Cooper S/T Maxx Tyre My Experience

cruza driver

cruza driver

Hercules
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Nov 9, 2010
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Bit of an update about my S/T maxx's on the BT.

Yes its a mine field regarding tyre choice but here is my experience.

So far they have covered 86+k's and a lot of that towing the nearly 2T Expanda. Over bitumen, dirt and rocks oh and corrugations...........

Qld trip 6,500km Gold Coast-Longreach-Winton-Lark Quarry-Jundah-Nocundura-Camerons Corner-Broken Hill-Home (So not the easy way people think caravans go smiley-rolleyes010.gif ) and no punctures etc

Big trip 1/2 lap up the centre 18,000km Kimberlys (Gibb rd) then down to Perth via Karijini and Kalbarri etc. again varied terrain.

Just returned from Cairns and just under 7k for this trip (towing)

Across to Pambula twice. (towing) 2k

Sydney via Canberra Towing 2.5k

Plenty trips into the HC ?k

Newnes and Caves to Caves with Abercrombie (not towing) 2,100k

Plus any other trip I have forgotten m1917.gif ???kkk

They are getting close for replacement which I will do shortly and all I can say is I have been very impressed with these tyres in all conditions from snow to outback roads to rocky tracks. I originally chose these knowing the big touring trips we had planned. People tried to worn me off them but I can't fault them with what I have tackled with them.

The reason I have mentioned towing as its relevant for what we all do. I have aired down without issue to help preserve the tyres and ride too.
 
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Jags73

Jags73

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Mar 25, 2016
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Angle Vale SA
Last Friday I did a tyre rotation on my Cruiser running the Cooper Discovery A/T3 LTs & noted they had done 75,000 ks mostly highway towing
Going back about 9 mths the state Cooper rep was at the tyre centre were I was getting some trailer wheels balanced.
He depth check the tread & said I should get about 120,000 ks out of them, well we'll see.

I inflate them to 48 psi & normally check them before each trip & find them down to 42 psi sometimes
This is them today & I'l see how they go in the snow next month.
IMG_0076.JPG
 
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Jags73

Jags73

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Mar 25, 2016
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cruza driver said:
Bit of an update about my S/T maxx's on the BT.

Yes its a mine field regarding tyre choice but here is my experience.


They are getting close for replacement which I will do shortly and all I can say is I have been very impressed with these tyres in all conditions from snow to outback roads to rocky tracks. I originally chose these knowing the big touring trips we had planned. People tried to worn me off them but I can't fault them with what I have tackled with them.
Click to expand...

My brother who has a heavy mechanical back ground, now manages Neumann mining & dredging fleet of vehicles only use Coopers on their 4be's, & I know he's operates to whats cost effective & reliability 8-)

I do know there was bach of tyres that had the white high lite writing reacted with the black rubber & created cracking in the side walls, Coopers replaced them no questions asked.
 
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Smergen

Smergen

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Jun 8, 2014
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Bacchus Marsh
Will keep these in mind @cruza driver with upgrades for the Big Trip. Currently looking at the 697s, but I'll certainly go wherever there is a tale of reliability, affordability and performance. And there's no denying the work you put into your tyres, if they can hold up to that punishment, that they're a good shoe.
 
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yabbietol

yabbietol

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Sep 2, 2014
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Just a small caution and this caution may be out of date as tyre technology changes a lot in a few years.

A few years ago I had a set of Coppers (off road, but cannot remember which type) they did 60,000 km in about 3 years. The problem was that in wet weather on bitumen they became treacherous, other wise fine and had at least another 20,000km of tread left.

I asked around at the time and was told that they were a dual compound tyre and for the first 40,000 to 50,000km they were great, never had a problem, but as they lost tread the softer outer layer eroded off and left the inner harder compound layer. Thus they were legal tread depth for many kms after their performance in wet weather on bitumen degraded.

Got rid of the Coppers at 60,000 km bought BFG which only lasted about 50,000km to 60,000km, but were good handling tyres till they needed replacing, have had 3 sets of BFG's since then and still like them. My point is both tyres got similar effective kms, but the Coopers had a lot of tread left and became a bit scary in some conditions, while the BFG felt safe all their life.

Maybe tyre technology has improved and the Coopers are now safe all their legal tread life, I certainly hope so, but just in case be careful once they have done more than about 60,000km on wet bitumen.

Safe travels, Regards
Terry
 
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Sammy D

Sammy D

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Feb 14, 2016
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When we lived out west we loved the coopers but only the STC's that had the chip resistant compound. I'm not sure if they still do them or if they have changed their names but they were the only tyres that stood up to constant gravel.

Most other brands including BFs would chip out and be cactus by 30k but we could get 40-50 k out of the STC's.

Now we are back on majority tar we don't worry so much and just run some cheap ones.
 
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cruza driver

cruza driver

Hercules
Staff member
Nov 9, 2010
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Mighty Victoria
yabbietol said:
Just a small caution and this caution may be out of date as tyre technology changes a lot in a few years.

A few years ago I had a set of Coppers (off road, but cannot remember which type) they did 60,000 km in about 3 years. The problem was that in wet weather on bitumen they became treacherous, other wise fine and had at least another 20,000km of tread left.

I asked around at the time and was told that they were a dual compound tyre and for the first 40,000 to 50,000km they were great, never had a problem, but as they lost tread the softer outer layer eroded off and left the inner harder compound layer. Thus they were legal tread depth for many kms after their performance in wet weather on bitumen degraded.

Got rid of the Coppers at 60,000 km bought BFG which only lasted about 50,000km to 60,000km, but were good handling tyres till they needed replacing, have had 3 sets of BFG's since then and still like them. My point is both tyres got similar effective kms, but the Coopers had a lot of tread left and became a bit scary in some conditions, while the BFG felt safe all their life.

Maybe tyre technology has improved and the Coopers are now safe all their legal tread life, I certainly hope so, but just in case be careful once they have done more than about 60,000km on wet bitumen.

Safe travels, Regards
Terry
Click to expand...
Good thoughts there @yabbietol mine are still good in the wet so they may have made some changes
 
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Pauly

Pauly

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I've got the st max and am very happy with them . Spend a lot of time on unsealed roads and wet twisty roads in the hills. Have around 45k on them and still performing fantastically. For 'touring' These are my third set of coopers st and stt and I'll be getting them again. My centipede days are over I think. Previously had bfg km , all terrain and km2 . Liked them and got reasonable ks but I feel st max has the edge on them for an all rounder.
 
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achjimmy

achjimmy

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Jan 24, 2011
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Great to hear mate. You have to be stoked ? I think a lot of the cooper issues were on the heavier cars like cruisers? The St Max to me is the ideal tyre for the person that covers all types of. terrains. such a great mix of AT And MT and other manufacturers like BFG and Nitto are now copying them which in itself says a lot. I hope they continue to improve?

Just a shame for the cruiser sizes cooper think there up to a $110 per tyre better than there rivals, cause with the aforementioned issues on larger fourbies IMO they aren't.
 
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