coopers

I have had Cooper AT's for some time and had done about 20,000kms mostly on tarseal with some easy off-road stuff. Then in early July I 'did' Aussie by driving 15,5000kms in 6 weeks. This included Tanami, Gibb River, Burke Development Road and lost of aother dirt roads in between. Bearing in mind that most of the Tanami was done at speeds between 85 and 110km/hr @ 28-30psi sometimes for 6 hours a day almost non stop. Once I got back onto the tarseal ir wasnt much less gruelling 130km/hr for 5 or 6 hours a day ambient temp mid 30 to low 40c. All pretty hard on any tyre.

My Toyo 100 series weighs in at 3,600 kgs fully loaded and I don't 'mother' my tyres in any way what so ever...give em heaps, I reckon :-)

When I returned to Sydney there was definite damage to 2 of the tyres namely missing lugs off the outside row of tread and the 3rd tyre showed some signs but not to same degree and 4th tyre was fine.

I took it to the outlet I purchased them from and other than taking a photo of the damage there was absolutely no issues and they swapped all 4 tyres under the warranty and I took the chance to 'upgrade' to Cooper ST which considering my vehicle and driving profile would probably have been the best option anyway.

So as far as I am concerned Coopers have met my expectations completely

Hi James,

Happy happy so far after 10,000kms. They have lost 1-2 mm of the original 11mm of tread and show no signs of damage.

Have been to Flinders Ranges and a few other gravel roads. Some highway work and round town. Am heading to Robe soon to see how they like sand.

They are nice and quiet on the tar and seem to handle OK but I have not had anything else on the car so it is a little hard to compare!

They have certainly handled the places I have been so far with a minimum of fuss.

Muddy 'doe

James,
I've done about 15ooo on my STs......wear is okay, but I have noticed a couple of small chunks of rubber missing from some of the rock work I've been doing.
Side walls are good and tread wear is even. My Patrol weighs over 3Tonne and I run my tyres at 40psi most of the time (except when off road etc)
Road sound is quite okay.....but my truck is pretty noisy anyway with roof rack and the 4.2 donk purring away. Usually drive with the windows up.
Cheers mate,
Cya

Yep - Another vote for the ATs here.

I bough a set of STs as 'play' tyres for the 100s - Very happy with there performance on rough gravel and rocks but not so impressed on sand, and too noisy around town to live with full time.

When it came time to replace the dunlop Grandtreks I chose the ATs and couldn't be happier - they're great in soft sand, quiet and confidence inspiring on road - do OK in the occasional sloppy bits and rough stuff. I used them on a trailer through the Gibb River Road / Mitchell plateau (STs on the wagon) and they suffered no damage.

Highly recommended.

Cheers,
Pete

I've had my Cooper A/T on for 200km, ;-)

I'll let you know if they reach the guaranteed 60,000km

Regards

Russell

Got AT's on the Pajero. Excellent tyre. Done about 18K for ~3mm wear. Not too noisy on the road and good in the wet. Quite capable off road as well.
John

The coopers do tread block chip badly with the ST, the STT is noisy on road, very noisy, regardless of what some bloke in a hilux at knuckledraggers monthly mag thinks, and the AT is the same carcass construction as the others, and same as thickness, or should I say thinness as the BFG range.

The Good Year ATR seems to be very popular at the moment, as it has the thicker stronger sidewall like the MTR, and wear very well.

About the only thing Cooper does bigger than the others is spend marketing dollars..........

Just thought I'd add my 2¢. My A/Ts are coming to the end of their life, and as the car is coming up to 100,000km (I bought it at 80,000km), I assume they've been fitted since the vehicle was new. Having said that, I've been in Gove about 12 months, and prior to that Brisbane, with no off road experience, but I found the tyres coped well with whatever driving I did. However,given the that we have about 18km of bitumen in town, I was looking for something a bit more meaty than the 70% on / 30% off road A/Ts. Have a look at

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There are some tyre reports and specifications. There is also an L/T light truck tyre, but I don't know how they go for noise. Hope this helps,

Cheers, Scott

I've done 12,000 km on Cooper STT. No chipping, yet very good in muddy conditions and not just noisey, but very noisey on sealed roads.
Joe

Not At's but I have done 28,000km on my St's - probably 1/2 bitumen, 1/2 dirt including GRR, Tanami etc.

Some chipping on some tyres. Wear is good & I expect to get 50-60k.

Wet road handling on bitumen is POOR in my opinion. If I had my druthers I'd probably look at MTR's :}

I put A/T's on GU Patrol last year , for a trip (towing camper trailer) from south of Perth to Cape York , via Kimberley & Gulf track , return via Mt Isa & Gurig Nat park . All up did ~ 18K with no problems ... no flats etc ..... trip covered a lot of high speed highway/corrugations/mud/sand/rock .... I was completely satisfied .... wear appears okay (done another trip up to Kimberley towing an off rd caravan with tinny on roof) ..... done ~ 40K on them & lots still left .

I've got 23K on Cooper ST-C's and they are on track for the 80K warranty. Small amount of damage to the lugs from some rock hopping. Done all types of terrain - Blacktop, Sand, Tracks, Rocks. Heaps better traction than another brand A/T's on the tracks and good on sand and the blacktop. Expensive but at this early stage I would use them again.

Hi James,

I have Cooper AT 265/75/R16 on my GU Patrol @ 38,000km.

They have worn well in my opinion, though I have rotated them regularly (incl spare) and keep an eye on tyre pressures. New depth is 12.7mm, now at ~ 9.1mm all round. Given min legal depth of 1.6mm (which is how Cooper base their warranty) I have used ~ 33% of life. If wear rate remains constant then these should get through to ~ 75,000 km (warranty is to 60,000 on this size).

They have become slightly noiser than when new, though still excellent in my opinion. I have done ~ 8,000 km on gravel roads and w/e 4WD trips with club covering sand, mud, tracks, etc. Their performance in these conditions has been pretty good - sure not as good as you might get with a more agressive tread pattern but OK. Despite the above, most of my time is spent on bitumen (and mostly in the city) so I think that the AT has been a good choice for me.

Regards,
Hugh

I am not a tyre dealer. Though I will declare my position right now.

My brother inlaw helped me through his tyre dealership (which sells lots of brands)get an incredible deal on Toyo Opat tyres before our SA deserts trip. After 8500k of gibber plains and sand, and one flat (very unlucky staking of tyre) I could not be any happier with the performance of these tyres. I looked at the Coopers and though I liked them, I couldn't afford them.

I'll buy the OPATS at full price anyday!

I believe that A/Ts have the same carcass as STs and STTs. This coupled with the extra tread should be good for wear and strength.

I'll be getting ATs on my next tyre change.

Hi,

I have a Jackaroo & put Cooper AT's on in 2002 for a trip to Kimberley/Pilbara areas (from Newcastle NSW). They handled well but during that 25K trip I puntured 4 tyres & ruined 1. I complained to Cooper & they said that AT's were not appropraiete for that trip. They did a deal to upgrade to ST's - which I did & it was the best move - I have used the ST's on sand (Stockton dunes) a lot - they are the best on sand - many forest type roads with no problem.

Now I have just returned from Cape York (including the full OTL) and most of the side tracks etc & had no problems at all with the tyres. I vote for the ST's rather than AT's. They handle very well - particularly on wet bitumen. Noise is a little more than AT's - but still very acceptable - especially over about 50 kph.

Willy

I've got Cooper ST's and have done about 8,000k's on them. Very happy. I use to have Cooper AT's and I like the ST's better in every sense.

Cooper have just released a new AT tyre called the ATR. It is in the the curent 4X4 magazine.

Check it out or contact Cooper. The write up looks good.

It may also be on Coopers web site.

cheers

Andrew

James, what type of vehicle do you have?

It does seem that the Cooper STs perform better and suffer less damage on the lighter vehicles (like my Pathy). I've run my STs for 24,000 km now with about half that off-road and towing, on sand, outback corrugations, fire trails and rocks. I have suffered absolutely no lug damage or chipping. Mind you, when off-road I do run the Sts at a few psi lower than most others seem to. Wear rate indicates I'll get at least 60k to 70k km from them.

The STs have a much stronger construction, in particular the side wall, than the ATs and you may wish to consider that, and the use to which you will put them, when deciding.