My choice of tires, Cooper Discoverer A/T3 review

I have now put around 4000km on my Cooper Discoverer A/T3. In this post i will explain why i chose these tires and my thoughts of them.

What i wanted

What i wanted out of my tires was a good off-road tire but also to able to perform on the street. It also had to be available in a 32″ (265/75 R16) diameter model. With those criteria it was pretty clear that i needed a all-terrain style tire. A mud tire like the Cooper STT or the Goodyear MTR was simply to aggressive and would cost more street performance than i was willing to sacrifice.

My choices

After deciding that a AT tire was the way to go the job of deciding witch one started. I narrowed the alternatives down to a few, these were:

All except for the Nokian are well proven off road and what i heard are all fantastic tires. Nokian is not famous for their AT tires, before i started to explore the options i did not even knew they made AT tires. All i knew about about them are that they make the best winter tires (in my opinion and experience). I had previously had experience with Cooper since i run their Cooper Discoverer M+S as studded winter tires.

Why did i chose Cooper Discoverer A/T3?


The General Grabbers and the BFGoodrich quickly were eliminated, they used old technology and their price was not justifiable at close to double the price of the Cooper A/T3. The Nokians were eliminated due to that they were to street oriented and lacked the real off-road look and performance (They have now released a “Plus” version that’s more aggressive). So it was down to two coopers and the Goodyear Wranglers. The Cooper Discoverer S/T maxx were a tiny bit cheaper than the Goodyear Wranglers, and they are both very aggressive AT tires. Close to be considered mud terrain tires. And that is just what i wanted. But then what you want and what you need is not often the same thing. The Cooper Discoverer A/T3 where more what i needed, they are a 50/50 tire. They are comparable to the General Grabber and the BFGoodrich off-road and they are quiet and performs like a normal tire on the street.
In the final the choice were between the Cooper Discoverer S/T maxx and the A/T3. The S/T maxx were 50% more than the A/T3, and as a student i could not afford to spend that much more just to get a tiny bit better off-road performance. So the Cooper Discoverer A/T3 where my choice.

Cooper Discoverer A/T3 stack
Cooper Discoverer A/T3 stack

Cooper Discoverer A/T3 review


After using them for about 4000km i can say I’m very happy. I bought a set of five to have one as a full size spare.
Even though i did not get thee cooler looks of the Cooper S/T maxx, i still got excellent off-road performance.

Pros

  • Cheapest in its class
  • Good off-road performance
  • Quiet on the road
  • Excellent wet traction
  • Looks clean

Cons


It’s hard to find cons of the Cooper A/T3. But the once i can come up with is:

  • Missing the “off-road” look
  • Two ply only
  • Not prepared for studs

I can recommend the A/T3 for anyone that want a excellent tire for use on their daily driver and want to be able to go overlanding with them or do some weekend off-roading. I do not recommend them for the dedicated off-road machine that does not see any blacktop driving.