Buying Cooper tyres....Any suggestions?

**Stanleysteamer** · 12th October 2017, 08:10 PM

Originally Posted by Hokoman

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."

Here in the UK we swear by BFGs, which I have on my TD5 Disco, but I also have General Grabbers on my other 300 tdi Disco and they are brilliant too. I use both for towing a huge, heavy box trailer along motorways and up into the French Montagne Noire. We also use both in Yorkshire at Christmas in the snow, mud and floods. So I would recommend both. As I remember it, the GGs were cheaper, but over in Oz I am sure price and availability make for difficulty. Best of luck!

**ramblingboy42** · 12th October 2017, 08:15 PM

you and most readers wont like my reply.

they are using Chinese a/t's. names you will never know ....at about 20-30% of the cost of all the "best", "most reliable" brands.....and they are lasting just as long out in the harsh SA desert conditions.

brands such as 'Windforce' and 'Catchfors' and 'Goalstar' and they fitted to all their vehicles and even their cattle trucks.

I am currently running Windforce a/t's and they appear to be as good as any of the Bridgestones, Khumos, and Geolanders I've used.

At $140 ea it's really hard to go wrong.

**Young Angus** · 12th October 2017, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

you and most readers wont like my reply.

they are using Chinese a/t's. names you will never know ....at about 20-30% of the cost of all the "best", "most reliable" brands.....and they are lasting just as long out in the harsh SA desert conditions.

brands such as 'Windforce' and 'Catchfors' and 'Goalstar' and they fitted to all their vehicles and even their cattle trucks.

I am currently running Windforce a/t's and they appear to be as good as any of the Bridgestones, Khumos, and Geolanders I've used.

At $140 ea it's really hard to go wrong.

Haha fantastic, why not throw another lot into the mix

**kgmcc** · 12th October 2017, 10:06 PM

- 120/116Q 774 6.5- 7.5 1380 for around $220 fitted & balanced

**worane** · 12th October 2017, 11:04 PM

That is one hundred more a corner than I paid for mine.

**Young Angus** · 13th October 2017, 07:28 AM

Honestly I'm kind of leaning towards the MTR/Kevlar now. It seems like about as tough a tyre as you can get, is great on road for a mud tyre and apparently fantastic in sand and gravel and other things like that too that you'd normally associate a good all terrain with, lasts a while and not many bad things being said about them except for the price which I think has come down recently anyway.

Think is I wanted to go a little more aggressive than a KO2 just for some of the VIC high country (and other) driving I want to do, so not just for touring. I'm sure the MTR/Kevlar isn't the most modest choice for touring but it seems like it might still be an acceptable one for highway handling and noise levels, but then still perform excellently on just about everything and be tough as nails to boot.

The dilemma continues...

**CraigE** · 13th October 2017, 09:04 AM

Originally Posted by Young Angus

Honestly I'm kind of leaning towards the MTR/Kevlar now. It seems like about as tough a tyre as you can get, is great on road for a mud tyre and apparently fantastic in sand and gravel and other things like that too that you'd normally associate a good all terrain with, lasts a while and not many bad things being said about them except for the price which I think has come down recently anyway.

Think is I wanted to go a little more aggressive than a KO2 just for some of the VIC high country (and other) driving I want to do, so not just for touring. I'm sure the MTR/Kevlar isn't the most modest choice for touring but it seems like it might still be an acceptable one for highway handling and noise levels, but then still perform excellently on just about everything and be tough as nails to boot.

The dilemma continues...

Seriously if you want to go more aggressive towards a mud type tyre look at the Hankook Dynapros, great off road, good on road and much cheaper at around the $250 - $300 mark. The other thing I would recommend is farming type tyre places tend to be cheaper all round.
If you look at someone like Tyroola on line you can get 5 x Dynapro MTRT03 for $1310 deliverd, but you have to get them fitted. I would take that price to a Hankook fitter and see if they will match. Last set I got for aroung $175 each

**86mud** · 13th October 2017, 09:50 AM

Interesting to read that at one pub near birdsville you get told to not use Coopers, but when I was at Birdsville recently talking to Barnsy at the Roadhouse workshop he told me that only Coopers will survive the dirt roads around Birdsville.

It all comes down to appropriate tyre pressures and speed. As per my previous response, I learnt this the hard way with blowing a Mickey Thompson MTZ whilst doing 100km/h at 36psi on dirt in a loaded 130 towing a trailer.The tyre had obviously overheated and blew out the side wall. It was so hot it made it difficult to remove......not to mention the blown tyre had folded inwards and ripped out the brake line.

**CraigE** · 13th October 2017, 09:57 AM

Originally Posted by 86mud

Interesting to read that at one pub near birdsville you get told to not use Coopers, but when I was at Birdsville recently talking to Barnsy at the Roadhouse workshop he told me that only Coopers will survive the dirt roads around Birdsville.

It all comes down to appropriate tyre pressures and speed. As per my previous response, I learnt this the hard way with blowing a Mickey Thompson MTZ whilst doing 100km/h at 36psi on dirt in a loaded 130 towing a trailer.The tyre had obviously overheated and blew out the side wall. It was so hot it made it difficult to remove......not to mention the blown tyre had folded inwards and ripped out the brake line.

The big and more relevant question is does he sell Coopers? What sort of profit margin is in these if he does?
As said personally I will never by a set of Coopers again. Most expensive tyre I have ever bought and expected much better. But some swear by them. But again I wont by Maxxis Road Car Tyres again either, not because the tyre itself is no good, but because the WA distributor and Tyrepower told blatant lies to consumer protection.

**Young Angus** · 13th October 2017, 10:47 AM

The thing that bothers me is that so much of this tire technology is very old now, the only one I can think of that's fairly recent is the BFG KO2. They're even meant to be bringing out a new KM3 soon so that must mean the KM2 is getting on. I'm sure some of the japanese brands have more recent tire technology, but I'm not sure. Surely even the Goodyear stuff is pretty old by now too, along with the Cooper lines. I wonder why some of these companies don't update their stuff very often, I guess if it's good and it sells then what's the point from a business perspective.

Thread: Buying Cooper tyres....Any suggestions?

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Quite!

Worth looking at Federal Couragia All-TerrainLT245/75R16

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