A/T tyres-BFG v Coopers ???

Struth Peter, did you do a search of the forum. This is one of the most asked questions on the forum.

The BFG A/T has a more aggressive pattern than the Cooper A/T. The nearest Coopeer to the BFG A/T is the Cooper ST. I've used both. If you're cruising 80% highway, 20% dirt then the Coopers will be a good buy for you. If it's more like 50/50, spend the $40 on the BFG or go up to the Cooper ST's.

Cheers Mick

Peter
A lot depends on how much road use verses off road. Then what kind of off road country you will be in.
I have tried both the BFG AT and Copper STC (STC is no longer available in this country).
I do most of my off road work in the Cooper Basin. The ground varies from hard sharp rocky to sandy. 80% off road 20% highway.
I got more than double the Kms out of the Coopers.
I have also tried Maxis Bighorn but the are only marginally better than the Coopers.
I will be putting a new set of Cooper STT's on when I get home after this trip.
Hope that helps and I am sure there will be many who disagree but that's' my 2 bob's worth.
Skip

Thanks Mick and Skip.
To quickly add.....my needs could be considered a 70 (bitumen)/ 30 (off road...but not serious 4WD) mix and I tow a 21ft van weighing approx 2.8 t for a major portion of the time.
And yes Mick I did do a check of the site but as I am looking to buy now I was really wanting up to date "specific" info and something away from the seemingly usual argument of comparing all the tyres around.

Peter

Hi Peter,

Being a current Cooper tire/tyre owner it's my opinion that BFGs will give you better mileage and will chip less than the Coopers.

I base this on my experience with Coopers and that of fellow club members with similar vehicles running BFGs.

Rather than consider the comparo between BFG A/Ts and Cooper A/Ts in which the BFGs have a more aggressive tread pattern, have you considered the new Cooper STMAX which has recently been released?

The STMAX has quite a different tread pattern from that of the superseded ST and would be more of a direct comparison.

Unfortunately as the STMAX is relatively new I'm personally not aware of how they are performing as yet.

Hi Peter
My first post on the forum so please be kind to me. I thought it was about time I shared a little of the experience I have gained over the past 33 years of outback travel. I've done a bit of travel on tyres as you might have suspected, and yes, I am sponsored by Cooper Tyres.
I would not recommend the Cooper ATR for outback roads, there is a new Cooper ST Maxx that has just been released and is now generally available, it has replaced the Cooper ST and Cooper STC variants. A lot of research including testing in Australia has gone into this tyre, but as it is so new on the market no-one has done much with them yet. I have a set on my Cruiser (from last week) and a set on a Cruiser about to go up the CSR, they are in Kalgoorlie at present waiting for the rain to stop.
But, this tyre should be very good for what you wish to do. The BFG A/T is a good tyre also, it may chip more so than the Cooper ST Maxx or the older Cooper STC.
When choosing your tyre make sure you get Light Truck construction and not Passenger construction, it makes all the difference. Also, when off the highway monitor your tyre pressures carefully and don't allow them to be in excess of 40 psi when hot, I prefer 35psi hot temp on roads like the Birdsville, GCR, GBR etc. Hope this helps
Vic Widman

G'day Peter

I've used BFG A/T LT tyres for eight years on a Hilux.

The original owner used the vehicle for urban travel. I bought the vehicle at 80000km, and the original BFGs required replacement at 90000km.

Since then I have continued to use BFGs for the same onroad/offroad ratio that you state, including most of the iconic 4WD tracks, but nothing more serious. (I count the Old Telegraph Track as serious, but that's just an indication that I'm a bit of a pussy in the 4WD stakes). With that ratio I get around 70000km a set.

Since 2005 we've done about 70000km of travelling towing a camper trailer, together with friends towing a caravan with a Jackeroo on Cooper tyres. We've had two puntures, they have shredded two tyres. The joint analysis was that the shredding was due to issues around speed (too fast) and inflation (too high) and not so much tyre quality/brand.

I'm not an expert, but my reading of previous threads on this topic is that both are good tyres and worth the money. When folks spend +$300/tyre, whatever the brand, they will tend to back their decision.

Cheers
John

I firmly believe that either tyre will serve you well, IF you care for them (of course you will :-o)...... you know the usual - slow right down when indicated, adjust pressures up and down when indicated, dodge the nasty stones (the ones that can't be seen at speed). I've been on BFG AT's for ages and love them - recently opted for some Cooper ST's ...roughly equivalent tread (the AT is a bit less aggressive)...... the Cooper's saved me $200 all up at the time. One thing - the Cooper AT's on my car when I bought it had 15% tread left when I took them off - but they just got too old (6 years) - cracking of the rubber was 'taking over' - I didn't notice that with the BFG's - they seemed to age a lot better. Only an issue for tyres that do low k's over many years I guess - hard to get the value out of them.

I don't like the Coopers had them on my Hilux. They were dangerous in the wet however on a fulltime 4WD this may not be as big an issue. I personally think the Pirelli Scorpion ATR's are the best road based tire by a long way, the BFG A/T if you are more off road.

hi peter w
i have tried many different tyre brands over many years
i am an avid fan of bfg's they have proved they are the best imho
i have used 2 sets of st coopers but was unable to wear either set out due to faults eg chipping on first set and casing failure on others and coopers didnt and wouldn't give an inch claiming it was my fault
supprise /supprise- no !
and low and behold now in the latest 4x4 aus mag there is a full page ad on the brand new st cooper maxx tyres
claiming armor tek 3ply angled construction 2.5 times more tear strength and 66% more impact resistance than the older ones

/super tensile steel belts 15% stronger and yes proprietary cut and chip resistant tread compound
well blow me down
so what this add says is they were liaring their butts off in the past and fobbing of claims by not only me but hundreds of other dissatisfied users while they were trying to resolve the problems that we were all complaining about
and even if their new tyre is better
i will never buy them for the simple fact of the way they treatedme and previous customers claims
once bitten twice shy from now on
cheers barry

This is probably a bit off topic but relevant, I think. Did a 4x4 training day recently. My Jackaroo has Maxxis 751 A/Ts with about 70% tread. Also attending was a LC100 and newish Pajaro both fitted with BFG A/T tyres that looked almost new. Both were headed for The Cape. It was wet under foot and the practice bogs were real bogs.
Came to the lesson on driving over a tree trunk. The Jackaroo went straight over. No problems. About 3 vehicles later the LC100 came through, got the LH front tyre over but could not finish the task. The RH wheel remained on the approach side and the front of the vehicle just slid along the log. After a few attempts he backed off and drove around. The Pajero had the same problem. All other vehicles went over with little problem.
I noticed that the tread on both sets of BFGs was packed with mud. I looked at mine and there was tread protruding above embedded mud. Not sure what it all meant but it was interesting. I hope those guys are not up the Cape somewhere at the bottom of a sharp slope waiting for it to dry out.
Kevin

Howdy Pete -

LC 200 V8 Diesel and worried about $40 a tyre !! Please explain ??


Cheers


Gazz

Hi Peter. Regardles of which ever tyre you end up with your new tyre size worries me. The 70 ratio will end up at least 25mm bigger in diameter. This will have the effect of making your speed reading and kilometers read slower than it is now. It will also effect your towing torque ability (albiet to a small degree in a 200 diesel) and probably your fuel economy. At the moment Yokohama make a 285/65-17 AT. Cheers,Bob

It's on again
The big tyre debate !

Horses for courses, mate.
Covered 1000 + times on this forum....


My BFG's AT's are brilliant, and on my second set 60,000 km, and heaps of outback roads on the first set, and 1 puncture..
I am on my second set now.

There were cooper ST's on the Patrol when I purchaced it, and they had ripples in the sidewalls..
Splice joins I was told by more tjan one tyre place,..
What a croc of you know what... Took them off the rims and looked inside the tyre itself, and they were starting to delaminate. Lucky I looked eh !

The Servo owner at Marble Bar loves Coopers ..... WHY ?
Because those tyres made him a fortune..(in repairs) in his own words.

I had Cooper ATR's and got 117,000 km out of them, with no punctures, but the Navara would not hold the road properly.

My best advice is to go try BFG's, as personally I recon they are a class above the Coopers. They are smoother, quieter, and wear just right. Long wearing tyres go hard and do not grip the road as well and that to me is unsafe.

Cheers
Bucky

I have Cooper ATs on my Prado. Coming up to 50K and I reckon they have at least another 20K on them. No punctures and no chipping. Mainly used on road but have been on number of outings with crowd from Prado point and they performed as well as any on sand which Perth has a lot of. :-)

Agree with comment about them being a bit slippery in the wet as they age.

On my 200 series I have BFG 285/70R17 TA's. On my previous GU I had Cooper ST 285/75R16. Both are good tyres but did find more chipping on the ST's, unslghtly but not a real issue. My BFG's don't aoppear to chip at all and given I have driven >50,000kms in my 200 now over similair terrain, I would have expected any chipping to have appeared.

I have found the BFG's to be marginally better on-road, the ST's definetly noiser on-road and the ST's marginally better off-road. The off-road difference was very minor, but the on-road difference was enough to notice. But this could also be due to the different vehicles so overall the tyre performance is generally close enough. Both tyres are long lasting, but I reckon the ST's lasted longer. But 800Nm vs 420Nm may have something to do with that - both vehicles were chipped :)

If I was to buy again with the benefit of hindsight, I would still go the BFG's. Not much in it, but just what I would do. YMMV.

Cheers

Captain