Cooper Discoverer A/T3 Review

Mine are load range "C"..........LT265/70R17 on stock Sport rims, no lift and no clearance issues.

 

A/T 3 Guys - Discount Tires took back my 265/75 16 BFG KO2 E rated tires and I replaced them with the P265/70 16 A/T 3. The KO2 E were very harsh both front and rear but mostly rear in an unloaded truck configuration which is mostly what I run. The ride is much smoother but the road tire noise is about the same. And seriously, in my driving habits and locale, the KO2 typical average fuel economy was around 17.9 mpg and with the smaller lighter A/T 3s it averages 19.7.

I called Cooper and asked them the difference between the P and the LT tire and they said the number of plies is still 2 but the LT has more rubber compound in the side wall so the P is rated at 4 plies and the LT is rated at 6 plies.

I do not plan on rock crawling, but have to agree that the LT tires with their thicker sidewalls would provide better protection for puncture. However, most of the truck, Suv, and Jeep products are delivered with the P tire installed (Rubicon an exception). Even the Tundra which is used extensively on commercial sites. All of the Toyota ads with the vehicles off road, including the Pro, flying thru the air, all are running P tires.

I am not an expert on all this stuff and just trying to sort out what to do. Good thread here and thanks to everyone for their input. I would also like to give credit to Discount Tires for their return policy. It cost me $74 for installation.

 

Curious about switching to these tires from my nearly new BFG T/A KO's size 265/70/17 which are too stiff for me and dropped my mpg's some. Is the tread depth significantly different between the P and C rated tires?

 

Yes, the tread is deeper for the C than for the P. I took that into consideration when I bought mine. I don't remember the numbers though

 

Which ones did you go with?

 

I went with C

 

From the Cooper website the C is 16/32 ins and the P is 14/32 ins or a difference of 1/16 inch...

 

How do they ride compared to a stock passenger tire?

 

Umm, that would be a 1/16" difference.

 

A little firmer of course. I have decision to make on my next set of tires. I need ones that are better for winter weather than these

 

More off topic... I'm at about 60,000 on the tires now. There's been some slipping on snowy/icy/salt covered roads but it's probably because I'm down to a little less than 3/16" tread remaining. It was better when the tread was higher...

Now that winter is in it's final month or so, I'll probably run these until my inspection (august) where I'll need to get a new set to pass inspection. That will put me at about 70,000 for this set of tires. I'm pretty happy with that. So it turns out that I will be able to reach 70,000, despite what I said earlier, haha.

 

These tires are really good. I had them on my last 2010 Tacoma. I'm up in the air if I'am going to put KO2 's or the cooper's on my Stealth 6 wheels for the spring. There is two difference's that I'm looking at is the KO2's are more aggressive looking. But the 265-70-17 Cooper is overall a larger tire.

 

Just picked up a set in 265/70R17 in 115T "Standard" load. I'll get them installed tomorrow and start another review thread with high res photos.

 

Anyone ever tried the Mastercraft Courser AXT? Very similar tire

 

Please keep us updated. I got the AT3 and as soon as snow came regretted it. Wondering how others feel about them to compared to the authorities

 

I'm a fan for life! Just got the AT3, 265/70/17 - awesome. What a tire!

 

With as infrequently as I see snow, I doubt it's going to make a huge difference in my overall review.

 

That's odd. People around here (Ohio) have said that they are pretty impressive in snow. Must be a personal opinion?

 

I've had times I can't move my truck in my flat drive way. 3" or less of snow and it doesn't move and that's in 4wd... Horrible traction on grass. Does Ohio get the wet heavy lake effect snow from the Great Lakes? All I can say is that I was more confident going into more adventurous areas where snow and ice were located with my stock dunlops than with these

I also have 300 lbs of sand bags in the back already before that starts

 

16-14=2....so 2/16ths or 1/8