Check your Coopers

[Gooster Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Gooster]

I was driving up to the Sunshine Coast yesterday when one of my Cooper Tyres delamenated at 110kph like a retread. One of the scariest moments I've ever had - the sound was like a bomb went off and ripped of the RR guard flare, put a huge dent in the quarter panel and broke a tail light. Damage aside, I'm glad the missus and young one weren't in the car with me. My advice - check your Cooper Tyres regularly and change brands as soon as you can. This is coming from someone who has owned Cooper Tyres for over 15 years but never again.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Trekky posted almost an identical experience here http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...-love-Cooper-s!

The pictures are so alike its scary. Good that no real damage was done to life or limb. Guess you might need to get the seats cleaned after that one

Cheers Andrew

[vxcruiser08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close vxcruiser08]

wow this makes me feel good after spending 2k on coopers today :|

bloody hell mate, glad your alright.

What model were these and how old??

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

I was just thinking of you VXCruiser08, remembered you were changing to Coopers from your build thread. I was going to ask the same question, model and how old? If these were fairly new tyres I'd be having a serious talk to Coopers and hitting them up for the damages too.

[ntp Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close ntp]

Can you post a pic of the sidewall and, in particular, the code on the side of the tyre to indicate manufacturing details? Also, how old are the tyres and did you purchase them new?

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Bloody coopers shit, wouldn't put them on my car if you gave them to me for free........Glad no one was hurt including vehicles around you which could have panicked and had an accident to avoid the rubber flying off, and yes would definitely be chasing up with coopers.... Cheers Steve

[vxcruiser08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close vxcruiser08]

I was just thinking of you VXCruiser08, remembered you were changing to Coopers from your build thread. I was going to ask the same question, model and how old? If these were fairly new tyres I'd be having a serious talk to Coopers and hitting them up for the damages too.

Thanks for the kind thoughts

Yes please let us know the outcome. I am tempted to email the link to this thread and say "i spent 2k on your tyres today. Not feeling so confident right now, please convince me I am safe??"

[Bear63 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bear63]

Another typical failure of an old tyre,been in the tyre industry 18 years now and that failure isn't limited to 1 brand ,like npt asked post up a pic of the manufacturing date on the sidewall

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Remember m/t are the same factory.
My atz 4 ribs have some cracks I'm concerned about, waiting over a month to get hem to have a look.
Getting these looked at 11th feb.
I think I read about a set of 4 ribs cracked along the tred blocks and were replaced........
I hear about lots of ppl having trouble with m/t........
Bfg a/t for me next time.

Ooooooohhhhhh......... And this is what it looks like after a tyre has overheated, then fallen apart, so the other question should always be...... Usually is where the blame will get shifted...... What tyre pressures?
And like do you have them at 15psi on the beach and do 80k I so on them, 110k before you pumped them up? Cooked???? Of corse being old doesn't help either.
Well of corse not...... No one does that........ Well I'm sure some do.......

[Sako85 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Sako85]

Scary to say the least! Good to hear no-one was hurt, and the little one wasn't in the car.

I had similar experience with Coopers on my patrol ute. Brand new tyres. Took the tyre in for warranty and they knocked it back as apparently they had been used off road which voids the waranty?? They would not move on this warranty claim and I had to fork out for a new tyre which I felt unsafe driving on. So once I had enough $ saved up I bought another set of wheels and tyres to put on and put the Coopers in the shed. I gave the set of wheels with the coopers fitted away with the car when I sold it.

The were ATR's btw

[Bear63 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bear63]

Like i said the numbers on the side tell alot about the tyre,don't worry about when you bought them! the important thing is the manufacturing date, you dont buy your milk without checking the use buy date and the use buy date for tyres is 5 years after they are manufactured! Anything after that they are all suspect

[Gooster Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Gooster]

Thanks everyone for your well wishes. I am pretty festidious about tyres and tyre pressures and usually ran the Coopers at 40psi on the road.The tyres were 3 years old (at least from the time they were put on the car) and had at least 75% tread left on them. I have emailed Coopers and to their credit contacted me straight away. Unfortunately I didn't keep tyre - I just wanted them off my car at that point. But I was told that because they had a previous repair that the warranty would have been void anyway. They did want to find out why the tyre had failed and all I had at that point were photos to show him.

I now have a brand new set of BFG's which I was quite surprised to find how much quieter they were than the Coopers and they actually felt round. I don't think I have a great photo of the side wall of the tyre but will post what I have. The best shot of the side wall isn't very good and I am having trouble uploading the full size photo that you could zoom in with.

Like I said in my first post, I have owned Coopers for over 15 years and have never had any trouble with them until now. I wanted to make people aware of what could happen and to make sure you check your tyres. If you don't think they feel right stop straight away and have a look. In my case it didn't matter about the other 3 tyres, they would never feel right after that insident and I just wanted them off my car.

Drive safe everyone.

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Thanks everyone for your well wishes. I am pretty festidious about tyres and tyre pressures and usually ran the Coopers at 40psi on the road.The tyres were 3 years old (at least from the time they were put on the car) and had at least 75% tread left on them. I have emailed Coopers and to their credit contacted me straight away. Unfortunately I didn't keep tyre - I just wanted them off my car at that point. But I was told that because they had a previous repair that the warranty would have been void anyway. They did want to find out why the tyre had failed and all I had at that point were photos to show him.

I now have a brand new set of BFG's which I was quite surprised to find how much quieter they were than the Coopers and they actually felt round. I don't think I have a great photo of the side wall of the tyre but will post what I have. The best shot of the side wall isn't very good and I am having trouble uploading the full size photo that you could zoom in with.

Like I said in my first post, I have owned Coopers for over 15 years and have never had any trouble with them until now. I wanted to make people aware of what could happen and to make sure you check your tyres. If you don't think they feel right stop straight away and have a look. In my case it didn't matter about the other 3 tyres, they would never feel right after that insident and I just wanted them off my car.

Drive safe everyone.

Fair enuff too, that's not old or worn. Thanks for sharing.

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

If a warranty is void with offroad use do they market all warranted tyres as 100% onroad use only?

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

Without taking anything away from how scary the failure would have been, I think one of the most disappointing aspects of this story is Cooper's continued 'get out' clauses in their warranty. Personally I judge companies on their ability to stand-by their product and in this instance, I think Cooper need to revisit their slogan 'America's Most Trusted 4WD Tyre'.

Interestingly, the warranty section of the Cooper website says:

Travelling off-road
Does the Warranty cover offroad damage?
We do not warrant against tyre punctures and damage, as they are seen as general road hazards and not a manufacturing defect or reason for not achieving the stated mileage warranty for the tyre.

If you live in a Capital City, does the Mileage Warranty apply if you drive off-road?
Yes, we understand that most people will take their four wheel drives off-road, but as stated above, road hazards or damage that is not a manufacturing fault are not covered. A selling dealer can refuse to give you a mileage warranty based on his or her discretion on the intended use of the tyres.

So not sure where this info is coming from that they say if the tyre has been off-road it is not covered... Might be something the outlets are pushing.