I am looking hard at the Cooper AT3 XLT in 315/75/16 for my 80. It looks like they are good on the road, rain and packed snow. How do they do off road?
Obviously they are no mud tire and I am not with that. I will be comming from a Yokohama 003 MT. Looking to get more milage and better highway tire. Also looking at the ST Maxx and Falken AT3w. But the Coopers are a good bit cheaper and I also like the sidewall design of the XTL better than the Falken.
I am running the Coppers on my my mini truck and Toyo MTs on my 80. The coopers are cheaper and quieter and have been great on my commuter that spends most it’s time on the pavement. The 80 is used more for rock crawling. I took one trip last year on a moderate trail with both trucks. The mini kept up with the 80 just fine. I did notice that the old worn down Toyos on the heavy 80 had no signs of damage after the trip. The Coopers had some slices in the sidewalls after that one trip. the coopers are great for an All terrain street tire. I trust the Toyos for more serious off-road work. If I run the Rubicon in the Coopers, it won’t be a shock if I destroy a tire. Toyos have been through multiple times with no worries.
I currently have the Cooper AT3 XLT in a 37 inch flavor. I have just about exactly 30,000 miles on them. I love them but there are a few grey areas. They honestly have been awesome. They have been on long road trips and been on some pretty gnarly trails. I recently just figured out they are a 2 ply side wall and i never knew that and with the stuff they have been through I am shocked. When aired down they flex excellent around rocks. Road noise is just starting to barely become a thing but they still have good tread life and haven’t cupped or done anything weird like my last set of regular cooper at3s. I bought them originally because of the warrenty and how light they are.
My one fear with them is the tread in the past 5,000 miles have really hardened up. My last set of old style AT3s got hard and started cupping really bad in what seems like a month or two. I really am hoping this will not happen to this set. Also I have been doing a lot of snow wheeling lately and I am sorta underwhelmed in there performance. They don’t seem to clean very well and going with a buddy with some cheap milestar all terrains in a 37 i felt that i was having to work a lot more hard then him. Granted, his tires are brand new and mine are 1/2 through there life. I am conflicted on what I am going to do next as I have loved these tires but I always am sorta inching for a tire that looks a little more aggresive and maybe a little more true to size as these run small. I am curious as what your thoughts on the Yokohama MT as thats the tire I was looking at getting.
Let me know if you have any more questions about them
I used to have them on my 80 and on my F250 . I think they amazing. They are very quiet on the road and they do extremely well in the dirt / gravel.
I found them to be pretty poor in the wet and ice. They do fine in snow. I thought they were horrible on the ice. I think the AT3, Baja Boss, & AT3w were way better.
Just got back from a trip to the snow. I had Toyo MTs and my son had AT3 XLTs. Both of us were driving front/rear locked 80s. In both hard packed Icy snow or softer untracked Sierra Cement or powder the Coopers just couldn’t keep up. I never even bothered to air down the Toyos but the Coopers were slipping and sliding and I had to winch and strap him out of snow banks and ditches and even just the small divots that he dug. I did not matter whether he was at street pressure or aired down or using “2nd start”. I never thought the Toyos were great in the snow but the Coopers were quite underwhelming.
