A/T tyres

Maybe you need to reread your own post >>>>>

I have never, ever had a puncture with the Coopers on bitumen, gravels roads or dirt or stoney tracks. One exception was one of them which blew out on the bitumen ........... "however this was a tyre which had many repaired punctures"

People bag Cooper tyres because of they appear to be the tyre that suffers the most degradation & chronic failures.

No, I think you had better reread my post....slowly.

I kind of read it the same way as Shaker, and had a chuckle as I thought it was a typo! Coopers, from what I have read have a problem with chipping.
They also have the lamest "tyre guarantee" I have ever seen
A milage warranty that is only valid in capital cities???

The Sahara comes with 17" wheels as standard.

There is an excellent site called Product Review which has reviews by the general public on all sorts of products and there are some interesting comments on 4 w/d tyres.

Hi HG,

Are you sure you have 17'' wheels as standard ?

It is interesting that Hunter has 17'' wheels on a Sahara, when the toyota web site still has 18'' wheels on Sahara and VX and 17'' on GXL and GX.

I fitted new 17'' rims with BFG A/T tyres to my VX and only use them for inland trips then swap back to the standard 18'' for around town.

My kids claim the 17'' rims look much better and are "bling" compared to the standard rims and also have not had any problems with the brakes.

Had I not gone to the 17'' rims I would have fitted the Mickey Thompson's the same as you.

I wonder if Hunter purchased the the Sahara new or if second hand, the previous owner changed them?

yeah you are right, it's a very difficult choice with so many brand/models of these allegedly simple round black things!! I'm not quite a 'Coopers' man (had Bridgestones and BFGs on my 4WDs before these) but they have been are a great comfy and quiet all-rounder so far

Apologies for butting in on your comment Olcoolone but the EO REPLY button isn't working for me in this thread. Seems my original reply is bouncing around in the there somewhere. Anyway this was the gist of it:



Tyre selection is always a compromise as you know Mr Gatherer. My Bridgestone 694s are going to need replacing on my SE petrol Jackaroo in the next 6 months so I've been trawling through websites and keeping an eye out for specials. Have it down to:

Bridgestone 697 - new design but probably very similar to the 694s which are good all rounders but not great at any one thing.

BFG ATs - the tread pattern is very old hat and prone to filling with mud from what I've read but many people rave about their mileage and strength. I had Desert Duellers on my old patrol and they had a similar tread pattern - good on blacktop, excellent on sand/dry dirt, mediocre/poor in mud, and scary on wet slippery dirt.

Yokohama Geolander AT/S - not sure if these are LT construction but they get a lot a good reviews.

The new Coopers might be good but the reason I will never buy them is the ridiculous small print and hassle required to get their guarantee. The many earlier bad experiences with both the tyres and the company posted around the internet don't help.

Here's another link to tyre reviews from users in the good ol' USofA which might be of some interest:
(USA) Tyre survey and reviews

Yeah it's hard choosing tyres.... so many brands and so much marketing hype.

For a general purpose tyre I think the Cooper ST MAXX may be a good choice but time will tell.

As for an A/T tyre the Toyo Open Country A/t may be a safe bet if they are anything like the M/T.... fantastic.

Most people try one brand and think they are the best out there with no real proof or comparison against the other brands.

What you read in the 4wd mags with there creative journalism a bad tyre can sound good and in most cases the cheaper one wins over the more expensive ones.

We have had our woeful Mickey Thompson MTZ's for about 10 months now ........ 4 months after we bought them there was one of those "long term use" reports in one of the 4x4 mags saying they were the best tyres he has ever used.... what a joke.

... yeah Cooly I know EXACTLY what you mean.. when I test stuff I always use criteria to measure against (in this case) tread wear, interior noise levels, balance issues, wet weather traction etc

You need to look alittle further I think you will find that your wagon should be fitted with S rated tyres check with your insurance company because the plate inside the door will tell you that the tyres should be S rated and if you look into it you find that only the best tyre brands have this rating for the size you require and it is a good indication of quality tyres I run Pirelli scorpions 265/70/R17 they may not look chunky and exciting but they do the job on and offroad as for coopers I know heaps of people who have bought them and will not again blow-outs and cracking !!!!
Jeff

Ratings on tyres are a funny thing, years ago someone got defected for having tyres R rated (170 Kph) when they should of had H rated (210 Kph) ..... it got challenged and the winning factor was you can only travel at 130 Kph maximum in Australia and that's in the NT, every where else is 110Kph, the R rated tyres exceeded the the speed limit.

I would not like to be travelling at very high speeds with a M/T tyre.

Unless something has changed, there is a provision for 'dual placarding' of a vehicle; the placard must be in in the field of view of the driver and (other constraints) when specialist (ie: reduced speed rating) tyres are fitted to a vehicle.

This is off the NSW RTA site regarding speed ratings.

"Tyre speed rating

If the speed rating of the tyres specified for your vehicle is less than 140km/h you must not fit tyres with a lower
speed rating.

It is strongly recommended that the speed rating of the tyres fitted should be equal to or better than the rating of the original tyres fitted by the vehicle manufacturer, however:
• If the speed rating of the tyres specified for your vehicle is higher than 140km/h, you may fit tyres with a lower speed rating but not lower than 140km/h.




Here is a bit from VS14

the speed rating of the tyres fitted to a passenger vehicle is at least 180 km/h (S) when the tyre placard requires a higher speed rating than S;

The speed rating of the tyres fitted to vehicles with special features for off-road use of at least 140 km/h N when the tyre placard requires a higher speed rating than N;

....and like magic it appears

Try claiming the warranty...... you will find most tyres have a long warranty.

Pro Comp tyres rave on how tough they are but in the warranty it says " warranty void if used in off road conditions"..... makes you wonder!

Jason,
Thank you for your advice, I have decided to go with BFG, I am amazed that so many people took their valuable time to respond and want to thank them all for their advice.

Cheers,
Barney.