Thread: R19 tyres.... Cooper or not?

Originally Posted by sittingbison

Gents, sorry to blather about this topic again, but I'm in a real quandary.

I was just about to put on a set of 255/55R19 Cooper Zeon LTZ when a LR specialist said they are rubbish, then a tyre guy said the same and they were impossible to balance.

Options are:
1) Cooper
2) not Cooper

Options for (2) are limited especially 70/30 (road/dirt) AT

3) 18 inch rims

This option costs $2000, but opens up options. Vehicle is D3 HSE TDV6 auto, I'm not sure if the 18 inch rims will fit with bigger brakes etc

Are the Coopers really not a good option?

Cheers
Bison

I could be mistaken (don't think so though), but as your vehicle is a D3, there should be no issue fitting OEM Land Rover 18" rims. It is only the D4 with the larger 3.0 litre engine (the D3 is 2.7 litre, same as my D4) which has the larger brakes and will only take 19" or 20" OEM rims.

Give Steve at Lifestyle 4WD in Morley a call. Last time I was in there, he had a set of five Land Rover OEM 18" rims fitted with good tyres for sale at a VERY attractive price - they came off his wife's D3.

At the price he was asking, I'd expect them to have been sold by now, but you never know your luck.

MY 10c worth is that I did a double Simpson crossing last year and the zeons did not handle the rough stuff either side at all. 3 tyres and 2 rims later I have changed to GOE rims and D697's.

Just to add to the discussion, I had been in touch with my local LR dealer 2 weeks ago because they had a special on all tyres, and said they'd price match. I was looking at a set of Zeon LTZs in 255/55R19 too. He basically did as much as he could to talk me out of them, and tried to sway me to the Pirelli's.

That said, he was just one of the service desk guys, who in my experience don't really know that much (I don't mean that disrespectfully), and are focused on upselling service, and downplaying issues (although to give him credit he did offer for me to come down and he'd take me through the tyres in the flesh)

I have read too many scary stories on here about the Pirelli's in the wet so I won't be going down that path. I love the performance of the Wranglers - great on the highway, and work well for me on the sand (which is where most of my off-roading is), it's just the mileage I get from them that I'm not 100% happy with.

There is a lot of discussion about what tire is good or not in 19", but i think how many PSI you pump in it is as important as selection of tire. I had Toyota's for past 18 years so 16" or 17" rims. On send it was 18 - 20 PSI, on rocks like Vic. High country 24-27 PSI, but i am not sure if i can follow this in 19 " rims as there is not much rubber to flex.

Give Steve at Lifestyle 4WD in Morley a call. Last time I was in there, he had a set of five Land Rover OEM 18" rims fitted with good tyres for sale at a VERY attractive price - they came off his wife's D3.

At the price he was asking, I'd expect them to have been sold by now, but you never know your luck.[/QUOTE]



He still had them on Tuesday when I was in there

Originally Posted by Disco W.A

Give Steve at Lifestyle 4WD in Morley a call. Last time I was in there, he had a set of five Land Rover OEM 18" rims fitted with good tyres for sale at a VERY attractive price - they came off his wife's D3.

At the price he was asking, I'd expect them to have been sold by now, but you never know your luck.

He still had them on Tuesday when I was in there[/QUOTE]

I was tempted. The price he is asking is way cheaper than buying 5 new tyres ............................ and you get the rims for nothing.

Just to be a lone voice in the wilderness of tyre selection...

When I got my D4 (2nd hand), it had the OEM tyres (Goodyear).
I bought some Cooper Zeon LTZ's 19" tyres for it, and have had no problems with them at all.

Since then, I have been up to the tip of Cape York via the Old Telegraph Track (from Central Qld), and then driven from Qld all the way around the East and South Coast of Oz to Perth. All of this towing a camper trailer.

I have not had 1 flat tyre, puncture, balance problem - no issues at all.

I had Coopers, BFG's & Michelin's on my old D1, and the Coopers were by FAR the best performing tyre. Hence my decision to stick with Coopers on the D4.

I would recommend them to anyone, anytime.

IMHO, the 2 biggest factors on tyre performance (particularly when offroad) are:
Driver ability - where you place the tyre, how you approach obstacles, what you choose to drive over etc etc etc
Tyre pressure - vary the pressure to suit the conditions, ALWAYS.

Anyway, just my 2c worth... Happy choosing!

Rob

Originally Posted by Ghost-Who-Walks

Just to be a lone voice in the wilderness of tyre selection...

You're not alone, I've had a pretty good run with them too. I think a lot of problems people have with them are due to the tyre size rather than type.

That said, I've had a few punctures on road with them - more than usual, from picking up screws etc or small sharp rocks.

I think their achilles heel is that they have large voids between the tread blocks, relative to the depth of tread. This enables them to pick up screws etc which can penetrate the carcass easily in these voids. This gets worse as the tread wears down.

Cheers,
Jon