Cooper Discoverer S/T Ongoing Review

[Philberto]

Hey everybody, have some new shoes for the TB I'm picking up tomorrow from Cerritos. Cooper Discoverer S/T's in 265/75/16. I'm hoping to use this thread to provide an ongoing review on these tires, which I got as a compromise between an all-terrain and mud-terrain. I'll be posting pics tomorrow hopefully, as everybody here should know how to use Google to find stock pics of them. I scored them from onlinetires.com for $112 each new, and Cooper Tires has a $75 gift card rebate until the end of November.

[teebes]

New rubber ==

Looking forward to hear how you like them

[Zero]

Tire reviews are awesome! and even better when it is from a real person, not a company swayed by money, and influence.

keep us posted.

[Philberto]

Thanks everybody, tires are being installed as I type this... I picked them up from onlinetires.com, and drove down to Cerritos to get them and save shipping. Came out to 103 per tire after tax, which is a steal for these tires. For anybody looking, there's also a $75 rebate card offer from Cooper for these tires.



The tires have a nice beefy tread, which looks to be a hybrid between A/T and M/T. They're also siped, which I wanted for the 5 days of rain a year in California, as well as for snow that I intend to encounter in Big Bear every year when I go snowboarding.

The tires are also speed-rated like an all-terrain tire, rather than a mud-terrain tire. I simply view this as a larger margin of safety, since this vehicle is also a daily driver.

Examining the tires in person, my only concern is the sidewall strength. The sidewall didn't seem extremely tough to me, but we will see. It is also possible that the sidewall seems flimsy because this tire is a P-metric tire, rather than a LT tire... different load ratings and such. It is difficult to determine, however, if Cooper still makes an LT tire in this size from their site.

More to come when the tires are mounted.

[Philberto]

Tires have been mounted, and I've driven them across town to go back to work. I do notice more noise than the stock tires (highway tread), but that is to be expected with the aggressive tread. It is kind of like a muted version of what a rumble strip sounds like, very low but audible nonetheless. Not anything that subtracts from my tire experience though. Handling will be tested when I get my rear lift sorted out properly and safely.

[Philberto]

I just noticed last night that the tire shop had to use a rather large amount of weight in order to balance the tires... Weight was consistent at around 6 oz or so for each tire, so I think I may end up taking them off and trying the DynaBeads for balancing. Has anybody here tried these yet? I've been waiting for some reviews from other members here before I tried them.

James also pointed out to me that the lugs appear to have the same "arc-length." I believe this means that all the lugs are the same distance from the centerpoint of the tire assembly... They are, and this may be contributing to the noise level... no problem, just turn up the radio

[Philberto]

Took the TB offroading today, just some mild trails near my house, and they performed awesomely! I was able to run in 2wd for the entire time, and experienced no slippage over any dry and loose dirt, even with an open diff in the rear! And best of all, the tires are broken in now

[Philberto]

The tires had their first run-in with rain today, and the first rain of the season at that! Long story short, they were EXCELLENT! I've driven with all-seasons that felt less safe than these tires, and that's saying something seeing as it's practically a mud-terrain. No slippage on turns, and I have to power-on the throttle to break them looks on the wet pavement...They feel like the stock ones felt in the dry, and that's good for me... More review-age to come tomorrow when I get them muddy!

[bartonmd]

Thanks for the updates!

Any pictures of them mounted on the vehicle? Like a turned front wheel picture of the tread, and a normal one?

Mike

[Philberto]

Thanks for the updates!

Any pictures of them mounted on the vehicle? Like a turned front wheel picture of the tread, and a normal one?

Mike

Yeah I'll take pics tomorrow when I can use a decent camera. Cellphone pics = crappy.

I've also got an update on the mud performance. They perform great. Not as much side tread as a normal mud-terrain, so not as much grip, but even without airing down, at 42 psi, they were able to take me up rutted muddy track hills without a rear locker in 4LO... I've got no pics, but I'll get a pic of the hill next time I'm out there. Bear in mind, this is during pouring rain, after over 24 hours of continuous showers. Finally we've gotten rain!. Tread cleans out excellently, and after a quarter mile on the road, you couldn't even tell there was mud on the tires. The car was a different story though hehe. Overall, I'm supremely pleased with my purchase, and the only downside I can see is that the tires took a fair bit of weight to balance. Fair tradeoff to me.

[foosh]

Just wanted to check up and see how they've been, i've heard alot of good things about these tires lately.

[Philberto]

Tires have been fine... no problems to report. Wear is excellent, as is to be expected from all-terrains. Either the road noise has dissipated, or I don't notice it anymore. Traction testing will resume at the end of November in Anza-Borrego. Aired-down traction will be tested, as well as sand and rock traction. So far, A+ on these tires.

[foosh]

You promissed pics to this thread... Post them we want to see how they look!!!

[bgwolfpack]

You promissed pics to this thread... Post them we want to see how they look!!!

X2 Philberto you usually don't let us down.

[Philberto]

'doh! Thanks for reminding me guys!

Commence the tire porn!

[bgwolfpack]

HmmmI'm kinda liking that tire. Real test is coming up under the tutelage of theroadie. I'm liken that tire.

[That1Guy]

any way you think these would fit without spacers?? Maybe have to grind the BJ a little?? Im hoping to pick 5 up next week and cant afford spacers quite yet.

[MrSmithsTB]

You should know better than that, Nick Looking at the one pic, you have less than an inch clearance with spacers. Meaning you would need to grind more than 1/2" for clearance. Prolly close to 3/4". I'd downsize to 265/70/16 and do a tiny bit of grinding. 128.56 ea at that size.

[Philberto]

No way you're fitting those tires without spacers. But hey, just save up $150 or make the money doing side jobs, and you can have spacers and buy the tires you really want! And, the larger size is cheaper for some reason.


As far as performance, these tires really shine when aired down, they absorb all the bumps and then some. Performance on dirt was plenty good, and I only had a few low-traction moments, mostly on smooth rock with a coating of sand. Still plenty pleased with performance, especially for the money. Will report on wet-weather traction when we finally get some rain out here.

[That1Guy]

:Iagree: No way you're fitting those tires without spacers. But hey, just save up $150 or make the money doing side jobs, and you can have spacers and buy the tires you really want! And, the larger size is cheaper for some reason.


As far as performance, these tires really shine when aired down, they absorb all the bumps and then some. Performance on dirt was plenty good, and I only had a few low-traction moments, mostly on smooth rock with a coating of sand. Still plenty pleased with performance, especially for the money. Will report on wet-weather traction when we finally get some rain out here.

its not the money, I have that. Its just the fact that I hate buying stuff for myself this close to xmas, and if my tires werent so bad waiting wouldnt bother me. But my tires are to the point its a big risk. I might be able to get the tires and have them waiting until xmas, but like I said its a risk I dont know if is worth taking.