I put a set of the A/TW from Canadian Tire on this weekend. (I took them the wheels, NOT my Trail). After seeing the stupid commercial with the six RAMs tied together as a dogsled team, I researched these tires. ALL the feed back was very positive. I decided to take a chance on trying these out. I have run DT's for over a decade. Four sets on an Off Road Xterra and one set on my Trail. After 87K, I was down to 7/32nd on my DT's and figured I could get another winter out of them but a sale came up so I rolled the dice. I payed $157/tire and also got a $70 rebate VISA. I listed my old DT's on Kijiji (like Craigslist) some kid came by and took them for $200 three hours after I posted the ad. So I got new shoes for $358! KILLER DEAL!
First thing I noticed on the maiden voyage was how quiet the Coopers are. REALLY quiet compared to my DT's. Now DT's do get very noise when they are less than 50% in my experience. One other factor is CT gave them to me @ 32 PSI, which is much less than the 42 PSI I ran my DT's at. The sidewalls on these Coopers do seem a little softer, but this could also be attributed to the difference in pressure. I have not changed the pressure yet.
Every morning on my way to work I take an exit ramp (270 degree turn) which is tagged at 40 km/h. I routinely take this at 80 km/h. (LOVE KDSS for this!!!) This morning I tried it with the Coopers. Freeway road conditions dry @ -11 deg C. The tires loaded up in the entrance to the corner just stuck! It was very predictable and smooth. No drama. At the apex of the corner I yanked the steering wheel into the turn a few times to see if I could break them loose a bit, NOPE! Very happy with this!
Last week we had a good +4 inch dump of snow so the service/neighborhood roads still have packed and powdered snow on them. My Trail handles very well on this snow. Turning is responsive as is the braking. On high traffic areas where the snow has been packed down and turned into polished ice... well ice is ice! Only a studded tire will perform well. In the snow.. yes I can spin the tires, but in 4H there is Velcro type adhesion. I'm not sure if they bite better than the new DT's but its very very close.
Now the Coopers are a good looking tire, not as plain as a regular all season as the side lugs are definitely larger, but not in the same class as the DT's. I run 1.25 Spidertrax spacers and when I look at my Trail from a distance I am reminded of the way the 3rd gens looked with the OEM rim/tires, that wide beefy look if you know what I mean. Looks good IMHO.
One other big plus is I was never able to eliminate the steering wobble at 100 km/h - 120 km/h with the DT's. Many Road Force balancing acts where attempted. The Coopers feel like silk. Nothing up to 150 km/h! (It's winter here, that as fast as I was prepared to go!) Nada, zip, zero steering wheel shake! It feels like I am driving a different vehicle now, its VERY different!
Hope this helps somebody out!
Cheers,
Z
