winaje replied:

Hi, would definitely recommend Cooper ST's over Michelin's. Firstly they are significantly cheaper, and they are FAR better off road. See if you can get the Light Truck type, as they have stronger sidewalls. The only downside of the Cooper's is marginally less adhesion in wet conditions, but this is easily compensated for.

Hope this helps, Bill Church

Kezza replied:

For what its worth - have been comparing a few tyres lately on some nissan patrols (Bridgestone Desert Duellers Cooper AT BF goodrich ATs and BFG MTs) mainly comparing wet performance and mud rock and sand, very impressed with the new BFG Mud terrains KM series they are a softer but tougher tread compound but more of it and seem to leave the Bridgestones looking dangerous in the wet and not much different to the coopers and the BFG ATs Most impressive is the sidewall tread which makes sand bogging virtually impossible - we had to literally bog the vehicle 1st in 2wd to the axles then in 4wd to sink the front axle then by simply rocking back and foward they lifted the 2.5 tonne patrol straight out.
They seem to be destined for between 60,000ks and 80,000 also jhave done lots of sharp rock work on central qld coast with no sidewall damage, Personally Id take them around and through australia before anything else. Highway noise not as bad as older MTs and highway performance is good - just depends on the driver I guess.
There are lots of good tyres around and lots of stories about how easily punctured they are. Just do lots of homework as I have and make your own decision Just my own observations (after all its a $1000 investment and worth being very objective about.)
kez