MT Hybrid tire - Cooper STT MAXX, Toyo RT Or....?

[DannyLlama]

I'm stuck in a decision gridlock and hoping to get some guidance from the community..

Situation - I currently have Toyo Open Country AT II's and have hair line punctured two tires and I'm over it!

I'm going to switch to an MT / AT Hybrid tire. I started to go down the path of Nitto Ridge Grapples but after reading horrible snow reviews, I have decided to pass.

I am looking for a solid off road tire with descent on road mannerism. So fart all roads point to the Cooper STT MAXX (strange name). The only issue with that and any other tire in my size is that it will be in E load, unfortunately. Other than that, it seems to fit the bill.

My application is desert, mountain, some snow, on road, not too much mud... something with a solid sidewall with off road/snow capabilities.

I realize weight will be an issue with most of this type of tire. That isn't as much of an issue.

Looking tot he community for some feedback.

Adding a good video reference Re Cooper MAX

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[KYMike]

ST MAXX: I haven’t used them in all the scenarios you mentioned. However, I have 20K miles on mine (mostly on-road) and they still look new. I’d have to measure to know how much tread I’ve actually lost.

I believe [MENTION=129593]MTN4RNR[/MENTION] can give you a full assessment. IIRC, he had these in all of your scenarios. He also later switched to another tire, so he can provide a comparison.

 

[delloro]

I'm in so cal if you want to see the Milestar Patagonias. Just put them on last month.

 

[lunarsnowstorm]

The dreaded search for new tires. Never as fun as one would think it would be, LOL Here is my 2 cents worth. Never ran the Toyos can't help you there. Did you mean ST/Maxx or STT PRO ? I ran both. The St/maxx, (285/ 70 /17) I was not as happy as I thought I would be. I feel the tires did a sub par job of clearing itself which really hampered it's winter performance. Hitting standing water at highway speeds, hydroplaned a little more then I would have liked. Ran the STT PRO in the same size, definitely a better tire but had to replace after 12,000 miles.The streets ate them up. To make a long story short, I decided to go with the Yokohama Geolandar M/T 003. Have about 13,000 miles ( should make 35,000 easily as long as you keep up on the rotation.) on them and zero complaints yet. By far, the best all around performing tire I have ever put on. For me, this will be the only tire I will ever put on my Runner.
You should add this tire to your list of possibles.

 

[mteolus]

I'm in so cal if you want to see the Milestar Patagonias. Just put them on last month.

Lots of Jeep owners are using these. I have seen videos, tough tires. You won't get the mileage of A/T out of them though. That's one thing you will compromise with a hybrid mud tire.

 

[comtn4x4]

I've only had the St Maxx's (285/75) on for about 6000 miles so far, so impressions are limited at this point. For perspective I've run the stock tires, Duratac's, KO2's and Ridge Grapplers in two sizes on my 4Runner.

So far the St Maxx's are preforming well for me. They are a heavy aggressive E rated hybrid terrain tire leaning towards a MT. If you're looking for a middle of the road AT there are other better choices.

They do take a bit of weight to balance but so far have stayed balanced and at first rotation no adjustment were needed to weighting. At 6000 miles they look new as far as wear goes with 17/32 of the initial 18.5/32 of tread depth left. That would seem to indicate a long wearing tire. Most reports I have read say these tires last quite long so we will see.

In the beginning I got a bit of the slight right pulling symptom that some have reported, however that went away at about 3000 miles. On a heavily grooved roads they will follow the grooves a bit but nothing crazy. On road performance is surprisingly smooth and not as stiff/rough at 38# tire pressure as I would have expected. Road noise so far is on par at 6,000 miles with all the other tires I've run which I would call quiet for an AT. (Except the Duratrac which turned into a howling banshee at 20,000 miles, it was already getting louder at 6,000.) MPG have been better than expected at 15.5/17.5. They are a bit taller and narrower than a typical 285/75 at 34.05" tall and 11.2" wide as measured on the truck. Weight was verified at 65#.

We don't get a ton of rain here in Denver but what wet conditions we have had this year there's been no loss of traction or hydroplaning.

Snow performance has been greatly improved over my previous tires other than the Duratrac which is fantastic in wet conditions. The tires are sure footed off the start and hold corners well. I rarely put the rig in 4 Hi till there is quite a bit of snow on the ground or it's icy underneath. In deep unplowed snow conditions in the mountains (I have a house above Montezuma) the have been great, clearing snow easily and keeping traction. In Denver's spring slop snow storms they cut through the snow/water/ice to get to the road and maintain traction unlike my previous tires that constantly slid on turns, acceleration and breaking.
Off road is the tires real shining point I think. I did 700 miles of dirt through New Mexico and Arizona recently and they were amazing. They aired down to 18# very well and provided great traction through sand and over the rocky terrain. I could easily have aired down further if needed. We don't get real mud conditions generally in the Southwest, however, the mud we did encounter the tires handled with no issues and no need to get a bunch of momentum going.

So obviously 6000 miles isn't much and I'll report back after another tire rotation.

I'd absolutely recommend these tires to anyone looking for a heavy duty tire that's designed more for the trail than the road and understands the trade off's. Cooper describes this tire as a "commercial traction tire" I thought that was hype honestly till I got them and have run them a bit now. They are definitely an aggressive heavy duty tire and behave like one

 

[DannyLlama]

[MENTION=98117]comtn4x4[/MENTION] thanks for the long and detailed review! Appreciate it. What size did you run them in?

I will take the weight penalty over the sidewall punctures I have experienced with Toyo AT's. One was in death valley, lucky for me it was sustainable with adding air pressure, but could have been worse. All that to say, Im done entry level AT's.

the feedback by [MENTION=67685]lunarsnowstorm[/MENTION] was legitimately the first negative feedback I have read about this tire. I will not run a full MT tire on road and have to replace often.

The pull (no pun intended) is strong towards the Cooper MAXX.

Any other feedback?

 

[blackened_offroad]

I've only had the St Maxx's (285/75) on for about 6000 miles so far, so impressions are limited at this point. For perspective I've run the stock tires, Duratac's, KO2's and Ridge Grapplers in two sizes on my 4Runner.

So far the St Maxx's are preforming well for me. They are a heavy aggressive E rated hybrid terrain tire leaning towards a MT. If you're looking for a middle of the road AT there are other better choices.

They do take a bit of weight to balance but so far have stayed balanced and at first rotation no adjustment were needed to weighting. At 6000 miles they look new as far as wear goes with 17/32 of the initial 18.5/32 of tread depth left. That would seem to indicate a long wearing tire. Most reports I have read say these tires last quite long so we will see.

In the beginning I got a bit of the slight right pulling symptom that some have reported, however that went away at about 3000 miles. On a heavily grooved roads they will follow the grooves a bit but nothing crazy. On road performance is surprisingly smooth and not as stiff/rough at 38# tire pressure as I would have expected. Road noise so far is on par at 6,000 miles with all the other tires I've run which I would call quiet for an AT. (Except the Duratrac which turned into a howling banshee at 20,000 miles, it was already getting louder at 6,000.) MPG have been better than expected at 15.5/17.5. They are a bit taller and narrower than a typical 285/75 at 34.05" tall and 11.2" wide as measured on the truck. Weight was verified at 65#.

We don't get a ton of rain here in Denver but what wet conditions we have had this year there's been no loss of traction or hydroplaning.

Snow performance has been greatly improved over my previous tires other than the Duratrac which is fantastic in wet conditions. The tires are sure footed off the start and hold corners well. I rarely put the rig in 4 Hi till there is quite a bit of snow on the ground or it's icy underneath. In deep unplowed snow conditions in the mountains (I have a house above Montezuma) the have been great, clearing snow easily and keeping traction. In Denver's spring slop snow storms they cut through the snow/water/ice to get to the road and maintain traction unlike my previous tires that constantly slid on turns, acceleration and breaking.
Off road is the tires real shining point I think. I did 700 miles of dirt through New Mexico and Arizona recently and they were amazing. They aired down to 18# very well and provided great traction through sand and over the rocky terrain. I could easily have aired down further if needed. We don't get real mud conditions generally in the Southwest, however, the mud we did encounter the tires handled with no issues and no need to get a bunch of momentum going.

So obviously 6000 miles isn't much and I'll report back after another tire rotation.

I'd absolutely recommend these tires to anyone looking for a heavy duty tire that's designed more for the trail than the road and understands the trade off's. Cooper describes this tire as a "commercial traction tire" I thought that was hype honestly till I got them and have run them a bit now. They are definitely an aggressive heavy duty tire and behave like one

thanks. I'm in the same tire search as the OP, lived in Denver recently and also just toured backcountry through AZ and NM so that helps. sounds like my tire. I do wish they had C rated.

 

[comtn4x4]

<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> @comtn4x4 <!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> thanks for the long and detailed review! Appreciate it. What size did you run them in?

I will take the weight penalty over the sidewall punctures I have experienced with Toyo AT's. One was in death valley, lucky for me it was sustainable with adding air pressure, but could have been worse. All that to say, Im done entry level AT's.

the feedback by <!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> @lunarsnowstorm <!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> was legitimately the first negative feedback I have read about this tire. I will not run a full MT tire on road and have to replace often.

The pull (no pun intended) is strong towards the Cooper MAXX.

Any other feedback?

I run 285/75r17's which I think was different than you said you were planning on running although I don't remember.
I did quite a bit of research on these tires before I bought. The negatives I saw were as follows: Some people notice pulling to the right that doesn't resolve or can't be corrected. Can take a lot of weight to balance. Stiff carcass can cause harsher ride. (The stiff carcass is both a positive and a negative I suppose) Heavy.

The positives I saw were: Industry best sidewall strength and puncture resistance. (Stiff carcass). Very tough tire. Mileage higher than average AT/MT some people reporting 60,000 miles. Amazing off road performance. Good road manners and not overly noisy.
Coopers are an American company and made in America which is a bonus as well

 

[Jetboy]

One of the most interesting details of the new Bronco is what appears to be a new Goodyear hybrid type tire. I think they're a 35" tire according to someone who had a photo with enough detail to read the sidewall size.

 

[DannyLlama]

BTW anyone whose looking, Unbeatable Tire Prices | American Tire Depot has a buy 3 get one free sale

 

[jp.vegas]

I put almost 30K miles on the ST/MAXX on my Tundra. E rated 295/70-18s if I recall. They were slightly noisy on road, to be expected, just something to be aware of, but the traction off road in the desert Southwest was great. Probably did 4-5K offroad miles with them over the years in all sorts of conditions. Aired down to about 20 PSI on the heavy af Tundra (7k lbs on the scales in overlanding guise) and never a puncture or other issue.

I was considering them for the 4Runner too but might end up with the sister tire, the Baja ATZ P3, once I figure out what size I'm going to run.

 

[JSparky]

Just went through this myself.

For context, I’ve owned 3x sets of ST Maxx, I absolutely love them for a tough, off road tire that still performs in wet weather with good tread life (45k on my last set with around another 10k on them). *Edit: I've ran ST Maxx through trails in CA, NV, AZ, NM, and Baja, with no complaints.

I’ve also owned KO2’s, good tires but prefer the ST Maxx, better traction off-road and for the siping on the KO2 I felt like they should have been better in rain.

I just bumped up to 35’s and weight was a real consideration for new tires. I figured I’d just get another set of Coopers but they must have increased prices recently? They were running upwards of $320 a tire and since I needed five I figured I’d open up my search a bit. I looked hard at the Nitto Ridge Grappler and Toyo RT, but the weight increase really killed it for me, almost made more sense just to run a true MT at that point.

Long story short, after a lot of review I ended up with Mickey Thompson ATZ P3.. made by Cooper with a similar tread pattern. Treads are more aggressive on the Mickey’s, sidewall is more aggressive on the Cooper. I assume construction is nearly the same based off everything I’ve read. They were also less expensive and had a rebate going on, so it was an easy sell.

I’ve only had them a month so can’t comment on performance, but they definitely drive smooth for how aggressive they are. May be worth looking into at least. Hope that helps!

 

[blackened_offroad]

i'm really having a hard time deciding between the ST MAXX and the STT Pros. I feel like the feedback I've read in all the reviews points towards the Maxx, but I want the Pros because they look super badass.

 

[DannyLlama]

i'm really having a hard time deciding between the ST MAXX and the STT Pros. I feel like the feedback I've read in all the reviews points towards the Maxx, but I want the Pros because they look super badass.

I read about the STT Pros, they are indeed bad ass in looks and performance. They will wear quickly on the road.

Weight your decision against that i suppose... Also Cooper has 100 rebate for the STT Pros, but not the Maxx... Good luck!

The Maxx have a lot of great feedback..

I'm thankful for this forum and this community, helped me solidify my decision.

Now, onto finding 17 rims as I'm ditching my 18's for more sidewall.

Cheers!

 

[JSparky]

A buddy of mine ran STT Pro’s on his GX, I don’t think he got much last 30k on them. It went to Prudhoe bay and back though, not easy miles. He runs ST Maxx pizza cutters now.

 

[Gclark949]

ST Maxx in stock size for me and about 25K miles. I cannot speak to their snow capabilities but on and off-road they are excellent. Very tough and great traction.

 

[blackened_offroad]

I read about the STT Pros, they are indeed bad ass in looks and performance. They will wear quickly on the road.

Weight your decision against that i suppose... Also Cooper has 100 rebate for the STT Pros, but not the Maxx... Good luck!

The Maxx have a lot of great feedback..

yeah, I know I should buy the Maxx. especially because I'll be doing a lot of driving this summer. I want the Pros though.

 

[JSparky]

yeah, I know I should buy the Maxx. especially because I'll be doing a lot of driving this summer. I want the Pros though.

If you can afford to replace tires sooner then just go with it, no sense in feeling like you compromised!

For reference, ST Maxx with 45,000 miles on them.

 

[lyodbraun]

Get the st maxx I had them on my ole Tacoma and they performed awesome i ended up adding some sipes to mine for winter driving, and they were awesome in snow, and moved water on the roads like crazy... Plus they were fairly quiet for such tire...

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