Cooper Tyres.... sidewall ripples ?

Willem,

I haven't had too much to smile about with the ATR's. Initially I had problems with the first set sidewall coming away and punctures then I didn't have any further problems so I gave them another go when I replaced my vehicle. Second set wouldn't have done 600k on gravel, major puncture right in the middle of the tyre and chipping on the others.

Pressures were fine and Coopers agreed their defense was that they were the wrong tyres for the gravel roads I was travelling on...I won't be touching them again.

As a matter of interest I recently returned from touring the west coast of the USA for 4 weeks, so I took the opportunity to see what tyres the yanks preferred on their fourbies and pickups.

The preferred brand from what I observed was clearly Bridgestone D963's, followed by Goodyear Wranglers the number of Coopers I saw you could count on one hand!!

I did speak with several people who obviously were into serious 4x4ing and asked them about Coopers; the responses were not flattering, several laughed. The principal complaints were similar to the complaints over here, sidewall damage, punctures, sidewall ripples and sidewall bubbles.

America's most trusted 4x4 tire?

Bonz,
kinda looks like low pressure heat damage to side walls with corrugation/impact damage thrown in for luck.

That would be the worst damage I have seen without blowing completely.
Colin.

Bloody hell Bonz ! That's amazing

Not quiet that bad, but the same thing on all 4 tyres ( early stages

As I said in my original post, I believe it to be tyre shyting itself, but that pic is awesome ...

You should email that to Cooper themselves..........

But they would come up with some feeble excuse !

Cheers and thanks heaps

Bucky

"its the way in which they mould the tyres...." Yes completely normal, nothing wrong with those ones ;-))
Cooper's warrenty will give you another set (the same as the ones that failed to do the job for you last time) at a prorata 2/3 the price, yehhh great deal.......NOT!
I keep thinking there must be a quality control issue to on one hand have some people get 100,000km+ yet on the other have so many excessively chip and fail at under 20,000km.
I'd print out a copy of the above photo & show to the dealer then ask him again how the minor rippling on your tyres is any different. The worry is if dealers say minor rippling is OK to avoid a warrenty claim then how many people are heading outback with time bombs on?
As good as they can be I certainly wouldn't risk fitting a set.
Cheers Craig..............
MTR's

I thought that picture was a Photoshop job!

Mark.

Hi Bonz, Have you seen the following web site info ?

http://www.whatcar.com/news-article.aspx?NA=219135


Ray

Looks like major abuse of the tyres to me....too low a pressure for too high a speed causing heat damage to sidewall. No tyre will tolerate that treatment.

My 285/75/16 S/T's are ready to be replaced at 106,000k's. Been run at low pressures on sand (16psi), coastal bush tracks and outback roads (28/30 psi) with not even a hint of damage. Normal road pressure for the Nissan is 40psi...

Nope not photoshopped and definitely just driven on a track and across some rocky country not abused as far as I was concerned.

REV'S I put S/T on my LC100TD in 2002 - Have been everywhere Simpson, GRR, Cape York and others Have done over 100k on them and just purchased another 4 - I have them on the vehicle and also on the Camper - I am not saying I have not had problems - bad chipping on Cape York - but they have had a fairly rough ride and I hammer them fairly hard - watch the pressure - According to Coopers, too much pressure and lugs will be ripped off, too low and overheating can damage side walls

Hi REVS,
I have only used STT's. We used them towing a 1.5T camper on a 10,000kms trip, where 3,000 was offroad. We travelled the Flinders Rangers, Oodnadatta trk, Meninee loop and the Plenty Hwy without a problem. They have a few cuts but still have all their lugs. The STT is good on tar and grips well in the wet. I reckon I'II get at least 40,000 kms out of ours and that is with 90% driving on tar.
cheers Anthony

Do an archive search, plenty of problems.

personally from what i can gather, it really has to do with what conditions and how you drive them... just my 2 bobs worth :-)

Yes and Cooper have an excuse for every failure,
Reading the posts over the years on here its clear that the brand has severe limitations on every tyre model they produce on every road surface and under every load condition imaginable.