Thought I'd make a short post as a form of a thank you to all the owners on here who have posted their tire experiences, I was still running the OE Michelin tires with the odometer a little over 55k miles, but not all those miles were Michelin miles because I have a second set of wheels with snow rubber on them. I have enjoyed good success with Cooper tires in the past. So I was glad to see so many members give good reports on the Cooper Discoverer AT3's. I considered Toyo, Goodyear, and Les Schwab's Open Range tire, but I opted for the reliability, performance, and my personal satisfaction with Cooper's. I also considered the S/T Maxx, but I read some reports from Dodge and Ford diesel truck owners who said the cornering and general stability of the Maxx was not on par with the AT3's, and I didn't want a noisier tire for Spring - Fall use.

So I opted to stay with stock size because in my mind, why push larger than a 34" tall tire? The truck is set up for that, and frankly, there was a time when I was happy with the performance of 33x1250's on my trucks and Bronco's. Also, so far in my running around mountain roads in Idaho I've not needed more height to compensate for how long this truck is. The new tires, AT3 XLT's, impressed me right away on the ride home! They drove smoother than the Michelins, and cornering was superior. Took the wife for a ride to get some dinner, and she also notice the ride was smoother. They act like they have a softer rubber and more forgiving sidewalls, but their load range and load index ratings are equal to the others, plus, they have a 60,000 mile warranty. Time will tell how they perform in mud and snow, but I have little doubt I will be happy. They also look good!

 

Nice looking and Cooper makes some great tires. Good choice!

Have 29K on my factory Michelins and about half worn...may buy new ones just to upsize a little and get a different look on my dually.

 

Keep us posted how those tires do. I have had good experiences with Coopers as well. I can get them at wholesale price as I have a friend in the business. I had Cooper STs on my 96 F250 that was a plow truck. I've had Cooper M+Ss as well for different vehicles and thought they were great in the snow.

I replaced my OEM Michelin LTXs at 33.7k miles. I went with a cheap Chinese AT tire (Nankang) from my friend . There was tread left but not enough for snow. I wanted to replace them before the snow flew. Long story short, the tread on the Nankangs were awesome but they didn't ride well at all.

I replaced them at just over 38k miles with Michelin Defenders which I currently have on now with truck at just over 60k miles. They ride great. I'm sure I have about 20k miles left but we shall see.

My next set will be either the Cooper AT3 XLTs or the Falken AT3Ws. My buddy sells a lot of the Falkens and they perform well from what I read here also. My friend has them on his truck as well. He really likes them. But I really like those XLTs as they just look beefy as hell. Time will tell and keep us posted on those tires. Thanks.

Just a beefy looking tread there. Pic of a page i printed when researching the Cooper XLTs.

 

Also worth noting is so far I've felt none of the slight rear end hop between 40-45mph that I still had with the Michelins. My much older winter tires have more of the hop, and the Michelins were better. So I knew it was tire related after I put Bilsteins and Sulastic Shackles on the truck a few years back. I mentioned this hop to the local Discount Tire where I bought the tires, and they said that they would be surprised if I still had the hopping after installing the XLT's because they are a top of the line construction by Cooper. If needed he said they would road force balance the wheels, but the initial install was a standard spin balance. I hope the dreaded hop stays away!

 

That's what it's called... The rear end hop. I couldn't remember the name... I never had it with my OEM Michelins but the those Nankangs made the hop way, way noticeable. I started researching the rear hop like crazy. The Michelin Defenders made it way better but still there but not bad. I don't even notice it now. But that's good to hear about the XLTs.

 

My rear end hop didn't stay away. In fact it came back pretty quickly (42mph), and I went back to Discount Tire for another road force balance. Turned out one wheel was 3/4 ounce off and another was 3oz off. They rebalanced all wheels, and I again sensed no wheel hop when I left. But a day or two later it came back after I removed my truck cap, but the hop was at 46mph now. My guess is the change in hop speed is because my cap and some gear I keep in the bed when the cap is on weighs a total of about 300lbs. So then I put my atv in the bed of the truck, which is why I removed the cap, and I had no wheel hop! ATV weighs about 700lbs.

That's all I'm doing for now. I've got some scouting and hunting to do over the next month, and I'll just keep track of how this thing acts.

 

I bought a set of these tires yesterday, But I went the LT285/65r20 size. And yesterday and today I thought they rode very smooth. So yeah, I'm liking them

 

I like mine too. Very smooth and handle well. The rear end hop for me is just the quirk with these trucks until Ford did a redesign. I’ve just got to figure out what’s causing it in mine...without keeping my atv permanently loaded in the back!

 

does your truck have the harmonic dampener on the rear hitch?

 

No, I don't. I actually had to look up what this dampener is, and while it's exciting to think this could fix my problem, I've read a number of reports that the TSB 16-0087 isn't a fix that the dealership will cover after the new warranty runs out. I've had this wheel hop for years, and somehow I missed discussions about this dampener. I did shocks, sulastic shackle, and saw changes in the hop with different tires. Is there something I should say or reference when talking to my dealership to see if the TSB or my ESP will cover this cost?

 

I think you will love those tires, i have a little over 50k on mine now and i am positive they will go past 60k, but by then it will be winter time and I will want new tires. I will be buying a cooper tire, most likely the AT3s, but i have been looking really hard at the discoverer S/T maxx. I like the look of them too. I guess i will have to decide in about 4 months when i get that next 10k down haha...

 

I had my at3 on a 2006 f250 got 67,000 on them right now. There is between 2-3 nickel thickness left on the thread right now. We tow a 28’ wildwood trailer about twice a year. I am happy with them, they have outlasted any tire I have run so far. I keep 72 psi in them and the wear pattern is even all across the tread.
Smokeploe

 

I usually run 50 up front and 40 on the rear, unless i am towing, then its usually 70 in the rear

 

My brother put the S/T Maxx on his half ton GMC last year, and he loves them. They are a little louder than the AT3’s, but that’s expected with the more aggressive tread pattern. He runs them year round, but in the fall and winter he needs a tire that is really good in snow and mud. I have a 2nd set of rims (18”) for my truck that I have some studded Cooper m+s tires on for winters, but the tires are probably 10 years old. They still have a lot of tread left because I used them while I lived in Kodiak, AK. Didn’t put a lot of miles on them. Point is the AT3 and these old m+s have very similar tread patterns so I am going to leave the at3’s on the truck for this Fall’s hunting season to see how they do in the snow. I’ve run the m+s snow tires through foot deep snow and on icy roads, and I bet the AT3’s May handle the snow just as well. I also have chains that fit these AT3’s if things get really nasty. Then I will probably get some really aggressive snow tires for the 18” rims.

 

I am sure they will do great in the snow, they are the first tire i have ever owned that allowed me to climb an incline from the side without the front end slipping down. I always forget about chains, maybe chains would be a better idea than the st maxx...