Cooper Discoverer AT3s on snow and ice - what's too much?

Hey folks,

I've had my AT3s for a couple seasons now. At first I thought they were pretty great on snow and ice compared to the banana peels I had on prior. This winter though I wasn't too impressed with them. They seem to do well enough on a few inches of soft snow, but they seem pretty dang slippy on ice and hardpack snow as others have reviewed.

Just kinda wondering what my limits are before I get stuck or slide into a tree going down a hill. I want to access my camp via unplowed trail. Half of which is a groomed snowmobile trail, so it will be whatever is left of the hardpack base. The rest of the way in would be regular bush snowpack, so probably softer with a less icy base... I'd feel a lot better about the trek if I had actual winter tires and maybe chains for the rear, however I know rear chains won't help me steer down any icy hill.

Any thoughts on how much is too much with these tires? I'd never risk going in deeper than my clearance (at least on purpose). I read one person on this forum got stuck in 18" snow, after stopping and bottoming out.

I'll be in 4hi, can't get my rear locker to engage, so I guess I'll only have 4lo if it gets hairy. Currently running at 26psi front and 29 rear as advised by the Toyota spec, but it sounds like other folks here run them more around 32-35psi?

Thanks for any input!

 

Mine have 40k on em, still some good amount of tread left, they are down right horrible in snow and rain ever since about 30k. Actually putting falkens on wed even tho the snow should be over.

 

Interesting... Mine probably have similar wear, I think this is their 3rd winter.

 

I will measure the tread on Wednesday when I get em switched out.

 

What's your tread measurement? Under 6mm most tires loose most of their traction, or grip, in snow.

My AT3s are only a few months old and I love 'em.

 

^this

once any tire wears down enough they loose effectiveness in standing water/winter weather. they will be good for dry or "wet" roads but being that the depth is less than new there is less room for water to disperse through the tread. if it's pouring out and you hit any spots with more than a 1/4" of water "sitting" or flowing on the road you will have a chance at hydro-planing as the water builds up under the tires.

just take it easier during worse weather and you will be fine. also keep in mind the siping wears away too when the tread gets lower, making the snow/ice rating less than new.

 

I have read that good AT tires are only good on snow/ice on the first half of he tread depth.

 

I agree with all of the above. Mine now have about 30k on them and are not nearly as good as they used to be in bad weather. The last two snow storms I happened to have my summer wheels and tires on, and my falken at3w outperformed the at3s ten fold. I won’t be buying another set of at3s that’s for sure!

 

I used to run Coopers all the time but would get new ones every two years. I would always put 300+ miles on every week. As far as air I wouldput the full amount in usually around 44 lbs on a 265/75/16 tire.

 

You’ve got a couple of things going on...

Tires heat-cycle and age as well as wear down over time. This means the rubber gets chemically harder with each heat cycle and will reduce grip regardless of tread depth. Also as a tire wears, you will lose some of the biting edges that were molded in from the factory...this is your hard pack snow traction.

If you are that worried about snow traction, you should probably look into a set of dedicated snow tires that will blow anything else out of the water in comparison.

FWIW I run AT3’s on my DD/tow rig F250 and have had 3 sets on a 2500 Chevy plow truck/tow rig and they’ve been really good

 

Thanks for all the info folks. Didn't realize that age/wear would make that big of a difference. Pretty much fits my experience though. I'll have to check the tread depth, but I've probably put at least 40k km on them. Definitely much stickier when they were new. Guess I'll pack the snowshoes and sled this time, and get some winter tires next season. I don't really want to be getting the stink eye from any snowmobilers if the trail is still open anyhow.

 

being in PA we are allowed to run "studded" tires from November to mid-April. I use to have a dedicated snow set to run during that time. they were my grandfather's before me and my brother is still using them. going on 9 years now and the tread is still good. Cooper Discoverer M+S studded. they are stored inside during the summer so no dry-rot. Since I upgraded wheels/tires I've used just my S/T Maxx year round.

 

Yup, I ran Cooper AT3s on my 3rd-gen 'Runner, and used them for 2 winters. They were pretty good for A/Ts the first two winters, but by summer #3 the rain traction had noticeably diminished, and I bought dedicated snow tires as I didn't feel like sliding around everywhere. Just about any snow tire will blow an A/T out of the water when it comes to snow/ice, but in my experience even A/Ts that are designed to be good in snow diminish after a couple years. My Coopers had decent tread left, but you could tell the compound got less grippy as they aged.

 

So I guess to modify the original question... If I had decent winter tires, what would be a reasonable amount of winter offroading shenanigans that I should attempt? A foot of snow over a bush trail up a steep icy hill?

 

If I were you I would stay clear of the ice but a foot of snow is nothing to a good set of tires and 4WD