Cooper ST Maxx or BF Goodrich T/A KO2

Yes, I have 8.5 inch wheels as well but I don't want the tire to look to skinny, but if its around 10.5 then thats like a 265 which looks good.

 

that’s my dilemma. Right now truck is DD. But within a year or so I’m hoping to have a new Truck and this will be a trail rig. I think because I don’t have a set date of a new truck, I’ll go XLTs for the time being then I’ll go MT once it’s a weekend warrior.

 

The 255 maxxs were wider than my stock 265s, sounds crazy but they just were. Ill get better pictures tonight for you.

 

Thanks for that info

 

255/85/16, 8" wide wheel vs 315/75/16 ST Maxx

 

255s

 

I have st maxx in order in 265/75-16 which turns out to be an exact 32” tire where as the same size in ko2 is 31.6” I believe. Something to consider over your 255/85-16, loose .8 in height but gain about .4 in width, would probably give it a more balanced feel and aesthetic?

 

you can't go wrong with Cooper. I think i'm going with the AT3 XLTs on my 2nd gen. I bought it used with Big O AT tires which are apparently made by Cooper, that's what Big O told me, and they've been great for 30k miles. I'm torn because the KO2s are so popular that i want to see what the hype is about, but I have a friend with KO2s on an Xterra and he told me the wet traction is terrible. I had the same problem with the dynapros on my 1st gen. I could drift that truck with a little water on the roads. If you live somewhere with moderate rainfall, i'd go cooper because they have better siping on the treads. I had the old cooper AT3s and they were awesome. If you live in so cal, AZ or NV, I think you're ok with KO2s if you're mainly running in dry, sandy, rocky terrain. I personally think most people buy KO2s because they look great. Yes the performance is good, no great, but it's likely that there are many people who drop big bucks on the KO2s and rate them highly to make themselves feel better about their purchase, ignoring the fact that they get shitty wet traction. From my experience Coopers are great for the daily driver when you need good wet traction and a very capable off road tire. KOs and KO2s were made for desert running, with improvements made to the KO2 for better performance on pavement. If it's your DD and you're 90% pavement, Cooper is a smarter buy. If you want the looks and you're in dry offroad conditions more than the average driver, get the KO2s. I've heard too many complaints about KO2 wet traction, and I also saw a buddy lost complete control of his truck in the snow with them at Duck Creek last winter, to recommend them over any Cooper AT.

 

I’m about a month with these st maxx and it’s early days but first impressions are wow... the truck feels absolutely planted compared to the Ko2’s previous. Ive had 3 sets of Ko2’s back to back and as long as these coopers hold up I won’t be going back. And apart from performance, they look so much better than the bf’s.

 

This video sold me on the ST Maxx. Unfortunately i got a screw punture from a 1" screw in less than 2,000 miles on the tire. super bummed but chalking it up to bad luck i guess. even more bad luck the tire tech scratched the hell out of my SCS F5 repairing the puncture and denying it...

 

Yeah no tire can stand up to a screw while driving on road (fully inflated and driving at speed). The narrator in that video says "this is worse than anything you will encounter *off road*."

Lousy situation with the wheel. Sorry to hear.

 

Yea I hear you on that. Dumb luck. I actually am really impressed with how these tires have performed and held up off road so far.

 

Do you have a photo of these mounted?

 

Im running them now

 

I had 2 sets of KO2s before my current 2nd set of StMaxx

I liked the KO2s performance offroad, no complaints there. But man they start to chunk up something fierce in the rocks. Pieces of tread and sidewall skin would start to go missing after every trip.

On my second set of STMaxx now and my only complaint is how proud Cooper is of them lately that they charge $263/ea for the 255s lol. $1250 for a set of 4 mounted at America's Tire. But I just couldn't bring myself to get anything else even though anything else would have been cheaper.

I did manage to blow out the sidewall on one of my STMaxx tires once, on a fire road of all places. It looked like it rounded against a sharp rock probably going around a corner. Knowing how beefy the STMaxx sidewalls are I was actually impressed by it more than anything. But that was a one time thing and never had another issue like that with them in all the wheeling I've done since. And I regularly run them at 12-14 psi on the trails.

 

255/85r16 STmaxx are a very wide 'skinny' tire for sure.

My spare is a regular Cooper Adventurer (not STmaxx) in the same size, and it is a full inch skinnier than the STMaxx are.

Kind of odd being the same size and all, but there are differences like that in every tire of different brand/model.

For instance the 255 STMaxx are 32.7" diameter where the BFG KM2/KM3s are 33.1 in the same size. I think the Toyos are nearly 33.5" diameter

 

Any complaints/issues with the weight? I know they aren’t the heaviest in 315’s but there are lighter. Trying to decide between these and the at3 xlt

 

I have full armor and i am regeared. I don't notice the weight too much

 

I have a +15mm offset wheel 16x7.5 can anybody tell me if a 265/75r16 StMaxc will rub on stock off road suspension ?