Cooper Discoverer STT PRO mud terrain tire, review
***Disclaimer: In this review I am not going into specs and numbers and comparisons etc. There is plenty of that info out on the web already. These reviews are all based on my PERSONAL experiences with the products featured.***
I’ve ran the STT PROs for around 35000 km now and used them through all the seasons we get on the Canadian East Coast. They’ve been through mud, over rocks, sand, through woods over trees, stumps and branches, through snow and ice, 1000's of kms of gravel and dirt roads and of course lots of pavement on the way to the Mall!
MUD: The deep treads of the PRO’s are excellent in the mud, they fling chunks of mud all over your rig and at the people standing near by, its awesome!! There’s been a few occasions where I was pretty deep in a mud puddle and started to sink in and get that “oh Sh*t” moment, I’m stuck…but after taking a deep breath and shifting into 4 Low, the tires kept digging and slowly started to get my Jeep moving again. Needless to say, I was very happy to not have to get out into the mosquito infested swamp I was in and get my winch hooked up to a tree. This is why I give them a 5/5 in the mud!
ROCKS: I’m not a rock crawler but occasionally when exploring new trails, I’ve come across some very rocky stretches along the trail. This past summer I did 2 very rocky trails in one month and by the end of it I noticed several decent gashes in my sidewall. Gashes that would likely have been fatal for my previous tires. However the Armor Tek 3 held up and kept my tire from blowing out. However, on the way home I noticed a rapid interval hissing sound coming from one of the tires, being a Jeep owner I was quick to dismiss it as random strange sounds are, well…a Jeep Thing, but this one was different. I slowed down and was able to pinpoint the corner it was coming from, so I stopped on the hissing sound, dismounted the Jeep and discovered the air leaking from the gash when the tire bulged out under the weight of the Jeep. I pulled into the nearest trail and swiftly swapped the leaking tire with my spare. For this reason, I give the STT PRO’s a 3/5 on rocks!
SAND: The PROs have driven on sand a few times, the most noticeable occasion was on a great big sandy beach. One of the other rigs in the group got stuck in the sand, but that was mostly due to not airing down sufficiently. With the Coopers aired down just a tad to about 15 PSI, sand was not an issue, even with towing a trailer behind. A few times they would dig in and start to fling sand all around, but only to get rid of the loose top layer until they could dig into something a bit more solid. They did a great job and for that reason, they get another 5/5.
WOODS: I’ve beaten the Coopers over stumps, branches and fallen trees, often times thinking that this won’t end well, but at the end of the trail, they got me through it without a puncture. One of my favourite aspects of this tire, besides the LCF (Look Cool Factor), because they must be the best looking Mud Terrain tire on the market today (IMO), is that they are rather light, despite the 3 ply and Armor Tek construction. When I upgraded from 33’s to these 35’s, I could barely notice a difference in the weight when I took off the 33 spare and put the 35 back on the tailgate. But I digress, as I was saying, they held up very well to the beating that was handed to them through the woods. For this reason, I give them 5/5.
SNOW/ICE: This is always a tricky one as snow and ice come in so many forms, there is just no tire in the world that will not slide at some point, without any studs, spikes or tire chains. The Coopers perform best in deep snow, either powder or wetter snow as it can take advantage of the scoops on the thick lugs to get rid of the snow. When the snow is so compacted that it has become a sheet of ice, well…they will slide and they will very likely slide more than an actual snow rated tire. They aren’t sold as a snow tire and are not snow flake rated, but they are soft enough not to turn into hockey pucks and the sipes also help them to remain moldable I guess you could say. I do trust them to get me through the Canadian winter just fine, and for that reason I give them a 4/5 in the snow/ice.
MALL CRAWLING: The one thing I have to point out about the Discoverers on pavement is that they are surprisingly quiet for having such an aggressive tread as long as they are new. From what I gather, this is attributed to the irregular tread design, or rather alternating tread design. Some off-roaders have a trained ear to pick out a mud terrain tire coming down the road and get ready to check it out as it passes, well…you might miss someone rolling by on STT PROs I’m afraid because they are just very stealthy. That being said, once they wear down, they become VERY loud and people turn their heads well in advance of you rolling by. On a RAINY day I’ve had very good experiences with these tires as well, I’ve hit water on the road at highway speeds without hydroplaning, which I attribute to the sipes and deep lugs, providing sufficient water evacuation from underneath. Maybe it’s due to my Jeep barely being able to reach the speed limit, quite possibly…but all in all, wet roads have never posed an issue since I’ve owned the Coopers. I've replaced my Coopers after an approximate 35000km, which is not very much, so they wear down rather quick. 3/5.
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