Cooper ST's - 255/85/16

[madizell]

I had to do a demanding 4-day offroad trip with a staple in a leaky tire!

I picked up a piece of stem wood in the Outback during the 2003 OBC Challenge which caused a slow leak. Rather than fool with it, I just aired up every morning and left it that way because we had to adjust air during the day anyway, depending on terrain. Tire did fine, including one stretch at around 85mph. I got so used to it, I forgot the tire had a foreign object in it.

I finally got around to pulling out the wood a little over a year and over a thousand miles later. Quarter inch diameter and inch and a half long, and hard as iron. Didn't even dent the wood when I pulled it with channel locks. I still have that chunk of wood somewhere. Hard to beat Swampers for tough.

 

[dnellans]

I just bit the bullet and bought 5 from custom-wheel-car-rims.com! $137 + $78 shipping made them about $40 cheaper than what I thought was the cheapest option from unsertire.com where they are $160 but free shipping. So depending on your shipping cost, one or the other might be the best deal. $764.35 shipped to my door was my final cost. A few shops in Santa Fe have said they will mount and balance them for less than $20 a piece.

I'll keep you guys up to date when they arrive. They are going on a 2004 extended tacoma that is is currently running BFG AT 265/75's.

 

[Redline]

I'm relatively close to Discount Wheel and shipping is reasonable. I could have 285s delivered for 154.00 each or 255s for $151.00.

I would have them mounted & balanced locally.

 

[dnellans]

Why have them siped? Compared to other aggressive semi-mud tires they look to have a fair bit of siping already...

 

[Redline]

They do, but cutting sipes into the tread at the dealer will add hundreds more gripping edges to the tread. I might do only the center ribs to help prevent chunking.

Why have them siped? Compared to other aggressive semi-mud tires they look to have a fair bit of siping already...

 

[ShearPin]

Hmm... thank you for the post on the tread widths James (Redline). I have the opposite problem with my Wolf Rim widths running 6.5 inch only. As a result I am leaning more and more towards the BFG Mud's. I've run them before and really had no complaints. I looked at Maxxis as well but their site suggests minimum rim widths of 7 inches....

On a side note - is 1/2 an inch under the recommended rim width a problem? Will I get tire shops refusing to mount?

Thanks again,
Henry
www.4x4freedom.com

 

[Redline]

I just confirmed what I already knew... the specs for most 255/85R16s is for rim widths from 6.5-8 (BFG, Cooper, etc.) I have put 255s on 7, 7.5 and 8s, but never on a 6.5 but I think it would be great, nice tight fit. Particularly the skinny Coopers. I wouldn’t shy away from the BFG M/T either.

Hmm... thank you for the post on the tread widths James (Redline). I have the opposite problem with my Wolf Rim widths running 6.5 inch only. As a result I am leaning more and more towards the BFG Mud's. I've run them before and really had no complaints. I looked at Maxxis as well but their site suggests minimum rim widths of 7 inches....

On a side note - is 1/2 an inch under the recommended rim width a problem? Will I get tire shops refusing to mount?

Thanks again,
Henry
www.4x4freedom.com

 

[p1michaud]

Cooper ST's...

Though I’m a 255/85 fan, the very narrow Dean SXTs I had several months appeared to have too narrow a tread width for their section width. Dean SXT and Cooper ST 255s have a tread width of only 7.2-inches. I had them mounted on Rubicon 8” wheels, surely they would have been better on sevens, or even a 6.5” wheel. But all the other 255s I have tired have been fine on on sevens (ideal) or even the Rubicon eights. I would rather have the bead pinched in a little than spread apart for a better seal and bead retention when airing down. Another small negative is that the ST appears to only be N-speed rated, 87-MPH. I rarely drive that fast/faster but it is nice to have a little more margin on those very rare occasions.

Redline,
I'll have to let the cat out of the bag here but now you have me worried, I'm picking up 5 brand new 255/85 R16 Cooper S/T tires and 16" x 8" rims next week. I hope that running these narrower tires on the 8" rim won't be an issue. I know that many others on this board currenly are or have been running the 255/85 size on 8" rims on their Tacomas although they are all BFG tires. Mr. Brady, The Dude and Nic for the Tacoma crowd and Jim65wagon on a Tundra. I wonder if any of them have had bead retention issues? Perhaps they could chime in...

Cheers,
P

 

[BCJC]

fwiw i've had a 33x10.50R15 on a 6.5" rim (min. reccomended 7.0) for nearly 2 years/50 000km, and no worries, other than a slight wear on the middle of the tread. i even rubbed a log once and wedged a 3"x1" sliver of wood between the rim and tire, and it didn't even lose any air!

 

[Redline]

Pierre:

I doubt you will have a problem. As I said, I have run a few sets of 255/85 on 8-inch wheels, including a set of the very narrow Dean SXT (same case & width as Cooper ST) on 8-inch wheels. I didn't have any bead retention problems and don't think this is very different than a 235/85 on a 7-in wheel, which I have also done and was factory for years. Part of my comment and concern was the 'appearance’ of the very narrow tread faced Cooper ST/Dean SXT on an 8-inch wheel.

I just pulled out my Jeep LJ log-book to see what data I had to share... Again these super-skinnies were on stock Rubicon 16x8 wheels. The short off-road test I did with these tires was mostly at 16-psi. But I did lower the front tires to 13-psi for some extra deformation on a little rock. Didn’t loose any air.

I think these Cooper STs are really cool, maybe the perfect all-around tire, glad you bought them and I may still order some myself!

Redline,
I'll have to let the cat out of the bag here but now you have me worried, I'm picking up 5 brand new 255/85 R16 Cooper S/T tires and 16" x 8" rims next week. I hope that running these narrower tires on the 8" rim won't be an issue. I know that many others on this board currenly are or have been running the 255/85 size on 8" rims on their Tacomas although they are all BFG tires. Mr. Brady, The Dude and Nic for the Tacoma crowd and Jim65wagon on a Tundra. I wonder if any of them have had bead retention issues? Perhaps they could chime in...

Cheers,
P

 

[Redline]

Dean SXT 255/85

Width comparison between (Les Schwab) Multi-Mile Wild Country TXR and Dean SXT M/T. Both in 255/85R16

05' Rubicon LJ wearing those tires on 8-in wheels

If anything you might have better fuel-economy.

 

[p1michaud]

Cooper tires.

Redline,
Thanks for clearing that up. With my current set up (Toyota OEM aluminium wheels 7" and 32" MTR) I typically air down to 18 psi. I'll have to do some testing to figure out the sweet spot for the new wheel and tire combo.
I choose these tires because I was not overly happy with the road manners of the MTR tires. Too agressive for DD duties, but they did shine everytime I really needed traction while off road. The Coopers seemed like a good balance between the all terrain and mud terrain. Part of the reason I'm switching is that the last snow storm we had here raised some concerns with the MRT snow performance (now 1 year old). The first winter they did great but now as the thread depth decreases so did their snow performance IMO.

As I was shopping for new tires, I went to my local Cooper dealer and had a good chat with the owner. He said, do you want to see what the ST looks like? I said yes so he took me over to the truck he uses for plowing snow. He said they dig great in the snow and he does not feel they need to be studded. He was very pleased with their winter performance. That's a pretty good sales pitch if you ask me! So I'm going to give these tires a try and see what happens.

Are you looking for tires to replace your Maxxis tires? You did not wear those out already doing burn out with that 4Runner of yours did you? :roost:

Cheers :beer:,
P

Pierre:

I doubt you will have a problem. As I said, I have run a few sets of 255/85 on 8-inch wheels, including a set of the very narrow Dean SXT (same case & width as Cooper ST) on 8-inch wheels. I didn't have any bead retention problems and don't think this is very different than a 235/85 on a 7-in wheel, which I have also done and was factory for years. Part of my comment and concern was the 'appearance’ of the very narrow tread faced Cooper ST/Dean SXT on an 8-inch wheel.

I just pulled out my Jeep LJ log-book to see what data I had to share... Again these super-shinnies were on stock Rubicon 16x8 wheels. The short off-road test I did with these tires was mostly at 16-psi. But I did lower the front tires to 13-psi for some extra deformation on a little rock. Didn’t loose any air.

I think these Cooper STs are really cool, maybe the perfect all-around tire, glad you bought them and I may still order some myself!

 

[p1michaud]

R15 vs. R16?

Width comparison between (Les Schwab) Multi-Mile Wild Country TXR and Dean SXT M/T. Both in 255/85R15

05' Rubicon LJ wearing those tires on 8-in wheels

If anything you might have better fuel-economy.

Did you mean R16 or R15?
Cheers,
P

 

[Redline]

Yes R16, a typo, I fixed it

Did you mean R16 or R15?
Cheers,
P

 

[Redline]

I think your stock 7-inch wheels are PERFECT for the 255/85 Cooper ST.

Yep, lots of people think M/Ts are loud, too aggressive, and not the best tires for everyday driving and snow/ice, in general I agree. I currently have two sets of Maxxis 255s mounted for the Runner. Maxxis Bighorn M/T and Maxxis Bravo 761 A/T (a conservative A/T or all-season). This is a nice balance as I can save the big dogs for when I need the high-void ratio and lugs. However, there are times when a more middle ground tire like the Cooper ST is perfect for almost everything short of extreme, wet slop. A long road trip with ExPo/4x4 conditions at the beginning and end like my 2000-mi. ExPo Trophy trip this year would have been very nice with a tire like the Cooper ST. Not as loud as the Bighorns, but with plenty of traction, not as conservative and low void as the Bravo 761s that might be limiting off-highway.

I bet the Cooper guy was giving it to you straight. He could run any tire in his shop but he likes the ST on his plow truck. The similar void Multi-Mile TXRs I used to run (and in the picture above) were great in the snow, rock-crawling in Moab, pretty tame on-highway and lasted a long time if I drove smoothly. My F350 was a little hard on them when hitting the Nevada Outback roads hard and fast with (too) little air, but since I stopped running the TXRs I have had to make more compromises favoring one end of the spectrum over the other. .

Redline,
Thanks for clearing that up. With my current set up (Toyota OEM aluminium wheels 7" and 32" MTR) I typically air down to 18 psi. I'll have to do some testing to figure out the sweet spot for the new wheel and tire combo.
I choose these tires because I was not overly happy with the road manners of the MTR tires. Too agressive for DD duties, but they did shine everytime I really needed traction while off road. The Coopers seemed like a good balance between the all terrain and mud terrain. Part of the reason I'm switching is that the last snow storm we had here raised some concerns with the MRT snow performance (now 1 year old). The first winter they did great but now as the thread depth decreases so did their snow performance IMO.

As I was shopping for new tires, I went to my local Cooper dealer and had a good chat with the owner. He said, do you want to see what the ST looks like? I said yes so he took me over to the truck he uses for plowing snow. He said they dig great in the snow and he does not feel they need to be studded. He was very pleased with their winter performance. That's a pretty good sales pitch if you ask me! So I'm going to give these tires a try and see what happens.

Are you looking for tires to replace your Maxxis tires? You did not wear those out already doing burn out with that 4Runner of yours did you? :roost:

Cheers :beer:,
P