothing wrong with them but don't expect the same kms wear or ask too much of them and they're fine. I'm a fan of the Federal Couragia MT's and had a couple of sets for a cheap tyre there of decent quality.

I just bought a set of Bridgestone MT's 674's for $265 a tyre for a 285/75R16, compared to the BFG's and other more expensive brands I was surprised how cheap they were for a 'name' brand (was looking at the higher end of the market anyway, the BFG's avg price was $375 a tyre ), so buying five tyres I saved quite a bit.

Trav

Originally Posted by Gary S11

I got sick of cutting the side walls out of my cooper STT, and brought some "roadstone, radian Mts " smoother and quieter than the coopers $170.00 each and have done two off road trips with no drama, so already in front of the coopers

Been running a set of these for last 3 years, picked a set of 5 off ebay for $180 and been a great tyre.
They are now Nexen branded but same tyre.

When I got my D2 in the first place it had Coopers on it. STs I think. After a few weeks of owning them I couldn't get them off the car fast enough. The things had no grip. I spun the car in the wet at normal speed, and on another occasion shot out of a wet dirt road onto a semi main road with the thing in reverse trying to get it to stop.
Kevin Rudd gave me $900 odd, which I spent on some Yokohama Geolanders. Boy, the difference in grip was staggering. trouble was, they went off after around 45,000 Ks.
Trouble with tyres, you don't like 'em you're stuck with them, unless you're rich.

The Yoko Geolanders looked great but I'm still leaning highly towards the Fun Country (the new one) and the Grabber AT2s.

The Fun Country just looks like a great tyre, plus it's 3 ply which seems to be a good thing. The AT2 really has a lot of love though all round the internet including on this forum, seems like a fantastic tyre and the only thing that anyone can find as a negative is that it's only 2 ply...but each ply is 1500 which ends up being the same as the BFG equivalent which is 3 ply but 1000 each. Any thoughts on that?

The Coopers on mine are great but I haven't done much off roading on them, never had a problem on wet roads though...damn that reminds me I have to pull up the carpets to see if there's any water under there, haven't done that in a while, damn leaks!

Another thing I like about the AT2 is that they've got that snowflake symbol. I think if I was going for mega off road I'd be getting a set of Duratracs because they seem like "the business" but for a great set of all terrains the Fun Countries or the AT2s seem like a great bet.

Anyone here running the AT2? Sure is a lot of love for that tyre around the place, and I like the look of that snowflake symbol

I remember reading a write up of a tyre comparo a few years back.
I was in the market for a set of more mud like tyres for the completely useless Frontera I was driving.
(for various reasons, I could go through with that tho, but that's not the point)
This mob (just can't remember names tho!) reckoned that the Bridgestone mud terrain T/A KM2 sounded like the way to go(if off roading was the priority).
They had the lowest noise levels of any mud tyre(important) and actually compared well to many A/T type tyres.
Handling was up there with the best of them too.

I'm thinking of getting a set for a more off road type tyre for when off roading is a priority.
When I got my D1, the owner had just bought a new set of tyres(Yokohama A/Ts), so these will last me at least a couple of years more .. so I'm wanting them more as a spare set just for offroading adventures.

The other day I went bush to show my daughter what the fuss was about, found a relatively easy track to traverse. Had diff scraping ruts to deal with and a bit of mud, but overall the track was mid level easy.
Problem was that on some off camber sections the A/T type Yokohamas just had no lateral grip.
Even the crappy/noisy cheapo A/T's I got for the Frontera would have fared better than how the D1 traveled down this track .. the useless thing just would have belly scraped the entire way down and then up again!

ps. daughter loved it too

So my vote is for the BFG A/T KM2's.


If I find the link to it, I'll post it up.

Because they've yet to be mentioned, Cooper Discovery ST/Maxx. My Ranger in the US wears them. Good durable tires and damn good grip on most circumstances. True 50/50 all terrain tires by my appraisal. By the way Dick Cepeks are made by Cooper Tires as well as Mickey Thompson's, Dean, Mastercraft, Avon, and Starfire. While not all get Cooper's advanced rubber compounds, most all use their carcasses which are a known quality in my experience.

That all said, my Disco is shoed with some Prime Well Valera AT's (decently aggressive AT from Bridgestone's budget brand) and I've found them to be pretty decent performing for the $160 price point.

Also, I've seen in thick, sticky ,clay based mud the KM2 do not self clear and don't wear as well as other MT's (I've never seen a set that saw much hard gravel and rock action that weren't chipped to hell). Not trying to say they're a bad tire, they're great in many regards, but they aren't perfect (or cheap).

Okay I'm down to it, it's crunch time, buying a set of new tyres for the work 4WD (and trying to test out something that I'm gonna want to buy on my Disco) and I've got it down to either the Dick Cepek Fun Country (the new ones) or the General AT2.

Cepeks are slightly more expensive but not by much. Both around $300 per tyre.

I like the Cepek increased side wall strength and slightly more aggressive tread plus all reports are that they eat up any situation and last a long time. The only thing I can find that sounds a bit negative about them is that they're a bit noisier than the regular all-terrain...some say a lot noisier. I don't mind that, but not if they're crazy noisy. We do a lot of long drives in them on the highway.

The Generals sound like a great tyre but the sidewall strength seems the negative point here. I think they should be quiet and get a bit of life out of them. Sounds like they're great in snow too.

Cepeks sound like they're great in snow also, and ice, both good in ice. General snowflake rated but that's probably just because they took the alpine test.

Not sure, I'm at odds, mostly I'm going to be doing city driving but with sticky situations when I go rural with work and sometimes up in snowy conditions up the mountains.

Any suggestions to sway me one way or another??

Dammit, now I've read a pretty in depth review knocking the Fun Country quite a bit...now I'm leaning the other way...hmmm