Cooper STs so not good

I have Cooper ST's and have some minor chipping after driving through some shale areas.

BTW, what pressures were you running? I never have them over 25psi when off road - and lower in mud.

I reckon from my experience with my own tyres that the chipping problem and cracking lugs has more to do with speed, wheel spin and pressures than anything wrong with the actual tyres.

There have been lots of posts about this happening.(probably the reason i went with BFG's) But then again lots of people bag BFg's too. I hope Cooper do the right thing because a couple of people have had no joy with their warranty. Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

So you've blown your warranty. eh!

We had a family a couple of years ago on a cape trip with coopers and thats why I woildnt use them.
3000 ks in the cape and they were stuffed.

All the best
Eric

G'day Baz,

Are they the ST-C tyres? I've got the older ST on my 90 Prado. Did some serious Wollondilly on the weekend as well as Limeburners, Dingo Dell plus dirt around Sofala/Hill End. Was laden and actually running 34 psi front and back, tracking carefully. No probs but will give the tyres a closer inspection. Very happy with their performance however.

Jeremy.

The Landy is obviously putting such tremendous amounts of torque through the tyres to the track :-)

Damn that should have been a reply! not a follow up.

Glad to here the Wranglers MTRs held up, sorry to hear about your Cooper probs!

Baz,
Same thing happened to mine last year. We did a trip to Cape York and did about 12,000 klicks; 80% was on gravel. My new Coopers S/Ts (the ones on the back anyway) were very badly chipped....big chunks off most of the blocks. I showed my supplier and also showed the state boss in Adelaide when we were down in the 'smoke' for the 4x4 show a few weeks after we got back.
They both said the same thing....that it was normal wear considering the terrain we'd been over. They both said that over time, the tyres would wear-off the rough spots where the chunks had come off and by the end of their useful life, it would be difficult to tell which tyres had been worn excessively. I left it at that; not being one to argue the point with the self-appointed 'experts'. (However, I will get the last laugh as I will NOT buy any more tyres from them!!!!).....Message to Mr Goodyear: "save a set of MT/Rs for Roachie"

Cheers

Roachie

Just my thoughts on this subject. We have been running the Cooper ST on both our Patrol and Camper Trailer (285/75/16) and from day one we were told by the the tyre guy who fitted them to run them at 45psi on the road and 38 psi in the gravel and make sure that every 10000kms a rotation was done . We have done this and have done 60000kms on the tyres on the Patrol with some very minor chipping. We do quite a bit of off road work and have found them to perform very well and would definately buy another set. We have run Bridgestone and BFG and have not got the kilometers out of them, dont get me wrong they are good tyres and will not knock them for there off road ability.
I think it has a lot to do with how you look after your tyres and how you treat them when off road, i know of some people who never check there tyre pressures untill they look flat i personally check mine twice a week when home and every morning when i am in the bush maybe it comes from being a truckie and its just a habit but the way the tyres are performing we are going to get 80000+ kms out them that saves me money so i am happy

Baz, i´ve got BFG AT, and did the same hill, and these tyres also had big chunks of rubber come off, I can´t say that the tyres are no good, just happens to be that we all give the tyres a very bad time.

Ulises

Redback

I have a 3 & 1/2 tonne Troopy currently on Cooper ST's.

I run the back at 45-50psi and front around 35-40psi on and off the bitumen.

Don't stop to adjust up or down and don't spare the horse's.

The back are wearing faster than the front however I fully expect that, and even after flogging them over the Oodnadatta track and the Cordillo Downs track there was only minor chipping, like being roughed up with an angle grinder.

From Tibooburra to B/Hill on the bitumen polished them smooth.

Absolutely ace tyre. I personnaly believe its all in keeping the tyre pressures up.

Oh! and across the Simpson, I lowered them to 20F & 25R.

On that mother of a back beach at Robe recently I had to lower them to 10-12 to drive it off where others were bogged solid.

So there you have it.

I had BFG'S before. OK except for a side wall splitting issue. (Supposedly a dud batch)

Regards

Ken Robinson

Hope it all works out Baz. had another look at the MTR's and they are fine, few small nicks but they will wear out. (serves me right for running 38psi up "that hill") Have to say i love them, they have never let me down and i got 60,000 k's out of the last set and still had three good ones to put on the trailer. only down side is the noise when they start to wear down but i can live with that.

Hi,

Interesting comments on ST's!!!

As far as I am concerned its all in the pressures & the driving - as it would be for any make of tyre.

I went to Cape York last year & did all the tracks, including the full OTL. MY ST's were great - no sign of the chipping etc. As far as I can see no damage whatsoever. I ran them at 26/28psi whilst on gravel.

Willy

My first set of Coopers ...... was my last set of Coopers.
End of story!

Was happy with my Cooper ST-C's. Tracks, sand and rocks they worked pretty well with only limited damage. Ran 40psi on the blacktop 24 on the tracks and 16 on sand. Rotated every 10K.