Cooper ST's - 255/85/16

[ShearPin]

I've got the winter Rover storage season to mull over tire choices - I've decided on size 255/85/16. I've searched through the forum history and found a few who purchased the Cooper ST's - any updates? Cooper sells the tire as an enhanced traction All Terrain - how is the mud performance? How tough has the tire proven?

I've always run mud terrains on my overland trucks in the past - BFG and Goodyear MT's. For some reason I've always felt the Mud Terrains tougher then their all terrain counterparts. Having given some thought to past trips and the actual frequency I've run into heavy mud I've been reassessing my needs. The heavy weight of my 110 means I probably won't be aiming it at mud holes for recreation. Some improved wet tarmac grip in the heavy Rover would doubtless be a better compromise..... any thoughts?

Henry
www.4x4freedom.com

 

[slooowr6]

I'm interesting in finding a 255/85/16 AT too. These are the only ones I found so far.

Dunlop: Radial Rover RVXT (32.9")
Big O tires: Big Foot A/T All Terrain
Cooper: Discoverer ST and ST-C (these are more between AT and MT.) (33.2")

 

[dnellans]

While not AT's just having a list of available 255/85/R16 tires is a good idea. So BFG makes their Mud Terrain in this size, and Maxxis makes their "Bighorn" in this size as well.

 

[ShearPin]

Cooper ST

Yeah, Toyo makes their M55 AT's in the 255/85/16 as well.

Cooper, in general, has always intrigued me - must be the Aussie 4wd mag I subscribed to years ago where they appeared on a number of vehicles doing overland trips. They seem to have run into some carcass trouble lately - it doesn't appear to apply to the ST's though.

Reviews of the ST's are hard to come by on the net. I guess what caught my eye was the "less of a AT compromise tire" marketing. Question is, is it just marketing.... The lug pattern certainly certainly appears more open then say a BFG AT.

Henry
www.4x4freedom.com

 

[Haggis]

Jim65wagon is running them on his Tundra and is real pleased with them. At 2nd Mononghahela meet in August they were quite impresive in their preformance. I'm sure he'll chip in on the subject shortly.

 

[dnellans]

On a side note, i just called my local discount tire who said they could get the discoverer ST in 255/85/16... 185 a piece + 13 mounting and balancing. not seeming so attractive anymore considering a local shop will do maxxis bighorns for $175 a piece installed in that size....

 

[AZ_Husker]

What's $92 dollars? You'll have them for 3-4 years. Who can't afford ~$23 a YEAR more to run the tire they really want?

Just trying to add a little perspective. Get what you want.

 

[dnellans]

A good point, I'm not usually one to cheap out, but after reading lots of the tire posts here on expo it sounds like approx. 45k is the standard expected from BFG AT's. i've got 54k on the current set of BFG's but they were due for a change 4k ago and i've been procrastinating like crazy...

sounds like similar tires from cooper, maxxis, etc people are only saying 30-35k is tops. if i thought 40k+ was a realistic expectation out of other AT tires I'd be happy to a pay equiv. prices. but 30k for a similar or more expensive tire gets my hackles up, its not like i can't float the extra $, i'm just frugal.

am i being too pessimistic about other brands if inflated and rotated properly?

 

[viatierra]

I had decided to by these tires, but found that at the time they were backordered. Resorting to Plan B I purchased the BFG MT's which have been great. However, 2 days before the Expedition Trophy I sprung a leak by driving over a construction staple. Discount Tire is going to replace the tire under the road hazzard warranty, but it took 4 days because they didn't have any of the 255's in stock. I had to do a demanding 4-day offroad trip with a staple in a leaky tire!

Definately something to consider when choosing to get a non-standard size!

 

[kcowyo]

.....it took 4 days because they didn't have any of the 255's in stock. I had to do a demanding 4-day offroad trip with a staple in a leaky tire!

Definately something to consider when choosing to get a non-standard size!

A good lesson for everyone indeed....

 

[Nullifier]

I had decided to by these tires, but found that at the time they were backordered. Resorting to Plan B I purchased the BFG MT's which have been great. However, 2 days before the Expedition Trophy I sprung a leak by driving over a construction staple. Discount Tire is going to replace the tire under the road hazzard warranty, but it took 4 days because they didn't have any of the 255's in stock. I had to do a demanding 4-day offroad trip with a staple in a leaky tire!

Definately something to consider when choosing to get a non-standard size!

DO you not have a full size spare? You should be carring a spare that is matching size. Also what a plug or patch. Not a perfet solution but if you ran on it for 4 days something could have been done so stop the leak for sure!

 

[viatierra]

DO you not have a full size spare? You should be carring a spare that is matching size. Also what a plug or patch. Not a perfet solution but if you ran on it for 4 days something could have been done so stop the leak for sure!

Yes I've got the spare. The issue was I wanted a spare for the trip. If I mounted the good tire I would have been spareless before heading into the desert for 4 days. Probably something could have been done to fix the old tire. I don't have much knowledge or skills in that department. Discount wouldn't fix it because the staple made 2 holes... too much for one patch but too close together to fit 2 patches. Weird.

 

[jim65wagon]

Jim65wagon is running them on his Tundra and is real pleased with them. At 2nd Mononghahela meet in August they were quite impresive in their preformance. I'm sure he'll chip in on the subject shortly.

Chipping in: Love the ST's. I've had them on the truck since the first week of March. I've put 20,000 miles on them in that time. In those 20K they've been through everything but snow. Rain, gravel, dirt-tracks, rocks, mud and recently sand. The tires are as good as if not better than the BFG AT in all of it. Road noise is still a bit more, but they make up for that with their mud performance. The beach at the Outer Banks last week worried me a bit. We drove out didn't air down just took off down the tide line. Fine until we had to drive the sugary dry stuff above the line, then they dug in. Stopped, aired down and they were fine.
Last rotation I did not notice any significant chips or cuts in the tread or the sides. The siping is not full length anymore but it's still there just the ends of the sipes have disappeared.
I would buy these again. I may not get the 62,000 miles I got out of my BFG's but I should get at least 40 if not 45,000 out of them which is perfectly fine to me.

 

[slooowr6]

Anyone has any experience with Dunlop Radial Rover RVXT The review on TireRack seems positive, there is little review on this tire. I found one on mud and the owner seems like it.

I'm leaning towards these for the below reasons:
1) 32.8" less than Cooper ST 33.2". Might get away with no trimming at all.
2) More road oriented, less road noise and more comfortable.

Thoughts?

jim65wagon, thanks for the feedback!

 

[bigreen505]

Anyone has any experience with Dunlop Radial Rover RVXT

Sorry, no personal experience. I was/am interested in a set, but have not yet found much firsthand experience with them. The only real comments I can pass along are excellent street tire and very thin side walls. When pushed a bit, the owner admitted that he had not actually had any blowouts or slashed sidewalls, but they seem very thin. Some posts on TTORA suggest that they may be fragile as well as thin. I've also heard comments that tread wear is about 40,000 mi tops, but for some reason people expect a tire that wears like iron and sticks like glue. That mileage number suggests to me that the tires may be reasonably soft all the way through rather than supple in the beginning and rock hard after that.

I have all but settled on a different tire size, which has opened up many more possibilities so I have not looked into the Dunlop much beyond that.