Cooper STT Pro vs ST Maxx vs Geolandar G003 vs Falken

[nomad_games]

Hey folks. I'm in a 5th gen 4runner, TRD ORP. Will have a 2.5-3" lift. Wheels are 17x9 with a pretty sizeable offset. Looking to pick up some tires, currently still on stockers after a failed attempt at running used tires off of Craigslist. I live in the west. I'm in CO/AZ/NM/UT mostly. I have one vehicle. Do A LOT of miles. Up to 15k since I bought the truck in November. I do about 20% offroad, which is a mix of BLM access roads, backcountry two track, and gnarballs Moab type stuff (usually up to about a 7 out of 10 difficulty rating or so). I go through phases of not leaving my town for months alternating with months of long distance driving. I try to make that mostly be backcountry routes or at least rural two lane roads, but I do occasionally need to just put in the miles in a short amount of time and do hours of interstate to reach a destination. I also ski a lot, so I spend a lot of time driving in the snow, including to backcountry trailheads. I really hate losing traction in snow, but I also do care what the tires look like, ridicule me for that if you need to.

I'll be going with 285/70/17's. I'm looking at Cooper STT Pro, Cooper STT Maxx, Yokohama Geolandar G003, Falken Wildpeak AT3W. From everything I've read after hours of internet reviews, I know the popular opinion will be that I should go with the ST Maxx or Falken Wildpeak AT3 for my use. I've talked to a few people IRL that loved the Maxx. Sounds like they last forever, most reviewers seem to like the offroad performance a bit better than on road (same with STT Pro, with more bias towards offroad), snow reviews are very mixed. The Falken seems to be the choice in that regard. I'm considering just running a true winter/snow tire during snow season so they don't have to pull double duty. I've only had A/T tires, so don't have much experience with MT or these "hybrid MT" tires. The Geolandars are my cheaper alternative choice, they also look pretty good and seem to be reviewed well.

I really want the STT Pro. Reviewers pretty much universally (that i've read so far) love them offroad and think they're ok on road. Apparently wander on the highway. I can't decide how much I care about that. I feel like I should buy the Maxx based on the durability and the somewhat better on road reviews. It's pretty hard to tell from the internet how much of a difference it actually is, reviews seem to range from "a lot" to "barely" different.

Oh, and I will add that I usually roll solo (I know, I know, no lectures on the safety of groups, please) so flat protection is pretty important to me.

Thoughts?

 

[jadmt]

I have had several sets of ST Maxx's and currently have both ST Maxx's and Falken AT3w's and between the two I actually like the Falkens better (I like the ST maxx;s too but not as well as the Falkens). They are better winter tires and also quieter and cheaper to boot.. I have found that the ST maxx's get loud after 10,000 miles or so. Buddy just put some AT3W's on his new 4runner and said he loves them.

 

[greg.potter]

The PRO's will perform poorly in snow. The MAXX might be liveable in snow. I have MAXX's on my Jeep as my summer tires and have been very happy with them. In the winter - we get "real" winter here - I run Yokohama Ice Terrain tires which I have been extremely happy with.

 

[nomad_games]

The PRO's will perform poorly in snow. The MAXX might be liveable in snow. I have MAXX's on my Jeep as my summer tires and have been very happy with them. In the winter - we get "real" winter here - I run Yokohama Ice Terrain tires which I have been extremely happy with.

yeah I think unless I get the Falkens, I will probably get dedicated snow tires for winter. I dunno where I'll be this winter, but most likely somewhere with real winter so I can ski.

 

[roving1]

Those are all pretty good tires. The ST MAXX are better in the snow than I thought they would be considering they are not particularly sipe-y treads. Maybe they have the rubber compound dialed into the sweet spot. Way better than BFG AT's that is for sure.

But honestly while I can drive through super deep snow with the 4wd when it snows I jump into my rwd only pickup with dedicated snow tires because snow tires and rwd is still way better than 4wd w/o for most situations. 4WD with snows would be what I would do.

Discount tire and other places I am sure have a tire siping machine you can add extra sipes with. It sounds corny but it really does work pretty well. Extra sipes would help make up some of the ground lost to dedicated snows.

 

[nomad_games]

Those are all pretty good tires. The ST MAXX are better in the snow than I thought they would be considering they are not particularly sipe-y treads. Maybe they have the rubber compound dialed into the sweet spot. Way better than BFG AT's that is for sure.

But honestly while I can drive through super deep snow with the 4wd when it snows I jump into my rwd only pickup with dedicated snow tires because snow tires and rwd is still way better than 4wd w/o for most situations. 4WD with snows would be what I would do.

Discount tire and other places I am sure have a tire siping machine you can add extra sipes with. It sounds corny but it really does work pretty well. Extra sipes would help make up some of the ground lost to dedicated snows.

I most likely will do snows in the winter. I just need to find something that lasts longer than Blizzaks. I burnt up a brand new set in one winter last year, while living at 9000' in the mountains during a very snowy winter.

 

[Buliwyf]

The Pro's work excellent in the snowbelt of OH, MI, PA, WV, NY. I won't speak for MN, MA, VT, CO etc. etc. Blizzaks are nearly useless on our trucks. Good for Honda Accords, and light weight pavement only vehicles around here.

Need frequent rotations to keep noise and wandering down. The ST Maxx are a safer, but more boring, bet. The Falkens don't quite match up to the other choices you mentioned. Good tires, but not ST Maxx good.

Consider also the Maxxis Razor. If you have a dealer nearby, I don't.

 

[roving1]

I have had really good luck with Nokian snows. They are pricey but really great tires from Finland. I have gotten 8 seasons out of them before plus amateur pseudo racing stuff so I did not treat them particularly nicely.

Video: Snow shenanigans

 

[jadmt]

The Pro's work excellent in the snowbelt of OH, MI, PA, WV, NY. I won't speak for MN, MA, VT, CO etc. etc. Blizzaks are nearly useless on our trucks. Good for Honda Accords, and light weight pavement only vehicles around here.

Need frequent rotations to keep noise and wandering down. The ST Maxx are a safer, but more boring, bet. The Falkens don't quite match up to the other choices you mentioned. Good tires, but not ST Maxx good.

Consider also the Maxxis Razor. If you have a dealer nearby, I don't.

I don't get where the Falkens don't match up? I run a set of each and have run no less than 4 sets of ST Maxx's in the last 3 years (285/70-17, 295/70-17, 285/75-17 (two sets) and 315/70-17 currently mounted) and while they are great tires there is not a single thing they do better than the Falkens. I have a set of both mounted and use both depending what I am doing. If rock crawling I slap the bigger ones on if just running around and mild offroading the smaller Falkens so I feel i have a pretty comparison of how they compare. This is on a jeep jkurr, which is pretty close to the size and weight of a 4runner. I am in Montana so we get a fair amount of snow and ice. I snow shoe and XC ski all winter so drive the passes a lot. This is a normal day here for snow where I go sno showing and skiing. My Falkens are 255/80-17 so they do incredibly good on ice and snow packed roads. My next set of 315/70-17 or 35's will probably be Falkens. I have found that people that have not actually run Falkens usually discard them but people that run them really like them. Not sure if any tire has gotten a higher owners rating than Falkens. I know before I tried them I did not give them a second thought but my buddy put them on his Lexus 470GX swore by them so I gave them a try because they were so inexpensive.

 

[gnel]

I would add Mastercraft Courser cxt to your list. Hybrid studdable tire from Cooper. I was looking closely at the Coops stt max and a few others. I´ve had them since nov. They have been great in everything I´ve thrown at them. Ihave not had them in snow. Very quite on the highway. More quite than my old BFG ko2.

 

[cr500taco]

I have had several sets of ST Maxx's and currently have both ST Maxx's and Falken AT3w's and between the two I actually like the Falkens better (I like the ST maxx;s too but not as well as the Falkens). They are better winter tires and also quieter and cheaper to boot.. I have found that the ST maxx's get loud after 10,000 miles or so. Buddy just put some AT3W's on his new 4runner and said he loves them.

I've read a few times people saying that the ST Maxx's get loud after awhile. I have the ST Maxx's and I'm on my second set, which I am getting ready to do the first tire rotation on. On my first set, I never noticed them getting any louder the whole time I had them on my truck. I put about 60K miles on them with still some life to most of the tires. So, I am saving them for my trailer for when I change the suspension. Guess, I will see if this set gets louder or not.

 

[cr500taco]

I wonder if Falken's make a 33"x10.5"-15 tire? The ST Maxx doesn't have a 33x10.5-15. If I do I'm going to look into them for when I am ready to go from 31" to 33".

 

[nomad_games]

The Pro's work excellent in the snowbelt of OH, MI, PA, WV, NY. I won't speak for MN, MA, VT, CO etc. etc. Blizzaks are nearly useless on our trucks. Good for Honda Accords, and light weight pavement only vehicles around here.

Need frequent rotations to keep noise and wandering down. The ST Maxx are a safer, but more boring, bet. The Falkens don't quite match up to the other choices you mentioned. Good tires, but not ST Maxx good.

Consider also the Maxxis Razor. If you have a dealer nearby, I don't.

I had the truck Blizzaks on my 98 4runner two winters ago and they were amazing. Never lost traction no matter how much snow or ice there was. but they went bald FAST. I plan to try out some Nokians next.

The Maxxis tires look cool. good reviews. I'd have to order them from 4 Wheel Parts, though. I kind of like getting tires at Discount Tire in case anything happens, as I'm nomadic and DT is everywhere.

 

[4x4tripping]

I drive the Cooper STT (Mud Terrain) in all Seasons in Switzerland and during my Overlandingtrips. To be honest - I dont can compare to others, but I`m happy with the Setup

 

[GoinBoardin]

I've liked my Falken at3w tires. About 2.5 years now, 40k miles, 30% tread left. They've impressed me everywhere except mud. I'm running a 235/85R16 and the tread is tighter on them than larger sizes, so maybe bigger sets work a bit better in mud. I'd buy them again and recommend them for what you've described. Best tire I've had in winter. I snowmobile and chase storms in WY and CO, plenty of exceptionally bad roads of testing.