Cooper ATR - updated feedback?
Submitted: Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 22:58
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Scubaroo
Weekend trip to Big River highlighted that our HT tyres are woefully inadequate for our planned vehicle usage. Has anyone got some updated feedback on Cooper ATRs now that they've been available for a while now? Have only seen a single set on a vehicle in
Melbourne, and that was while driving, so no chance to stop and check them out.
Can they handle any clay/mud at all, or are they about as useful as a HT in slippery conditions?
Also, any feedback on Cooper ST on wet bitumen? Reports of chipping aside, they are the other tyre we are considering as they are a more aggressive tread pattern without being a full mud tyre which we simply can't justify given the amount of bitumen driving we do, but we're not keen on a bit of mud stopping our progress either on the weekends!
Reply By: allanmac856 - Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 23:30
Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 23:30
Have you thought about a 2nd set of rims/tyres ? I bought a set of 5 rims (16x8) & monoform muddies, 275/70/16 for just over $1000. Can be a pain to change over from time to time, but a cheaper exercise than what you have planned. Have found the monoforms have performed
well in Toolangi mud.
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Reply By: Scubaroo - Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 23:35
Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 23:35
Passing thought - but switching tyres out on the street every second Friday would get thin pretty quick, as we don't have off street
parking. HT tyres are getting worn and need replacing anyway by the end of the year.
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Reply By: Member - ROTORD - Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 23:48
Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 23:48
Chains ?
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Reply By: bucky - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 05:57
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 05:57
Dear Scrubaroo
I have just completed a trip across the Simpson, covering botth the
Birdsville and the Oodanadatta tracks, there was a lot of mud, and floods all the way ,,,I had no trouble with my Cooper ATR's,,not even 1 puncture, they did exactly what I expected,,
They are a good tyre,,
If you are driving safe to the conditions, then you will have no trouble with any Cooper Tyre,, but remember you only have to get there safely, not first !
Cheers
Bucky
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Reply By: Clarrie - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 08:26
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 08:26
I have been running Cooper STs for over a year now and find they handle wet roads just fine. I bought them because they are an agressive AT (effectively) but not an MT. At 13,000km wear is minimal and no damage as yet (probably 3,000km has been offroad in various scenarios).
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Reply By: zam045 - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 08:41
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 08:41
Hey Scubaroo,
Sorry, not much help on the tyre issue as I am pretty new to 4x4ing myself, although, I was up at big river about a mouth ago in a hilux with Dunlop road grippers didnt have too many problems but at the same time didnt push them too hard as I was up there with only the one vehicle.
I am planning on going up there this weekend and since have got myself some BFG All-Terrains, so I'll let you know how they go.
As a side issue what was the going like???? was there much snow as I know a couple of weeks ago there was a big dump and wanted to know if it was still around or had melted away.
Cheers
Zam
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Follow Up By: Scubaroo - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 23:29
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 23:29
No snow, but the main road in turned to mud near Fishermans Flat (I think that was the name of
the spot). About 15cm of mud on the road with large ruts. Very slippery in HT tyres - could have got through as the Paj has the LSD in the rear and we were travelling fine, but like you we were alone and didn't want to get stuck in need of assistance.
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Reply By: Willem - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 09:43
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 09:43
Not sure about Cooper ATR's but my Cooper STT's(very aggressive tread pattern) aren't all that flash in muddy conditions. In muddy puddles and sloppy mud they are reasonable but clay and sticky mud they do not have the
clearing and cleaning of lugs as BFG Muddies have. Offroad and in rough country they are very good. I try not to drive them on bitumen too much and have a set of Kelly Safari's for that purpose.
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Reply By: Peter McGuckian (Member) - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 12:06
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 12:06
Stop thinking Coopers and just settle for BFG All-Terrains. They work fine around town and handle most conditions with ease. We had some really sticky mud out around Dalhousie in July and had no trouble.
Peter
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Follow Up By: Patrick - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 18:38
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 18:38
Just don't expect to balance them very
well. My local Bob Jane has had, according to the manager, at least 8 out of 10 purchases returning with problems. I bought bthe Cooper ST then recently the ATR's, a great tyre.
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Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 12:10
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 12:10
Do a
forum search on Coopers and see what you come up with.
Then do a
forum search on Goodyear MTR and see what you come up with.
I'd suggest that the MTRs may suit your purposes better. They are an aggressive All-terrain tyre.
Cheers
Phil
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Reply By: Diamond (Vic) - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 12:30
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 12:30
i got a set of cooper h/t on the patrol at the moment but as you say useless in mud.
i have a set of s/t waiting for me to go fit up at the tyre
shop for the jack.
i have used s/t before and were really happy with them on road and off.
i never had a problem with them chippinc/ect i think most of that is caused by wrong pressures or expecting miracles.
cheers
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Follow Up By: Spango - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 15:52
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 15:52
Diamond I have a set of Coopers ST's and cant fault them, you are absolutely right in your statement that the problems people have with their Coopers ST's is that they dont set tyre pressures right and they do expect miracles. I remember previous posts about this particular tyre and people were whingeing about their Coopers ST's chipping because they had been rock climbing, what the bloody hell would you expect.
Cheers
Spango
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Follow Up By: Shaker - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 16:27
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 16:27
Spango .... how would you know if he was right or wrong about how people set their tyre pressures?
I, along with many others had huge problems with both Cooper Tyres & their so called warranty!
The pressures that I ran were those recommended by the DISTRIBUTORS of Cooper Tyres after a specific enquiry on recommended pressures immediately prior to our outback trip, which stuffed the tyres.
I would say Coopers are good for people that want to swan around the city or few mild bush tracks, but give them a real task & they fail!
We also didn't 'expect miracles', we just expected the tyres to perform the task for which they were intended!!!
Also, why don't you see the sort of 'whinging' about other brands????
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Follow Up By: Spango - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 16:38
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 16:38
Shaker settle down you seem to be one of these forumites who expect everyone to conform to what you think and do, I consider where I live to be some of the roughest country on this continent, when buying tyres its all about doing your home work as far as I'm concerned some of the people who contribute to this
forum would be better riding a push bike than driving four wheel drives.
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Follow Up By: Uppy - Member - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 18:50
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 18:50
Hi Diamond, Im currantly running Cooper s/t on my gq,Im more than happy with them on and off the road.As in the wet , they preform find . If I listern to what some people say on this
forum ,I could'nt go any where,as Ive got a petrol gq with coopers.
regards uppy
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Reply By: Fusion - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 18:16
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 18:16
G'day Scooby,
I've had 17 inch ATR's on the Patrol since January and about 25,000kms. The tread is looking very good. Hardly looks worn, so I don't think I'll have a problem with the 90,000km warranty. On the road they are quiet and perform beautifully. I've not done much in the way of mud though, but plenty of dirt & rocky roads etc.
Some small chips & cuts in the rubber towing 1.2 tonne camper up steep shale hills.
I'm very pleased with them so far.
Thanks,
Aaron.
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Reply By: Patrick - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 18:50
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 18:50
Getting back to the original question:
1) the ATR's are a good all purpose off-road tyre. Proper tyre pressures make all the difference. Saying that they are not a STT or MTR.
2) My ST's were terrible in the wet. The Patrol would often loose the rear at very low speeds to a point were it was quite unnerving. Great out in the bush but IMHO not suitable on the bitumen.
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Reply By: Muddy 'doe (SA) - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 20:11
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 20:11
Hiya,
LT265/70R17 ATR's on 120 series Prado now done 10,000km including
Oodnadatta track (was moist but not muddy apart from bit where rig pic was taken ahhhahh!) and have had zero issues with them. Have lost about 2mm of tread and have to look hard for evidence of cuts and marks so they are wearing really
well.
Very quiet and smooth on road. Handled some sand work really
well on a club training day. Seen a bit of mud but not enough to form a real opinion there.
They come with good recommendation from me! Had Cooper A/T before these and the ATR is a lot better. But as said above - don't expect miracles! They ARE expensive too.
Cheers
Muddy
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Follow Up By: DaveF - Friday, Sep 02, 2005 at 15:22
Friday, Sep 02, 2005 at 15:22
Gday Muddy, I read that you were on a club training day. I have recently purchased a Series II TD5 Disco and am interested in hearing what 4wd clubs there are in SA. In relation to this thread my Disco came with Michelin 235/70 x 16 XPC's I hope they do the job.
DaveF
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Follow Up By: Muddy 'doe (SA) - Friday, Sep 02, 2005 at 17:57
Friday, Sep 02, 2005 at 17:57
Hi Dave
Lots of clubs around in SA. I am with
Yorke Peninsula Club which is based in Kadina but do a web search for the SA 4wd association and you should find a list of lots of clubs.
Club training days are good. The material is all structured and is assessed to give you a qualification and is also intresting and fun.
Best of luck with it.
Muddy
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Reply By: V8Diesel - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 22:22
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 22:22
I've got Cooper ATR 305's on my 100 series and I reckon they're brilliant.
Miles better than the old AT's and a heap better on road than the HT's believe it or not.
I've got BFG MT's on my other 4x4 so I'm not biased regarding the Cooper vs BFG debate. It's just plain old horses for courses and being honest what you want to do with your rig. If you spend a lot of time every day in a 4x4 like I do on bitumen and gravel, the 'cool' factor of agressive muddies very quickly wears off believe me. If you only have to drive to work and back during the week, run whatever you like.
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Reply By: Morcs in cairns - Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 at 13:53
Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 at 13:53
fitted cooper st 215/85-16 on navara work ute from new, 8000 ks driving from
cairns to batavia and around cape in the first 3 months,one flat from teck screw and they have now clocked up another 32000km on the tar. may be about 5000 left ,on wet roads now the tread is down they sometimes lighten the steering up a bit but you get that with hard compound tyres .
had no chipping proplems compaired to BF gooodrich were the tread would have dissintagrated by now
cheers
Grant
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Reply By: willow2839 - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 12:52
Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 12:52
scubaroo,
I am just new to the awesome world of 4wd. Purchased a 98 v6 Prado last year which came with road tyres. I have recently put on a set of LT245/75/16 Cooper ATR's. Have used them on long dirt drives with very rough, heavy corrigation and they were great. No
sign of chips. Done a bit of mud and were good, but in saying that i have not compared them to other tyres. On road they are quiter and smoother than the Bridgestone road tyres that were on the vehicle when I purchased it.
You are probably already aware but the ATR's come in the standard and Light Truck (LT) tyre.
Cheers.
Willow.
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Reply By: Member - Andy C (WA) - Wednesday, Sep 07, 2005 at 17:26
Wednesday, Sep 07, 2005 at 17:26
Scoob
Just completed 6100kms over the CSR and back on 265/75/16LT ATRs on my Navara.
Mud, sand, black, beach,
rock - no problems whatsoever!
Quiet on the black, great on all other surfaces keeping in mind the 4PSI rule.
Only one chip (tiny) on one tire as a result of all
the rock we did. No punctures - nothing - looked after them and they did so to me!
Andy
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