I've had 10 Cooper discoverer A/T3 load E tires put on my truck in the past 3 years and they have all had the same problem. I have a 1997 ford F350 7.3 XLT and the tires are cracking on the inside of the tire next to the rim. I have only put 20,000 miles on my truck in the past 3 years and I took it today back to the tire shop because they are doing it again!! Last year they said dry rot... I replied BS! However they pro-rated them with only 5500 miles and I bent over and paid $500 for 4 new ones. Here I am again waiting to hear back from them to see if they are going to charge me another $500. These tires are a nightmare! Don't buy them! I originally paid about $1000 out the door, $500 last year and who knows what now. These are the most expensive tires I have ever owned. Check your Coopers on the inside of the tire for cracking. Anyone else had problems?

 

The coopers on my Jeep have had that cracking for years. Still hold air fine. I believe it's more from flexing and not dry rot.

 

I've never liked Cooper's going back to about 1997. I had them on my truck (1988 Ranger XLT at the time). I put about 6-7000 miles on them when they started developing bulges on the sides. I took them back to Town Fair Tires to take advantage of their "superior customer service" Bottom line they claimed it was the fault of the truck (!) but they would pro-rape me to the tune of nearly 600.00. That seemed more than they cost new!. I've NEVER patronized Town Fair again and will NEVER buy Cooper's again. Waste of $$.

 

I have run them for many many years and only had one problem on a single tire. It broke a belt. It had about 30k miles on it and MY dealer just gave me a new tire, NO CHARGE! You guys need to find a new place to buy tires, not a new brand. Check the date codes on the tires. It is possible these tires were in somebody's warehouse for years before they ever saw the dealer. Certain wholesaler companies bought up large volumes of tires before prices shot up then sat on them and sold them later for a bigger profit. Now there is nothing wrong with making profit, just don't do it on the backs of the dealers and but people's lives at risk!

 

check the date the tire was manufactured. i bet they are giving you old tires. the cracking is indeed dry rot.
i have AT-3's on my trucks. 3 and 4 years old. we also use them on the pickups in work, the 2014 F350 got 49,000 out of a set before they were replaced. that truck regularly runs down thee road over 13.000 lbs, and usually has at least one nail in each tire leaking air.

the F550's also run 19.5 coopers. and they will load out over 23,000 lbs at least twice a week.

 

Agreed with the above advice on checking the date code. Something seems fishy.

 

I love my AT3 tires. I miss the old ST design. I personally will only run Cooper tires. Never had a cracking issue. I just bought a set of 265/75R16 load range E for under $700. You may want to look for a new tire dealer. I hope you have better luck.

On a side note, my dad had a set on a car that sat outside for at least 7 years.very little cracking and never went flat.

 

i will also add i do not buy tires from a store, i get them rite from the distributor. they do a very large volume, and have 10-12 tractor trailers full of tires delivered each week.
i never get tires more than 2-3 weeks old from them.
at any given time they have around 150,000 tires in stock in the buildings.

 

Agreed. MANY place are guilty of selling old tires

 

I remember when the ATR's came out.
Hated them compared to my old Radial LT's.

The AT/3's were always cracking and leaking on the 99 super duty, and I did not drive on them underinflated.

Anyway, I agree check the date code and find the ozone source that is eating your tires up.

 

We have had Cooper tires on 3 of our vehicles and within a couple of years (All with under 15,000 miles on them), they all started to dry rot and in that time we had 4 broken belts.

So i guess you could say it's just a Cooper thing.

 

Hrm, running Cooper Discoverer ST Maxx in 255/85 R16 on mine and are looking pretty good after 2 years or so.

Am getting ready to get another 5 to put on the wife's Excursion, others have said this particular tire wear well over years, so maybe something in the formulation of your specific type of tire?

 

i still say it is a unscrupulous seller pawning off old tires on you guys.
i have seen and owned many cooper tires that were over 5 years old and still looked like new. but they were also bought within 1 month of manufacture.
if the tire has been sitting in a warehouse for 5 years before you put them on the truck, they will fall apart almost immediately.

 

Yeah, I probably just had a streak of bad luck. Because everyone in my area recommends them.
But I still won't ever buy coopers, when the time comes, I'll probably just get another set of Duratracs

 

I am a Senior Tire Technician at Discount Tire, after 2 years of experience the only complaints I've seen with cooper tires have been with the AT3. The cracking you're seeing could be dismal, but could also be over loading or just simple O-zone cracking which is typical in almost all tires and is most likely cosmetic. I would recommend looking into the Cooper ATP, as it's the Discount Tire/America's Tire exclusive beefed up version of the AT3, with larger lugs, better compound, stiffer sidewalls, and higher load/speed ratings, have had multiple managers and techs put them on and not a single one has had anything bad to say about them, and we are all really picky about it because all we do is tires and we're inspecting and changing them more than we're with our families. And to be even more in depth in the process, do not let the tire company you choose to use "pro-rate" the tires. That is then giving you the STORES allowed credit back most of the time. Make sure they call Cooper right in front of you or call Cooper yourself and the upstanding people of Cooper will get you your money and satisfaction.