Cooper Discoverer A/TW vs. a dedicated snow tire

[axcxnj]

I have a 2WD E250 with the 5.4 V8 and open diff. I live in the northeast and plan on using the van throughout the winter for backcountry ski and ice climbing trips. I dont plan on doing any offroading, for the most part my challenges will be getting in and out of snowy parking lots and traveling on roads in snowy conditions. I keep a second set of winter snow tires/wheels for every car i have (subaru impreza, forester, and previously, dodge caravan) and i feel that a set of snow tires is necessary for winter travel in the northeast. The E250 is just a camper/trip car, not a daily driver.

Im curious if anyone has experience with the cooper Discoverer A/TW in comparison to a dedicated snow tire and how they perform. It seems like the cooper is marketed as a year round AT tire that is highly rated for winter travel. Id be concerned about the tire wearing too quickly in the summer months and then losing its usefulness for winter. Ive read nothing but great things about the ATW, and if i can run one tire year round, that would be nice to not have to buy a whole other set of wheels, but i suppose im a bit skeptical about "do-it-all" products and was wondering if someone does run these and can vouch for their capability compared to a snow specific tire.

thanks

 

[slowtwitch]

I have the Coopers and really like them.. the best all rounder I have found, and good life as well. They are the sole tires on my Tundra in MT. When new, they are comparable to a dedicated snow tire, or at least damn close. But yes, when they wear, the lose of their snow/ice gription.. all the smaller siping gets worn away. Having said that, they still do just fine in 4wd even when past their half life.

 

[axcxnj]

thanks for the input. how many miles do you have on yours?

 

[slowtwitch]

Probably 35k +/-. Getting about time for replacements.. for non winter they are still fine, but getting pretty worn for another winter.

 

[ADDvanced]

Hi, I don't have any experience with coopers, but you should really consider the Kumho AT51s. It's an all terrain tire but it's 'snow rated', and even has a snowflake symbol on hte sidewall. After reading a lot of reviews, I pulled the trigger on them last fall. My 2wd/open diff truck never got stuck in the white stuff, ever, even in a couple huge snow storms. They're quiet too, I absolutely adore these tires:

http://kumhotireusa.com/tire-category-sub-detail/light-truck-uhp/all-terrain/43/road venture at51

 

[twodollars]

I have the coopers docile at tread on my wife's durango. Might be a discount tire only pattern, but it's labelled as a discoverer htp. Performs better in snow and light off road as compared to the Michelins that were on it before. Slightly more road noise. But still very quiet, and priced quite well.

 

[Trestle]

A similar one to consider might be the Falken ATW. Same idea, and seeing lots of real good feedback as well. I'm planning on slapping a set on my 2wd Sprinter, and will be using them up in Idaho. I'm a big fan of Cooper tires though.

 

[Riversdad]

I had them on my Ram 2500 diesel. They did really good in snow but they were completely shot at 25k.

 

[autism family travels]

Hi, I don't have any experience with coopers, but you should really consider the Kumho AT51s. It's an all terrain tire but it's 'snow rated', and even has a snowflake symbol on hte sidewall. After reading a lot of reviews, I pulled the trigger on them last fall. My 2wd/open diff truck never got stuck in the white stuff, ever, even in a couple huge snow storms. They're quiet too, I absolutely adore these tires:

http://kumhotireusa.com/tire-category-sub-detail/light-truck-uhp/all-terrain/43/road venture at51

I have the AT51s on my patriot ...great tire but I am swapping them to dedicated snow tires on my patriot. We just get so much snow, ice, etc that you need dedicated snow tires here. But for some places that just get a dump or two a year. The at's would be great!

 

[ScoMey]

I've got a little over 40K miles on my A/TW's... I've been fairly happy with mine in winter. They mounted up nice, didn't need a lot of weight and have worn well. In comparison to a dedicated winter tire... I've had dedicated winter tires on other vehicles, and the A/TW's don't compare when it comes down to traction on packed snow and ice, at least in my experience. They're really good in deeper snow and slush, but I'm not super impressed with the ice traction. I'm of the opinion the tread compound is just too hard for true winter performance.

 

[autism family travels]

I've got a little over 40K miles on my A/TW's... I've been fairly happy with mine in winter. They mounted up nice, didn't need a lot of weight and have worn well. In comparison to a dedicated winter tire... I've had dedicated winter tires on other vehicles, and the A/TW's don't compare when it comes down to traction on packed snow and ice, at least in my experience. They're really good in deeper snow and slush, but I'm not super impressed with the ice traction. I'm of the opinion the tread compound is just too hard for true winter performance.

Which is the reason I do not recommend any tire other than the true snow tire for people who live in winter. A snow fall every once and a while, sure. but someone who lives in winter, I would never NOT use a real snow tire.

 

[Trikebubble]

I've always been a firm believer of dedicated (and studded) winter tires. For me, it is one place where I don't mind spending the extra money. I run Ridge Grapplers on the Tundra for 3 seasons, and I was actually pretty impressed with how they handled snowy mountain pass highways (I got caught on a mountain pass here in BC in a snowstorm in late fall before I put my winters on). However, they or any other decent winter rated (Snowflake stamped) regular AT tire I have ever had pale in coomparison to a half decent dedicated studded winter specific tire. Maybe the level of importance depends on where you live, here in BC we travel high mountain pass highways during the winter and head up into the hills to snowshoe and camp all winter long. For me, the consequences of sliding off a corner because I couldn;t gain traction on an icy road could be quite serious. I am currently running Avalanche Xtreme studded tires on my Tundra and they are fantastic.

 

[Buliwyf]

It's a trade off. I can get by in snow with good siped MT's because I'm limited in speed by the minivan ahead of me. I don't need Nokian tires for any snow rallycross kind of stuff.

Ohio is sitting on a few salt mines. And we put ALL of it on the roads. So then we're talking slush and water, pull into your pits and have your pitcrew swap on AT tires for that. Snow tires sometimes stink in the rain. Now the roads are slick and the ditches are thawing and soft. Slide off the road and now you need MT's, because dedicated snow tires just turn into slicks in mud. I can't keep three sets of tires in my garage.

Our conditions change too much. I can see glare ice, hard packed snow, rain only, and thick gooey mud, all in the same day.

I just run Cooper stt's or st maxx's all year long. Even further north they worked ok. If I really wanted to, I could stud the st maxx's. Not sure about stt's.

I'm just too limited in speed in the winter by traffic. If there is only two clean stripes on the highway, passing on the packed snow fastlane in low vis conditions isn't too swell of an idea.

 

[ADDvanced]

Most places do not allow studs. I have not noticed a difference between the AT51s and Nokians for slow/truck driving. Maybe if I had a very fast truck the difference would be more apparent.