Tires and forest service roads

[Dwnorton1]

Here is a tip that you really want to think about. I had tires(6 ply) on my truck that were less than 2 years old and 30000miles, so I though I would be good. Went up same roads in July on scouting trip so was not concerned. This time was different. They had just graded. I had flat a 10pm night I drove in. Went to local town up in mountains and had fixed next morning as was not willing to not have spare. Well on way back across pass had second flat. 1/2 mile from first flat. Finished hunt week and 35+ miles of armed hiking later. Now was heading down with no spare and was nervous, especially considering. Well made it almost down mountain when had flat 3. Guy coming by had plugs, so I was back in action for about 5 more mile, flat 4. Plugged, keep moving. I made it almost to La veta Pass summit when had 5 and final flat. No plug could stop gash in it or flat 2. I ended up spending 14 hrs beside of highway while Fred from Ole reliable towing of walsenburg came up and grabbed my rims and made couple of trips over pass in my rescue Great guy!!! on labor day no less. Turns out I had ruined 3 of 4 tires and Fred put me on some used ones that got me home.

BTW I have a brand new set of Toyo 10ply on truck and after my experience with cooper(after multiple sets and years of being customer, likely done with them. Their answer was should have bought the road hazard and they would have replaced, REALLY.
So I struck back the best way any consumer can. So basically I will NOT buy from them ever again and will share my story about inadequacy as well.

So don't assume that just because your tires are not very old, does not mean that they can stand up to freshly graded roads in mountains.

Just wanted to raise awareness......

Despite all of the troubles was still a great trip, just felt a lot like a pit crew at times.

 

[muddydogs]

Not to be an ass but 30,000 miles on 6 ply tires then running around mountain roads what do you expect.

 

[sneaky]

You seriously gonna bash Coopers because you ran worn down 6 plys on mountain roads? Good grief. I haven't had 6plys on my truck since the stock tires wore out. Mountains+gravel roads=10 ply tires. Yours is the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Cooper ST Maxx and you would have been fine. Besides, for every person who has had bad luck with Coopers, there's one who has had bad luck with Toyos. You were just on the wrong tire for that application.

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[N2TRKYS]

Dang, 30,000 miles on a set of tires is wore out? That sounds like enough for me to not use them at all, much less on fire service roads.

 

[idahohikker]

I wouldn't call that a worn out tire. 6 plys normally do pretty well on forest roads unless they're real rocky. Sounds like a terrible road you were on or terrible luck.

 

[nickstone]

I have Cooper AT3ss on my fleet of 18 trucks at work and all my personal trucks and trailers, and have never had an issue. My guys beat the crap out of them too......They are all 10 ply........If you so sure that the Cooper tires are at fault, why'd you go with 10 ply Toyos?

 

[Titan]

I recently picked up a new set of KO2s when Ebay had a crazy sale last week. My current tires are at 45k. Don't look too bad, but I was going back and forth on putting the new set on before CO 2nd season.

I'll take your thread as a sign to go ahead and put the new set on.

 

[Dwnorton1]

30000 on 60000 mile tires with less than 1/3rd tread gone, IMO is not worn out. 10 ply coopers would have been fine, if road had not been freshly graded would have been fine, if I didn't have bad luck would have been fine. In fact it ended up fine, I made it home no one was hurt, except my wallet.
Cooper tires have always been good, this is by far worse series of flats I ever had. Not honoring warranty is issue with Coopers. and why I choose to spend my money with someone else as is my right and choice. Advertise that that have road hazard,but then not honor. I did not even realize they were only six plys. I always have bought 10's in past. My ex tire shop evidently installed them and I never looked at load rating. My fault.



It was my mistake, I understand that just want to raise awareness to issue so that someone else doesn't feel same pain or worse gets hurt due to blowout.

Did have impact wrench and can change flat in less than 10 minutes and be back rolling. I am completely anal about planning and this one got by me. Never again........... Don't let it happen to you.

If one person who reads this reacts and save them some trouble then it will at least been worthwhile.

 

[sneaky]

Road hazard warranties I've seen don't cover forest service roads and what not. They also usually don't go past the first year either unless you purchase new tire replacement insurance. Price should have been your first indication that they weren't putting 10 ply on. If they sold you 10s and put on 6s, they would be in court reimbursing me for everything they caused. Still think it's BS you are trying to bash Cooper for something that is as much fault yours as anyone else's. INSPECT WHAT YOU EXPECT.

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[Dwnorton1]

Bashing coopers???? I said I will not use them again. I did not lobby congress to ban. Sorry I even posted. I was just trying to help someone else from making same mistake.

10plys were only $25 more per tire, so in a $1000 set of tire I did not notice difference.

As far as road warranty fine print said nothing about cant drive here or here. Found out after fact that road hazard was $30 per tire more and had to be purchased separate. Live and learn.

Sorry I offended you Cooper guys, and sorry was not a tire warranty expert. I don't post often on here, now I remember why...........
Won't likely make that mistake again either.

 

[AdamW]

I won't beat you up too bad since I'm mostly a pavement driver. My dad drives quite a bit of gravel for work every year and would eat a 50-60k mile 10 ply tire in 10-12k miles. He just started cycling through every quality 10 ply tire that was recommended until he found a small handful that lasted longer.

When you said 30k miles on a 6 ply tire, my first reaction was "those things should still be in good shape and handle that abuse", but apparently a lot disagree and part of is is your perspective. I don't know how much you drive off road in an average year; 1 week or 10 months. More than anything I'd like to know what this road looked like so I can just not drive one and know when not to push my luck. Haha.

BTW I just put 10 ply tires on my truck mainly for hunting season this year. Wife has 10 ply on her 4Runner now too. Nothing is indestructible but some things just last way better than others.

Live and learn man.

 

[N Corey]

10 ply is definitely the way to go for mountain roads.

 

[wytx]

We run 10 ply on both trucks, one set is Cooper and they have been great. Those tires have been everywhere the Goodyear Duratracs have with no issues.
We also watch out for the sharp rocks after the road has been graded. That maintainer can turn up all kinds of things in the road on the forest.

 

[Btaylor]

Sounds like the OP should have blamed the forest service for grading the road at hunting season. They should have done that a couple months back when it was mostly hikers and hippies using those roads, not those of us actually paying for them.

 

[Dwnorton1]

If there are fresh piles of dirt on sides of road from grader, be cautious. Equipment by road is another indicator, that I saw.

This was not some off the beaten path. I was on FR 250. I may spend 10 days total off pavement other than dirt roads back home, but we do not have rocks like up there.

Yes, if you looked at tire you would not think anything could be wrong, good tread, rotated and balanced, halfway through its 60000 mile life expectancy. Which I have since learned means on road only in perfect weather with no rain and just resurfaced highway behind a street sweeper.

Boils down to just 6 ply tires with fresh graded road. My error. 10 ply's on truck now from new tire shop.

 

[Titan]

Dwnorton1 - was that you I saw oustide the Cooper factory picketing? Ha! Just kidding. This thread got a little weird for just a PSA about checking your tires before heading up the mountain.

They should have done that a couple months back when it was mostly hikers and hippies using those roads, not those of us actually paying for them.

Can you imagine all the flats? You know nobody is putting 10 plys on their Subaru...

I would honestly assume those tires would have been fine on maintained roads. I did go out and check to make sure they didn't send my 6 ply tires though!

 

[nickstone]

You should have asked Cooper to reimburse you for your unfilled elk tag too........

 

[black dawg]

Which cooper tire were you running, what size? Some of the cooper tires are pretty cheap, would have me worried regardless of ply RATING.

 

[AdamW]

One question for the masses: do any of you guys air your tires down when hunting and spending significant time off road? It's a given for a huge part of the off road community, but I never see mention of it in hunting circles. Dropping an LT tire from 50+ PSI down to 20 can sure smooth out the ride and in a lot of cases protect the tire a bit.

Dwnorton1 - was that you I saw oustide the Cooper factory picketing? Ha! Just kidding. This thread got a little weird for just a PSA about checking your tires before heading up the mountain.



Can you imagine all the flats? You know nobody is putting 10 plys on their Subaru...

I would honestly assume those tires would have been fine on maintained roads. I did go out and check to make sure they didn't send my 6 ply tires though!

We just got back from Colorado. Went to Ouray and hit some of the popular trails up there around the Alpine Loop, etc. We were going up Yankee Boy Basin and I was just in awe by some of the vehicles that made it up there on street tires. We were headed up a part that wasn't too bad and there was a newer Ram on the side of the road with wheels lying everywhere. No one was there. On the way back there was 3 guys there. I stopped and asked if they needed any help (we had tools and an air compressor). "Nah, we had a bunch of flats". They were on stock tires and had at least 3 flats. We saw one of them at a tire shop in town in Ouray during lunch. He was apparently running in and out of town with each wheel and tire getting them replaced. Scary stuff!

 

[njdoxie]

Never crossed my mind, now I’m gonna have to go check my tires for ply, even though I’m flying to CO


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