Truckster (Vic) replied:

of course he will talk you into something that will wear out faster, and get you back in the door buyin again.

(80% road 20% off road) ST's would be more than enough, but MTR's would be better again.

ZUKSCOOTERX90(QLD-MEMBER) replied:

Mick I know it is not what you asked but i put atr on the zuk they are quieter than a mouse on the tar .They have done mud,rocks,shale,sand & water.There are no visible marks on them only done a couple of thou but so far performing very well.hope this helps in some way.
Cheer's bob.

Member - Willie , Epping .Syd. replied:

Hi Mick ,

I went through the same process this week . The dealer actually let me borrow his STT shod Nissan to go for a run and check out the tyre noise . He was very truthful and said I would get much less mileage with the STTs than the ATRs and the STTs would get noisier than what I had just tested , as they wore down .

I cannot see how the STT tread could perform as well as an ATR in the wet on the blacktop , but they would certainly be better off road . I guess it just depends on your useage

As 90 % of my use is on the blacktop , I thought the noise would get me down and I opted for the ATRs which is an improved AT. I have twice gone up the CSR and north and south into the desert with AT's . Their sidewalls are just as prone to staking as all the other tyres on the market . I had 10 ply ATs , but I think they are only about 2 ply in the sidewall . I staked 1 on the first trip and 2 on the second . I was not happy with that at the time , but I stuffed 5 tyres this year ( Bridgestones , but the going was very hostile ) so now I think that maybe the ATs weren't so bad after all !

The STs ( you say ST-C , this may be a new improved model I have not heard of ) are out of the question because of their big problem of lugs tearing off . I have seen a set of STs with half the lugs missing on a couple of the tyres .

My last two sets of AT's also suffered some lug damage , but I guess that happens to any tyre used off road .

Sorry - this is a bit disjointed !

Cheers ,

Willie .

Member - Phil G (SA) replied:

Prados are easy on tyres because of their lighter weight. Can put any tyre on a Prado and get a good run out of it.

Go with the STT because they look better - Cooper did their hardest to copy the Goodyear MTR. Or do as Truckie suggests and just buy the MTRs

Hairy replied:

Sorry to sound like a pessimist but I hope you know about the famous Cooper guarantee....Take them far out of town and the warranty is void!

Member - Bruce and Anne replied:

Ok here is a real test for yous. Cooper ST s on the MU took them in to the local Tyre Power chap, Cooper dealer for a check up. measured 9.5 mm of tread left and have done 55,000 ks. They are 265/75x16 8ply rating (dony know how they get that, but they come in 6/8/10 ply).So for 80/20% the STC would be the go, my 2 cents worth.
Cheers Bruce.

Redback replied:

OK my view on this as we have just been through the warreny thing with our Coopers, we started out with STs they lasted 6000ks before chipping that bad they were dangerous, got them replaced with the ST-Cs (clean swap under warrenty) these lasted 25,000ks before the tread blocks seperated from the carcus down and i mean the big blocks as well as chipping too, they have now been replaced under warrenty by the STTs (we had to pay a quarter of the cost Ks and wear factor) so far they are good there is some small chipping but not enough to worry about.

Offroad they are great and not to bad onroad either time will tell whether they will last but one thing is for sure these will be my last set of Coopers.

One last thing the Cooper rep said that because of what we do he said that the STTs were more suited to us, not because of how much offroad we do but because of the type of offroad we do. (ie) hard offroad and touring 60%on/40%off

The other thing was that because the Disco has traction control this was another reason they said that the STs and ST-Cs were not recommended for us, don't know if this is a fact or BS.

Here ya go one of the blocks coming off


This white area is the whole tread block that came off


Baz.

Member - Andrew W (SA) replied:

Hi there 1KZ-Mick,

I put 285/75R16 STTs on about five weeks ago. I've done 7,000ks of really hard work - 100 odd k's of beach and dunes, 400 k's of nullabor tracks (mostly rock but interspersed with sand), too many k's to count on the Connie Sue and Anne Beadell, and plenty of highway miles beginning and end.

Some of these tracks had not been travelled on for 5 years. Lots of fallen and encroaching mallee and mulga. Nothing staked, and nothing except superficial scratching - like the paint work unfortunately.

Grip - they are wonderful, even on the road, and the car seems to track better than the ATs I had.

Wear - well it is probably too early to tell, but I am surprised that there is zero chipping at all - quite a surprise, and no evidence of wear - although I've not measured it.

Noise - frankly, I don't think they are much worse than the 80% worn AT's were, although my 1HZ is not the quietest engine at 3500RPM ;-)

I am very happy with the decision.

If you want a look or a drive and you're in town drop me an email.

Ciao for now,
Andrew.

GoneTroppo Member (FNQ) replied:

Been going throught the same process over the last month or so.
Also came to consider the Mickey Thompson FC-11.

I could'nt get a straight answer as to whether or not they are a Cooper carcase or not.

I've ended up ordering Good Year Silent Armour 265/75/16 10ply
More AT but I want less noise on hwy and am willing to sacrifice a bit of wet mud traction.

I run BFG MT's an another car and the noise after an hour or two just wears me down.

Ultimately you're best to have a critical look at what sort of driving you'll be doing (surprising how much blacktop this ends up adding up to) then get a tyre that's biased toward that sort of driving.

raunchy replied:

Hi Mick,
My observations. I have just been up to the Simoson and surrounds from Melb on STTs on my IFS cruiser. Been on all sorts of roads, wet, dry, gibber, sand etc. The STTs had about 5k on them when we left, now 10k. They handled the wet bitumen very well, although I didnt have the need to do anything drastic on them. The road from Arrabury to the dig tree had some seriously large sharp rocks in it and we travelled about 90-100km/hr. No Chipping, a few tiny cuts in the tread in places, nothing out of the ordinary.
We spent some time on a gibber cattle property, they go through LOTS of tyres, cheap chinese ones are lucky to last 5k. He was just on to his second set of ST-Cs and said they look like they are going to do the job well.
The ST-Cs and STT are the same tread compound. It is a softer compound than the STs this is why they do not chip as much and wear a bit quicker. The STTs have the extra sidewall ply. There is no real increase in noise over my old STs, and they seem to be wearing really well. As with all tyres, pressures for the situation is very important. On my trip I had 34 back 30 front for high speed gravel, 20 18 for the desert, 12 all round for playing on big red, although I got up the easy track at 20 18 no problem, 12 got me up the steepest climb on the hill.
Yes very happy with the STTs

Member - Stan (VIC) replied:

Personally I wouldn't touch Coopers based on recent experience ;)
MTRs got much stronger sidewalls... Then again depends where are you going to use them and what for? MUD, stone, desert, etc?

MyGreenCruiser replied:

I've had the STT on my cruiser for 35000 km now and they are only half worn. Trip's included various High country weekends and The Kimberley ex Melbourne. They are great off-road and if they run out a few months earlier than AT's or ST's would so be it. I'll enjoy my off roading better with these than with something less aggressive. They have been great on road too, I get more noise from my roof rack.

Cheers,
Chris

JR replied:

Seem to see the same comments and photos whenever this comes up?

So Ill say the same thing I do regularly, Ive had three sets of ST last two ST-C, all in 10 ply rating. Since changing havent had any issues I wouldnt expect for the area I travel.
Done in excess of 250'000 km on them with a few punctures, one delamination and the ST-Cs lasting 90+ km, best record yet from any brand Ive used.

Basically we all want an MTR style which we can use everyday, quiet and comfortable, but ts all a trade off. So go for the ST-C, very good touring all round style. ST-C are only availiable in 10 ply.

Someone somewhere has a photo of a wrecked tyre of all brands, warranty is against manufacturing flaws so dont take it too seriously, all tyres have some sort of warranty mostly avoided by suplier if asked to honour it. Any tyre can fail in really tough situations or unlucky events.

The reason they still sell ST type is ST-C is only availiable in a few sizes to suit commercial fleets and the C compound is supposably softer so less milage which I disagree with based on my experience.

JR

Off-track replied:

Dont stuff around with Crappers, just get BFG or ATR's.