A local tire dealer here in Bristol Pa called Tire City. The tires were a factory 17" load range E.

 

Im still no fan of the AT 3's. Since last post Ive had all 4 trued (I do this to all my big truck tires) and it did help some. i run centramatic tire balancers, and they have done a great job on everthing I have put them on- except these coopers. Theyre so out of balance that even my centramatics were not enough, I finally balanced the tires with weights , and pu tthem back with the centramatics. It did help some but not very much. With my balancers and the weight i added to them I would guess they are 6 to 10 oz. out of balance. Pathetic. I have coopers (street versions) on my wifes '03 supercrew and used the balance bead bags on them and they ride just fine, no shakes or shimmys. I would give anything for another new set of 265/75-16 Firestone steeltex A/T radials. I ran 4 sets of those on my F250 and they were damn good tires. When they went to the Transforce tread I ran one set and the mileage sucked bad- thats when I splurged and bought these great fantastic cooper AT3's........

 

Interesting to see this thread.

I purchased 4 Motomaster tires (Canadian Tire brand name here in Canada) made by Cooper. I had the same problem, they would not keep their balance. Had them balanced twice and then road force balanced. Still vibrated at highway speeds.

After two years of this I went back to Canadian Tire and pleaded my case and they replaced them under warranty. Put on Michelins MS/2s and it appears my vibration is gone. With adjustments, the new ones did end up costing me $170 per tire but I'm happy to get rid of them.

S

 

Well they tried balancing them one more time but no luck. Two of the tires just take a tremendous amount of weight. Not sure what to do except keep them and suffer or give up 80% tread life for comfort. The problem is i take long distance trips and just dont think i can stand it any more so probably going to loose my a&% on these shoes. This is the second set of coopers i've owned and both are crap. I actually had forgot about the original ones but i purchased a set for my 2001 Ford F150 and was not happy with them either. I'm done with Cooper....... Disappointing as this tire is made in America which is one reason i choose them.

 

" I'm done with Cooper....... Disappointing as this tire is made in America which is one reason i choose them."

same here sawtooth I am pretty disappointed. I have coopers on my wifes f150 and they are fine, I actually used the bag "balance beads " in them and they are all ok. ride good. but I am done with Cooper. I sure wish I could still buy the Firestone steeltex A/T.....

 

I think my tires, AT3, are the cause of my wandering issues. I will confirm on Tuesday when I get BFG Rugged terrians put on.

 

Hard to say, theres a good chance that could be from misaligned front end or loose steering box.... Ive had both on several different trucks, pickups and semis.

 

Nope, everything on the front has been replaced that was bad, alignment is perfect, so I am thinking tires. I will know tomorrow.

 

Got the BFG's on tonight. The Cooper tires were really bad, no more Coopers for me.

 

good to know. Its pathetic that rubber pneumatic tires have been produced well over 100 years now and with today's technology - sometimes they still cant build a good product.

 

As soon as my stock BFG's wear down (hopefully sooner than later), I'm getting myself some Hankook AT/M. Loved the set I had on my 06.

 

After I dumped my Cooper tires, I changed to Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armour. I have had several sets of these on previous trucks and I was very happy with the life and performance. That started out fine, but as luck would have it, my balance issues have not gone away. I continue to have issues with the wheels losing balance and causing vibration. The dealership says that the tire is too aggressive. They are telling me I need to run the Michellans that come stock on the new SD's. This is not an aggressive tire, imo. I should spend 50k on a truck and be forced to run one specific tire?!? Give me a fricken break!

New tires start out fine, but in time the vibration returns. I have been through this with four sets of tires already.

Is anyone else experiencing these issues? Is there something going on with the wheel design? I am frustrated as he** and dont know what to do anymore.

 

I cant offer mush help but I do know that most dealers cant see past their factory supplied service/shop manuals. Thats pretty comical that they would say you have to run the tires that came on the truck.....haha. Im no fan if big tires but ive seen trucks with 35" and bigger run fine and have absolutely no vibration whatsoever. My dad runs 9.00-16 military tires and they ride smooth as slick street tires. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you could have a bent shaft/axle or misaligned bearing or something similar that was not right from the day this truck was built. And a note on the GY silent armors-- overall they must be a good tire, but the way over priced set I put on my wifes truck had the worst treadlife of any tire i have bought ever. I dont thing they even made it 30,000 and they had like 2/32 left. I wasnt to pleased with my return on those. I always run max tire pressure and rotate regular and have alignment checked, so who knows?

 

Hey guys, Just registered to thank you for helping me solve my problem with my truck/wheel/tires.

Now, I don't have a Ford (I know I know) but my current truck as been fine on any roads I've been on, long trips etc.

I've had a few sets of aftermarket wheels, different tires etc. Never an issue, til 12/23/2012 when I sold my Cooper Discoverer at/3 275/65/18 on MB Chaos 5 wheels. These tires were Road Force balanced and smooth as glass at most any speed I ran them at.

I decided to go back to a 20" wheel as I like the way it fills the wheel well better. 275/60/20 Cooper at/3's went on MB Vortex wheels. Immediately I noticed a vibration at speeds above 65mph. I thought maybe I mounted the wheels wrong. Re-did the mounting, same ! Took them local to get re-balanced. Better, but not gone by any means. Called Discount Tire and they advised me to get them Hunter Road Force balanced. Found a tire shop who not only did it, but let me watch them do it. Read the print outs etc. Cool ! Out the door on a Saturday as they closed. Yet......Same issue, and at a wider range of speed there was still vibration. Actually it was worse ! How could this be ?

Discount Tire offered to replace them all, but were on Back order. Now, if I hadn't researched before purchasing, hadn't talked to many people with ATR's or At/3's and were happy or hadn't experienced 5k miles of smooth, quiet riding on the 18" version, I would have gladly switched.

The problem ? Cost and reviews. Even tires that are more expensive have bad reviews if you look long enough. The Internet is great for this. Tough to decide sometimes as someone, somewhere, has had a bad experience with a product you might be considering.

So I contacted Hunter, got an Area Rep's # and wanted to learn more about my Road Force Vibration Harmonic readings and "Road Force" readings. After talking to him and learning that my tires had really low numbers, he asked if they were mounted right. I replied, " Yeah, I've remounted them a few times plus 2 different shops." People pointed at the truck, but I knew the only thing that changed was the wheel/tire combo.


Well, it was this post that got me looking into options.

Turns out after mounting them by hand, withOUT the hubcentric rings, the truck rides smooth again. How and why ? Turns out I left the old HC rings on and the new wheels rings are .5, yes .5mm smaller. So that little of a clearance issue would not allow the wheels to sit properly. Since the rings were round, I suspect they would shift slightly as anyone Torqued in sequence.

Discount Tire is sending me the proper rings, as I sold the right ones with the last set. Unique situation, sure. But, I had 2 different people advise me not to remove the rings to try it.

So I do believe a slight mounting difference could make a difference now. I'm sorry to hear about everyone's issue. I do not work for Cooper, but just thought to share my story. My mind did NOT rest til I got this sorted and am thankful that the I-net allows us to experience more, thru others.

Best of luck in the future

Mike

 

Glad to hear you got yours figured out. mine are still crap. Two different types of balancing "after" being trued at a Josams alignment shop. Not as bad as they were at day 1, but still shake after about 60 mph......same on my wifes F150. Ill never buy coopers again.