Buying Cooper tyres....Any suggestions?

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Originally Posted by The Reg

Waste of Money,

Try Hankook Dynapro's - You'll be happy.

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Greetings all,

always good to throw another voice into the Great Tyre Confusion. I've travelled a lot in the outback with a 1996 Landy 130 and a 2004 Nissan Patrol. I'm not a rockhopper but I give the tyres a hard time when it's needed. In 18 months of touring Southern Africa with the Landy 130 I had very good results with BFG MTs. I chucked them when I returned to Sydney cos I do too much normal roadwork here and the off-road I do is not usually that demanding, relatively speaking.

The Kogarah Tyrepower guy used Grabbers on his Landy and suggested I try them. I found them to be a really good all-round tyre, just so much nicer on the road than the BFG Mts. And at a good price of $235 each. BUT when I went to replace one that got accidentally punctured in the sidewall (was punctured off the car) I found it hard to replace under $280. If you're going to spend that money better to go for BFG KO2. They have a very good reputation in Southern Africa, Oz and also France where I have another Landy. EVERYONE swears by BFG here in France it seems. Oddly enough they're way cheaper in Europe than Oz, generally the equivalent of $235 for a 265/75/16.

Recently on a trip to the centre with the Landy I was very happy with the General Grabbers. That included crossing the Simpson and fast running on stony tracks/roads around West QLD.
When I was in Dubbo trying to find a 2nd spare Grabber (ended up spending the $280) the dealer said everyone around there swore by Hankook and "for the price they can't be beat!" That price was $215 from memory.
Grabbers do have a high load rating indeed but when I punctured the sidewall and inspected it I thought they didn't hold a candle to the 3 ply BFG tyres.

So in my opinion if you want to go as tough as possible and you don't want to entertain the Coopers debate (I've heard good AND bad about Coopers and I've talked with people in the country who HATE them) then the BFG route is a safe and proven one. And Mickey Thomson, whilst better it seems in reputation to Coopers, are indeed under the Coopers umbrella. I had issues with the Mickey Thompsons in 2008 by the way. The rep said I had been under-inflating them (20-25psi off-road) and possibly travelling too fast on corrugated roads. That may have held some truth but i felt that the tyres should have lasted better than they did. I talked with a worker in the NT who had lots of experience and put in a lot of miles and he swore he never ran tyre pressures below 40. And that was on a lightly loaded Patrol Tray from memory. Others said 32, others swore by 25. In the end you can't say one pressure is right, you have to change according to the conditions. A really big factor is SPEED. Of course corrugations demand a certain speed - depending upon your vehicle it seems to be 50-70kph. But some will swear that's too fast. You just gotta do what feels comfortable and safe for you and your vehicle.

Tyre pressures - if your load is heavy, as mine is on the Landy 130 (always around 3.5T when touring), I don't consider 60 psi a problem. I generally run 50 - 60 psi on the rears if I'm running on bitumen and not think twice about it, and I've never had bad wear doing that. I stick generally with 35-45 on the front. But off-road I'll vary anywhere between 22 - 30 for the front and 25-45 for the rear.
All depends upon your load, the terrain and your speed. Obviously!
It's all trial and error and personal choice anyway. Don't go too high or too low in pressure, keep speed at a sane level, and mostly it'll be "she'll be right, mate."

Just found my receipt for the 235/85 r16's. $345/fitted including disposal. Do agree that the last set were changed due to hard compound. Still plenty before the tread gauges. Sadly, the joys of living a bit more Country.

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Originally Posted by Rick Fischer

Hiyas all

I used Coopers in all since about '88, on all the high country trails, and all the deserts on the continent. They always performed, and always worked in the wet on bitumen. I can only recall a couple of punctures, and these were tradies tek screws! Only bad experience was me pressing my luck trying to extend replacement to Darwin from Canberra. "She'll be right!" Failed at Hells Gate bottom of Gulf on way to Roper River..............not much tread left at all. That wa a me FAIL! not the tyre. Anyway..............!

As to the "Poopers" comments one hears around the place, on investigation one finds that those have been run underinflated at some time prior. Not necessarily at the time of failure! Might have been 6 or 12 months before. Any wall de-lamination, tread failure, or similar can normally be attributed to running underinflated. Underinflation is excessive deflection = excessive heat buildup - damages the ply bonding/vulcanising!

Excessive deflection kills tyres whether on an earthmover, and aircraft or a car. Road vehicle design max deflection limit is 10%.

On my D2 loaded for three months I would possibly running 60psi in the rears for the highway. Fronts normally stay as always. When loads are varied one must do 2psi test on Passenger car tyres, and 4psi test on LTs. Never rely on the vehicle manufacturers' handbook values. Handbook values are set for ride and to provide "safe" understeer............................and in normal "domestic" use will be fine.

Off road going slow deflated and bulged :0) even up to about 80kph on corrugations, just watch/feel the tyre temp.

Only reason I am now on BFGs is that the Cooper distributor won't/doesn't do "sales" on deffie size!..............................and crappy PR!

Cheers all

RF

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Bloody hell!!!!!!

Fully laden, with a full trailer on the back wouldn’t see me ever run a tyre above 44psi on my Landies...

And aside from Poopers [emoji90] I’ve never had a delamination.
Seriously, 60psi would have been smashing the vehicle around...

Tyres have always been an emotive subject amongst 4WD enthusiasts and doubt that this will ever change.
Choosing a tyre is pretty much dependant on how the vehicle is to be used and where it is to be used.
First up you decide what sort of tyre suits your driving needs and the vehicle it is to be fitted to.
This part usually get a lot of agreement from the majority.
When it come to choosing a "Brand" of tyre, This is where there is much disagreement and getting an UN biased opinion from a group is damn near impossible and for Young Angus this can only lead to confusion.
I suggest that the OP has a look at all the different brands available for the style of tyre he wants then google as many "Independent" reviews as he can before handing over his hard earned Quids [thumbsupbig]

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Originally Posted by trout1105

T
.. ... ....
Choosing a tyre is pretty much dependant on how the vehicle is to be used and where it is to be used.
First up you decide what sort of tyre suits your driving needs and the vehicle it is to be fitted to.
.. ... ... ...

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I offer my experience as support for that.

Some years ago I did a trip crossing Australia diagonally from the SE corner, Point Hicks, through the exact geographical centre, the Lambert Centre, to the NW corner, Broome.

My choice of tyre was largely determined by my extremely budget at the time and several years of experience with my choice of tyre. I ran cross ply retreads.

Most 4WDers would be horrified at the notion of retreads in the NT, but they were fitted to a sedately driven LWB Series III. I am quite ready to believe that if I had tried to take advantage of the absence of a speed limit in the NT, I could have destroyed the retreads, but the point is, they were quite satisfactory for what I was doing with them.

I tried a set of Maxxis 750 Bravos when I had to fit tyres to the Defender and when they wore out I fitted the tiny bit more aggressive Maxxis 753. I get them at a pretty good price, I get good service from the tyre service and the tyres do what I want them to do. So I am happy, but I know that they are not what some other people want or need on their vehicle.

I've had 2 sets of cooper atr and wouldn't buy again. I got a good amount of wear but wet weather was a concern. Then put Mickey T ATZ 4 rib on. Happy with those until one completely disintegrated on the highway at 100km/h. Only had me in the car.
Currently running Mickey T STZ. Very happy so far. A genuine AT tyre I believe. I haven't given them too hard a time yet. E rating.
Other than that Toyo are very popular in the north in rocky country. Toyo MTR and M55 were the common models.
It's a never ending search though.

you might be surprised what Australias largest cattle company is using now.

I received the reply via email

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In Australia a lot depends on where you live. If you live in the tropics or north of Capricorn. leave Coopers well alone. They overheat terribly and are very prone to punctures.

I put 6 brand new tyres on in Perth and I had 2 punctures between Port Hedland and Broome both on new tyres within a week of having them fitted. I suffered 3 blow outs one I was doing around 120km when the front passenger blew out, I was lucky. I had blow outs on the rear as well. The police in the Kimberleys say that Coopers are not recommended for long hard drives in the north they do not like the heat. I had them on in Perth where I did a lot of off road driving on sand and they were good but up north not worth a cracker.


Hope these words are of assistance.


Gordon Lamb


130 Crew Cab.

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Great discussion! This topic really gets people firing on all cylinders. I did so much research of all kinds of independent reviews and long term tests and different forums and just about anything you could think of besides testing them all myself, and honestly for every hundred people who didn't like Coopers there were a thousand who swore by them. I definitely found more good than bad, but as others on this thread have said a few times, Coopers were the only tires that anyone really hated, there just wasn't that devoted hate for other brands. And that's definitely something to take into account. By the way I love a good conspiracy theory, so I wouldn't be opposed to thinking lots of those rave Cooper reviews were Cooper people :)

I really loved the BFG KO2, had them on a work ute and they were great, but I wanted something a little more aggressive than the KO2 but not quite a mud tyre...enter the ST Maxx / ATZP3 / Duratrac hybrids. It's just that none of them get the great wrap that BFG constantly get.

I am a bit confused, lots of back and forth after thinking I've decided, and after all my research everywhere else this forum was the decider for me because I trust you lot the most. The consensus really seems to be that BFG are great and reliable, Coopers can be hit and miss for something that expensive (Mickey Ts and Dick Cepeks in the same camp), and Good Years get a big thumbs up too.

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Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

you might be surprised what Australias largest cattle company is using now.

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I'm keen to know...that's really interesting about Coopers up north too. Good thing they tested them for so many years in the Australian outback HA!