Pulling up in the wet on Coopers...?!?!?

D22 - 2004 Manual - Pulling up in the wet on Coopers...?!?!?

I am running Cooper STs on my '04 D22 which are in pretty good nick at the moment and have found the D22 very hard to pull up in the wet during a few 'emergency' stop situations since owning it.

For example on a wet day, not pissing down at the time but wet on the roads, I was coming into a flat round about, not really off camber to note, quite new surface, at about 15-20km/h and I dabbed the brakes like I would to slow her up for a safe round about entry. A car was coming round so I braked as usual and she just start sliding. I couldve got out and walked probably it was so slow. Fortunately the car saw my 'sled' coming out and pulled up. I was astonished coming from previous vehicles with ABS.
I dont even know if my truck has ABS to be honest. If so then that is a concern because its certainly not active.

This has happened a few times. I would say I was driving safely and there just was nothin I could do. Pretty much felt like I was on ice or aqua planing but both times it wasnt that wet. And this truck has to weight a bit and Id expect it to pull up quicker than that. I was even in 1st and engine breaking into the area where I had to brake to stop.


It feels if I drive down any tar descent after rain I need to do it about 5-10km/h incase I have to stop in hurry at the bottom.

It makes me a bit nervous in the wet.

What are peoples thoughts?

I used to have Maxis bravos on and thought they were a deathtrap in the wet, now I've got Mickey Thompson's on and its the same story, its the most dangerous car I've ever driven in the wet, the slightest touch of the brakes in the wet and the front wheels lock up, I'm starting to wonder if maybe my front disks are warped.

The more recent Coopers are known for being a hard compound, it's how they manage to give guarantees of lasting a certain amount of k's.

I cringe everytime I drive in the rain, not my brakes locking up though.

Just wankers jumping on the brakes at the last minute following me.

Sure my brakes will lock up, only if applying the brakes hard.

Shocks really help out, if the brakes lock up. Let off the pedal and try again.

what tyre pressures are you running ?

I run about 36-38 psi in the front tyres.

34-36 psi in the rear tyres.

Sounds a little more deadley than it should be. However as mentioned when it comes to tyers the longer lasting the harder the compound.
You may want to have your shocks and wheel alingment checked tho that can have big effect on braking.

Coopers are like that, Yep very hard. I removed the coopers off mine that were on it when i bought my ute, 4TH gear in the wet and it would spin. Ive got the Goodyear Wrangler MT/z older style and they are 110% safer than the coopers.

Coopers are well over rated. I changed to GT radials and they are shit hot in the wet compaired to any other tyre that I have had on any 4WD that I have owned

could be some oil on the road? seeping out in the water? I was driving through all the stupid round abouts in noosa last year during all that rain QLD got in january and went through some oil and got it on all 4 tyres, was slipping everywhere for like 40m down the road and the back almost went sideways into a honda CRV (not that that would matter :S).

this was on BFG AT's which are normally fantastic (but its not their fault about the oil I just wasn't in a position to swerve or stop in time)

I am just about to get new tyres to replace my Cooper ATR's. They are deadly in the wet. Running similar pressures to SKT. Trying to stop quickly from 110 is a wet road is very scary.

^+1 on the ATR's - F*&%ing scary tyre. The truck used to get all sorts of tail wag in the wet & stopping was like tossing a coin - some times you did, some times not. I gave up on them after I nearly speared across double white lines round a minor bend into 10 - 15 motor bikes coming the other way - I shit my pants I'll tell ya.

G'day Guys

I have Coopers ATR on and am on my second set. The first set were very scary.

They have reduced the warranty period by 10k and I think the compound is softer. These newer ones are much better. I still don't like wet roads, especially when it has been dry for a long time and there is plenty of oil to wash off.

I guess that we are going to have to be the ones to be cautious in the wet. Hard when you have all these drongoes jumping into your breaking space though.

Goldy

I've got Yokie Geolander AT/S', They've been pretty good in the wet, bit of a scare last week though with some clown walking out across the road from behind a bus. Although i was going slow I initially locked up the brakes but the ABS seemed to work all right and the car pulled up pretty quickly without to much sliding. The bloke walking certainly shat himself though (he might use the crossing 20m up the road next time)

My Cooper ATRs are scary when braking in the wet as well. Makes for good powerslides though!

i have a set of cooper st's on mine and have no probs, even with all the rain lately. i'm certainly no angel on the road, but being a professional driver ( do it for a living ) i may drive to the conditions so to speak more. But have not had any bad situations, touch wood. find them ok

What he ^ said, Only thing i noticed for me was maybe a bit more vague at 110 to 120 when i first had them fitted after having atr,s, More to do with going up bigger size in side wall and more aggressive tread pattern, Now i take them to what the car will do, But in the wet i drive accordingly

Bloody coopers are death traps in the wet i found.
Had them on a patrol and wereon thed22 wheni gotit replaced them within 2 weeks . Would never have them again have got maxxis at the moment with out any problems.
cheers phil

Only had my Navara a few months and today's the first time she's seen the wet while I've had her. I have Coopers A/T all round with about 60% tread.

I was heading round a sweeping bend at about 70k's when out of no where the tails out. I thought that was a little odd but didn't think too much of till I had to come to a stop down the road and she struggled to pull. Wheels just slid down the road.

My first thought was check tyre pressures. All on the lower side of what was recommended. So didn't think that was the issue. Then after jumping on here and reading the negatives on these tyres I now see there's a genuine issue with these tyres in the wet.

10mins later I drive down to my local dealer and got a fresh set of BFG's A/T slapped on and it's like I'm driving a different truck. Coopers has defiantly lost a future customer in me. Safety will always come before durability

I had bfg km1s, they were a joke in the wet, im a very sedate driver when im in the nav, especially when it comes to braking distances and keeping a good distance from the car in front, but i locked the brakes up many times with those tyres, and actually had to feather and swerve off the road to avoid the car in front a few times.

Im running cooper stmax now, same size as the old bfgs i had, they are much better, although they still pretty slippery in the wet.

Also, the first rain after a spell of dry weather really brings the oil out of the road or something so just be mindfull of that.

Iv had a couple of slo-mo third gear "power" slides in those conditions,its pretty amusing getting oposite lock going on such a cumbersome (fully loaded) slow moving vehicle in traffic, lol.