Cooper Discoverer S/T Maxx

[jim65wagon]

Last Monday the wife and I got out to a picnic at Rapidan WMA. Followed along Blakey Ridge Rd (fun road) which gets variously rocky, muddy, narrow, deeply rutted etc.

The new Coops did very well and I'm thinking better than the ST's (but 40,000 miles ago is hard to remember exactly).

I couldn't air down any (air compressor is dead for some unknown reason) so the ride was rough, but there was not chunking or cutting that I can see.

The gravel entrance road was nothing but the tires did not pick up and throw a lot of stones.

The bit of mud we were in was done without any drama either. Treads clean with very little effort. There is a section that is slightly off-camber and had a huge washout rut down the middle. I was sure I'd slide sideways a bit (maybe into the rut) but there was no sliding at all.

The rocky bits and wet rocks presented no issues either. No spinning, just climbing over and going.

Except for a slight rub on the front flare, I'm digging these tires....

 

[Caduceus]

How's your MPG being affected by these tires?

I'll have to consider these. I currently run BFG AT's, but losing 2 mpg on them is driving me nuts (E rated). Might sell them off to partially fund new tires.

 

[jim65wagon]

Currently my mileage in my daily driving is running about 15.3-15.6 which is so close to normal that I can't tell any difference for city driving. I'll let you know my highway mileage when I get back from the Little Juniata Canoe Float.....

 

[Fargo]

I just saw a set of the ST MAXX on a full size truck the other day. They actually looked better in person than they do in the photos. Now if they will just make them in a 255/85R16 with a load range D I'd be set.

 

[Regcabguy]

How about 285-75-17 or 315-70-17's in an E rated for the big diesels? That's a very nice tire!

I'm running Toyo MT's which are fine,but a little overkill for SoCal. The ST Maxx looks perfect.

 

[Redline]

How about 285-75-17 snip.....

That size has my attention and would be a nice addition to the ST Maxx line.
So far I've only found the Toyo MT, AT, and a Nitto in that size.

 

[Airmonger]

One Month Short Term Test.

After rolling around on the ST MAXX for a little over a month I have noticed a few Issues.

I have a 97 Lexus LX450 and the 14 year old straight six has a little trouble pushing the newer, larger, heavier tires around. (this was to be expected.) One annoying side effect is that I can back out of my in-laws driveway. They have a step one with no turn around so I either have to make a running start at it or the truck will stall out. (Often in from of my wife's dad with is a little embarrassing.)

Also the heavier tires is harder on the brakes, since this is my wife's daily driver(not for long) I didn't notice the the small squeak in her brakes had turned in to a full fledged symphony of grinding and bumping. It turns out the rear brake seized and wore through the pads and down to the caliper. Thus destroying the rotor and caliper. This was more my fault than anything. I should have done something as soon as my wife mentioned the noise. :ylsmoke:

But damn to the tires look good and they have performed flawlessly off-road.

 

[jim65wagon]

and they have performed flawlessly off-road.

got any photos of that?

 

[Airmonger]

got any photos of that?

This is the best thing I have so far, me pulling out a wrangler. You can see the tires really well in this photo too. Probably because of the black tires on black rims on a black car on a moonless night. Maybe I should have went with the white letters on the outside.

 

[sven]

Ive had these on for a couple of weeks now. Like everyone else said, they are HEAVY...much heaver than the original Cooper ST. My braking effort has been increased substantially. Its to be expected when going up 3" in diameter on a land rover. The stock brakes arent the best either. Otherwise they are quiet and seem good so far. The sidewall looks way better in person.


97 Discovery by Sven98, on Flickr


97 Discovery by Sven98, on Flickr

 

[The BN Guy]

I have to admit...I think I found my next tire!

 

[dallas]

Review

After sitting in my basement for a few months I finally got the ST MAXX mounted. I drive a Discovery 2 and run a 265/75R 16 tire. The tires look nice, mildly agressive and match the Land Rover well. :ylsmoke:

I picked this tire because I wanted to step up from the Bridgestone Revo that I was very happy with, I wanted to get more tread void without going to a all out mud tire. I still like to drive in a spirited fashion on pavement so I was a little worried as you can guess.

On pavement there is very little tire noise, I'm really impressed I can't tell the difference from the Revo I was running before. Noise seems almost non existent.

Someone complained of increased braking effort, not my case but I did not increase the tire diameter at all, these tires are a few lbs hreavier than the Revo's but its a small price to pay for a stronger sidewall. No increase in braking distance from what I can tell.

On pavement the truck still corners with the same amount of grip, but there seems to be a little less lateral stability (more side to side sway), I'm not sure if its the tires or the new Old Man Emu Nitro Charger shocks. Also the Revos had very little tread so there would naturally be less rubber sqirm. Overall Im very happy. :smiley_drive:

I found by lowering the tire pressure it's seem to lessen the sway, when they mounted them they had them set at 40 psi.

Now here's the really good news, at speed on a dirt road made of sand and gravel with lots of pot holes and whoop de do's the tire handles amazing it's right in it's element. I tried to slalom the D2 and amazingly it held tight, I'm really impressed. :Wow1:

I have yet to drive in rain but with the silica rubber compound it should not be a problem. I have another dedicated winter tire so I won't be running these but they are set up for studs.

Once I have a real off road excursions under my belt I'll post my impressions. I bought them from the Tread Depot for an excellent price and they shipped them promptly, I was very happy.

 

[Redline]

The Portal = Best Place for Tire data

I'm researching and considering tires again, these still have my attention. A few Google searches bring up Jim sharing his early experiences on many forums, very nice.

Any update from those that have had the S/T Maxx few months and possibly several thousand miles? Any wear measurements to share in thirty-seconds?

Edit-

Boy my computer code skills are nonexistent, but after a few tries I was able to put a link in the Tire FAQ sticky and make it look right.

 

[jim65wagon]

OK, so I had the Maxx's put on with 163,220 on the odometer. Today, I'm at 169,700. That's, hmm, let's see, 6480 miles. My depth gauge today read just a hair (hare?, rabbit?) over 17/32. The original tread depth (according to Coopers website) is 18.5/32 (my gauge read about 19/32). If I go conservative on cypherin' and call it 2/32 of wear (by my gauge)
that becomes
6840 / 2 = 3420 miles per 1/32 of wear.
Extrapolating out to the legal wear limit of 3/32" (YMMV) that makes a possible 54720 miles.
Pretty good in my book, and right in line with the original ST ( I was worried the new rubber compound would wear faster)
.
Caveat: These are nearly all road miles (with very limited rocks and dirt and about 200 miles of gravel) so certainly using them as intended may decrease your mileage. My summer certainly isn't going as planned (and hasn't been nearly as fun as it should have been)
.
Have fun shopping....

 

[Redline]

That's a fantastic update Jim. Earlier this evening I was thinking I might be able to crawl away and resist, but now....

Your wear data seems quite close to the excellent wear others and I have experienced with the Cepek FCII. My guess is that the S/T Maxx won't be quite as good in winter because of less & different shaped siping, though we may find out in a few months. In my case I don't need the S/T Maxx to be the perfect winter tire, but pretty good would be nice. I do want the S/T Maxx to be relatively cut/chip resistant and rugged when off-highway. www.treadepot.com/ had a great price on these now.