AT3, Pirelli, BFG who has changed from 1 of these brands to 1 of the others?

[PradOz Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradOz]

Its time to replace the original tyres and I was going to put on Coopers AT3. Most driving will be on road with some occasional off road on the easier stuff and sand. Having said that we did some serious rock hopping at night driving with the local 4wd club. I want to be sure the tyre choice has good on road handling in the wet etc as well as being made for off road use.

When i went for a price on AT3 they suggested that I should also consider Pirelli or BFG. Obviously price is a factor for me so before I take the plunge I was after some feedback from anyone who has used one of these brands and then canged to one of the others. What is your opinion of your 2 types after changing from 1 brand to the other?

Prices I have been quoted are:

Coopers AT3 (Genuine but with no warranty book etc) - $280 ea

or Cooper AT3 (Genuine with warranty book etc) - $345 ea (but maybe even at $325 ea but I need to reconfirm this price.)

Pirelli ATR - $299 ea

BFG - $380 ea

I dont know anyone with a Prado with Pirelli or havnt seen much feedback on them despite being told by one particular tyre business that it is widely used by "well knowns" in the off road world. I actually have no knowledge on them at all so am hesitant to buy them.

Also has anyone bought the lower priced Coopers AT3s without warranty and have any feedback on them? I have been reassured they are exactly same tyre from same plant etc just no warranty book. I have recently heard from a few people that the Coopers AT3s are available at $280 at various other tyre outlets, but with no Coopers long mileage warranty that they normally advertise. Sounds strange but then again there are many other different brands sold that have no long term mileage warranty like Coopers.

I have done some reading here on PP via search but havent found what I need to know. I would be keen to hear from anyone who has gone from one brand to the other to know both the good and bad according to their experience. Thanks and Cheers....

[Lorenzo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lorenzo]

Hey mate,

I have the Cooper AT3's in 265/70/17... I didn't get a warranty book thingy and I paid $295 a corner just before Xmas last year. They're very good tyres and I do mostly blacktop with some weekend offroad work. They're very good in the mud and sand, only complain that I have is that they tend to hang on to any little pebble they find like they're collecting them! Its quite annoying and I regularly pull out 10 pebbles out of it every few days (I drive on a pebble track pretty much everyday).

They keep up well with cars running mud etc and are super quiet on the road (can't hear any difference between the AT3's and previous grandtrek's). They handle so well in corners and in the wet it's not funny. It's like they're on rails. And I haven't managed to make them squeal once around a corner, Whilst the grandtrek's sounded like stuck pigs everytime I took a corner.

AT3's void their milage warranty the second they see a dirt track, so warranty is useless on these tyres. Even if you only did bitumen, u need to get them checked and rotated by the cooper dealer every 5k or 10k and even then, the warranty is prorata and off the full RRP, not what you paid for them... therefore, if you did 40k on them and one was to let go, you'd be up for $200 to replace the tyre under warranty (RRP is $400ea I think). Therefore, warranty is useless and I'd go for the no warranty option if you were going with Coopers.
Pirelli I know nothing about, but they're a ferrari tyre, not a 4wd one! The BFG's are extremely popular and every 2nd 4wd I see them is running those tyres. But they're dear for my and what seems to be your sort of use. AT3's are supposed to live longer too.

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

I've always used BFG's and never had any problem.

It's easy to see 80-100-120,000 out of a set if rotated correctly.

The A/T is a great tyre, hard wearing, good grip, quiet on the road, etc.

[Davros Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Davros]

I have not had the AT3's before. I have had a couple of sets of ST's and they were very good. I have many sets of BFG AT's over the years, and they are my long term tyre of choice. I would not get the AT3's myself, becaue i do a lot more off road stuff than you, and I like the more agressive pattern on the BFG's.

For what you are doing, the AT3's look like the go, and especially at $280.00 each! Go with the AT3's IMO. Don't pay for the warranty, it isn't worth anything to you.

Rotate the AT3's regularly, and you should be good for a long time.

[PradOz Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradOz]

Thanks everyone. I tend to agree with most if not all of what was said. I have has coopers before on the 90 series and even used their warranty up until i had an argumentive dealer who didnt want to check the tyre for a warranty claim. He basically said it was fine, I said it wasnt, seeing it nearly caused me to write off my 90 series when it came off the rim. Anyway Coopers came to the party, I told the dealer to stick it, I forgot about the warranty after that point and looked after them myself and got over 80000 out of them.

$345 each or $280 each (x4) ??? HMMM With a saving of nearly $200 for a set of 4 (which is better off in my pocket I think) I will be going the AT3's minus the warranty at $280 EACH. Thanks again

[Lorenzo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lorenzo]

Yeh good choice mate...!

[azzss Member Find all posts View Profile Close azzss]

Nothing wrong with the AT3's, I was running them on the hilux before i sold it (265 65 17) and they were wearing very well. Would of seen 70,000k's i reckon. I used to run the ST's on the hilux and rodeo before it i was getting up to 90k out of them they were a bit noisy and not a great tyre in the wet on hotmix etc. The prado has BFG's on it (on when i bought it) and they are good also but cost more as already said. My father in law is about to fit new tyres to his pajero (18") i can get him AT3's for $340 not bad for a 18" BFG's were around $500!!!.
Cheers.

[slackdog Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close slackdog]

Just to throw a spanner in the works i have Hercules Terra Trac fitted to my 120.seem excellent so far.Had BFG on previous vehicle with no probs. Went to vic hi-Country few months ago and my mate had a set of new AT3 fitted,1 tyre had a bulge in side wall 700ks old and on return to Adelaide dealer said no warranty. Had also had a few series of Wranglers on other vehicle and the also were good

P.S- Paid $270.00 for Hercules Terra Trac

[slackdog Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close slackdog]

Just to throw a spanner in the works i have Hercules Terra Trac fitted to my 120.seem excellent so far.Had BFG on previous vehicle with no probs. Went to vic hi-Country few months ago and my mate had a set of new AT3 fitted,1 tyre had a bulge in side wall 700ks old and on return to Adelaide dealer said no warranty. Hace also had a few series of Wranglers on other vehicle and the also were good

Paid $270 For Hercules Terra Trac

[kieranu Member Find all posts View Profile Close kieranu]

"AT3's void their milage warranty the second they see a dirt track, so warranty is useless on these tyres. Even if you only did bitumen, u need to get them checked and rotated by the cooper dealer every 5k or 10k and even then, the warranty is prorata and off the full RRP, not what you paid for them... therefore, if you did 40k on them and one was to let go, you'd be up for $200 to replace the tyre under warranty (RRP is $400ea I think). " - Every 10k (not 5k) and pro-rata replacement cost is true. The part about the warranty being voided once off road is a common misconception. My AT3s have only got just over 5k on them so far but to date they have felt very competent on and off road including some hard braking - leaps and bounds above the original Grandtreks at any rate.

I chose the AT3s over the Pirellis and BF/G because I couldn't find the Pirellis in an LT construction in 265/70 and the BF/Gs had a lower speed rating, which probably won't matter to most, and weren't any cheaper than the AT3.

[Davros Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Davros]

Just to throw a spanner in the works i have Hercules Terra Trac fitted to my 120.seem excellent so far.Had BFG on previous vehicle with no probs. Went to vic hi-Country few months ago and my mate had a set of new AT3 fitted,1 tyre had a bulge in side wall 700ks old and on return to Adelaide dealer said no warranty. Had also had a few series of Wranglers on other vehicle and the also were good

P.S- Paid $270.00 for Hercules Terra Trac

I thought Hercules did retreads? Just looked them up and it seems they were bought out by Cooper Tyres.
I would buy Coopers over Herc's but I don't have any experience with the latter.... except for retreads many years ago.
Sidewall damage can occur for several reasons which may or may not be the fault of the tyre.

[slackdog Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close slackdog]

Spot on Davros i guess it is the luck of the draw.I guess time will tell...One problem i found with BFG is that in the sand at about 18psi the do not bag out as much as others

Rob

[kieranu Member Find all posts View Profile Close kieranu]

Bagging out doesn't achieve anything anyway, unless that part of the tyre is actually making contact with the sand (yet to see a tyre that does that at 18 psi) - in this case it really is all about length not width

[slackdog Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close slackdog]

Gee i thought that increasing the footprint was the main goal.Looks like i have been wasting my time letting my tyres down then.??????(LOL)

[Davros Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Davros]

Gee i thought that increasing the footprint was the main goal.Looks like i have been wasting my time letting my tyres down then.??????(LOL)

No.... footprint extends with reduced pressure. Reducing pressure gives other benefits as well in the right conditions.