Cooper Tires on 2020 Oliver Elite ll

[Ronb]

Put down my 5000.00 deposit yesterday on a 2020 Elite ll. While we are excited to be joining the Oliver family I was extremely disappointed to learn that the Michelin tires are no longer being put on the Elite ll. Cooper tires are now the standard tire. Also learned that the ac will be a 11k instead of the 13.5 k that was on the previous models. Anyone else concerned about these changes? The tires were a big plus for me. I know Oliver makes a great product, I wish they would stick with the Michelin’s. Oh well.

[John E Davies]

What Cooper tires? Michelins are good but when given the chance I would buy certain Cooper models over the LTX, any day. The LTX is a really hard compound, high mileage (70k) tire, not needed on a trailer that will be lucky to go 20,000 miles before they get old enough to scrap. The Coopers are probably not a downgrade. I can’t comment on the air conditioner except to say that you don’t need a 13.5 K unit in these tiny trailers. Except maybe if you parked in the summer sun in the Mojave desert.

 

Welcome to the Ollie Club.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[Overland]

IMO, the smaller AC unit is an upgrade. It should be quieter and more efficient. I think it was purely a marketing decision to put the larger unit in the trailer to begin with.

[Ronb]

John, thanks for the info. Good to get other opinions. I know The Oliver company will build my wife and I a great trailer.

 

[Overland]

From conversations I've had with Oliver, I think that they've always considered the 13.5 AC unit to be oversized, but they felt that they had to spec it for marketing reasons. If the smaller unit will use less power, and maybe even a bit quieter, then IMO I think you should consider it an upgrade. If you plan to camp in southern Arizona in July, of course, you might feel differently.

[Ronb]

Good to know, thanks for the info.

[topgun2]

Ronb -

Welcome to the Family! I agree with both John and Overland - both changes should not be a "problem" at all. And, you are correct - they will build you a great camper. When do you pick up the new baby?

 

Bill

[Mike and Carol]

The smaller A/C should be fine. I run ours on low all the time, 13,500 is a bit overkill for the size of the trailer. I agree that this smaller A/C should work well and is probably quieter. If mine quit today I’d look at a smaller replacement.

 

I can’t comment on the Michelins since mine came with BF Goodrich which have been good tires. I’m sure the Coopers will be fine, too. I’ve got just shy of 50K miles on my tires and they still look pretty new. I’ll have to replace them due to age not wear.

 

Welcome to the group. I think the changes are fine, I would certainly be okay with them. Mike

[Ronb]

Sometime in March.  Something to look forward to this winter.

[bhncb]

Michelin stopped producing the LT225/75-R16 LTX tires last April. Cooper (Goodyear) is one of only a few other choices.

[bugeyedriver]

Coopers are good tires. Just keep them within their limits and you should have many years of faithful service. I would recommend getting a tire pressure monitoring system so you can see if a tire has an insidious leak that will result in hyper flexing of the sidewall, just before the KABOOM! I use Truck System Technologies, (TST). Also, be sure of the speed ratings of your tires and do not exceed them. Many ST tires are speed limited to 65MPH. OH, and do not overload your tires by having too much weight in your trailer.

 

Know your limitations, and stay within them, and enjoy many carefree years of Olivering. . .

[SeaDawg]

I don't know that Cooper makes ST tires, Pete. At least, I don't know of any. Just guessing the cooper is the best replacement for the discontinued Michelin LT tire.

 

On our older Oliver trailer, we run still on st tires, with a speed rating of 81 mph. Not that we go that fast... consistently. But, nice to have it on the interstate.

 

We also have an older TST tire pressure monitoring system. Great customer service, speedy turnaround, as ours does not have user replaceable batteries. I can highly recommend TST. Our 10 year old system still works, and turnaround time with battery replacement is exceptional. Anything electronic today that works 10 years makes me very happy...

 

Sherry

[Mike and Carol]

Like Pete, and many others, we use TST for our TPMS. It’s a good safety feature to have. Mike

[John E Davies]

Cooper makes tires in other countries, but it and Goodyear are the only two brands that started in the USA and they remain headquartered here. Their offroad tires are highly regarded in Australia, where the roads can be grim.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[katanapilot]

On 10/15/2019 at 9:31 AM, Ronb said:

Put down my 5000.00 deposit yesterday on a 2020 Elite ll. While we are excited to be joining the Oliver family I was extremely disappointed to learn that the Michelin tires are no longer being put on the Elite ll. Cooper tires are now the standard tire. Also learned that the ac will be a 11k instead of the 13.5 k that was on the previous models. Anyone else concerned about these changes? The tires were a big plus for me. I know Oliver makes a great product, I wish they would stick with the Michelin’s. Oh well.

You and me both.  When I saw that they had changed tires and are no longer installing Trojan batteries (opting now for Chinese/Malaysian made no-name brand) I almost cancelled our order. I hope that Oliver isn't going the way of other trailer manufacturers and changing components to cut costs.  I've had Michelin LTX tires on my 92 4Runner, my 2011 Tundra, my son's 2012 Tacoma and wouldn't install anything else.  At least the Cooper truck tires are better than the "China bombs" that are on a lot of travel trailers. In the grand scheme, the construction quality is so much better than average and tires and batteries can be replaced easily.

[topgun2]

See above posts from the beginning - It appears that Oliver didn't have much choice - at least on the tires.

Bill

[Mainiac]

The smaller A.C. Should be considered an upgrade in my option. Run longer maybe but quieter. That should make it more efficient. Question is: what will it take for a generator to run it? And would an Easy Start be required?

[Galway Girl]

Since I'm showing my trailer all the time to prospects,  I asked Phil Andrews from the Sales team for an update on tires and battery used in 2020 units.

Here's what he said via a quick email on the topic to prep me for visitors today...more details on the specific tires and batteries will follow soon. I'll also hope we see them in the Oliver University components section.

 

*****

The tires we are using are the Cooper Discoverers that are made in the USA.  Same size, load rating, and ply thickness as the Canadian made Michelins that we offered before.   They are on par with each other in terms of quality.  We switched so the tires for the Elite and Elite II would be from the same manufacturer and Michelin didn’t offer the tire size needed for the Elite, therefore Cooper won out. 

The 2020 batteries are from Brightway and they are made in China.  

6V AGM – Brightway BWEVGC-220A
12v – Brightway BWG DC24-6

Edited January 26, 2020 by ctshort09

[John E Davies]

There are a whole bunch of Discoverer tires, that is the model range for their LT tires. I guess that narrows it down to 15 possibilities....

http://us.coopertire.com/tires/view-tires?viewalltire=all

Eventually a more detailed description will follow. .... my guess is that it will be a standard All Season road tire like the HTP.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Galway Girl]

Yup...I'll likely see the info and post tomorrow on which specific tire.

I note that the 'Oliver University' page hasn't caught up with these production changes yet...and neither the tires or the battery specs are available in downloads.  

More when I hear it back from Oliver Sales.

[John E Davies]

I would not mind seeing these trailers coming with these tires, they are on my shopping list as replacements for my Land Cruiser. They are what I call High Testosterone Tires. (I think Ollies are a little bit effeminate.) For rocky roads they would offer a whole lot more sidewall protection than any regular All season. 
 

 

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Overland]

I had those Coopers on my X5.  I liked them, but they did get pretty loud after about 5k miles.  It's hard to compare them to the BFG KO2s I have now, since they're attached to a very different vehicle, but at least visually, the BFGs are far more aggressive.  

I'm on the fence about AT tires on the trailer -  I worry about the loss of wet traction.  On the other hand, the treads on my Michelins are so beat up from gravel and tight turns that I really doubt if they're performing much better today than any AT tire would.  

Back on topic, the Coopers on the new trailers don't bother me at all.  Nor do the off brand batteries at the entry level.  But - I do question using the off brand for the upgrade.   Upgrades are cost-plus items,  so free money and something you want to sell as much of as you can.  So why go with a brand that will make people have second thoughts?  Is the upgrade cost now significantly lower?  

[John E Davies]

5 hours ago, Overland said:

I had those Coopers on my X5.  I liked them, but they did get pretty loud after about 5k miles.  It's hard to compare them to the BFG KO2s I have now, since they're attached to a very different vehicle, but at least visually, the BFGs are far more aggressive.  

Did you have the AT3 XLT tires? They are a brand new evolution of the AT3, and I read that they corrected the noise problem. Plus they have those nifty sidewalk blocks. I agree about the AT3, I had an older set on a Series 80 and was not real happy with the noise as they wore down. But pretty much every aggressive tire I have tried is that way, to one degree or another. My Nitto Ridge Grapplers have a very soft compound, are wearing rapidly and got really loud at 50% tread.

I do like the reports on the BFG KM3, but I haven't run one yet. The tread design is a classic.

I like an open mud tread for gravel roads since they don't sling rocks, but finding one that has highway manners and lasts is difficult. Even the "hybrid" designs have a ways to go.

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited January 27, 2020 by John E Davies

[SeaDawg]

I think, personally,  there's a difference in evaluating trailer use tires vs suv/ truck use tires, especiallywhen it comes to noise.  I  don't care how much noise the trailer tires make. No one is (hopefully  🤣) inside to hear it.

I've  run bfg, goodyear, bridgestone, cooper and others on suvs and trucks the last thirty years. As soon as I  find a tire that lasts 4 years, and doesn't generate a ton of noise, it's discontinued, anyway . In the trailer, we've run duros and maxxis, and now, a local brand, ST.

Just my opinion. And, we still run on ST tires, not LT, on our trailer. So, I  know we are in the small per centage, here. Trailer tires, imo, are meant to be drug around, since they have no driving  power on their own. 

What do I want? Reputable company and warranty.  Decent highway speed rating. Stiffer sidewall. Decent rolling resistance, so the trailer drag doesn't kill my mileage on the highway.. Proper load design for trailer weight.

Any of Oliver's choices that I have seen, over the last twelve years, have been way and above what I see on other trailers and class c's, too. On those, if a load range c or d barely meets the specs, like my sister's sob trailer, that's what you get. I  never have seen that on Oliver trailers. It's always above.

A lot of people were happy with the Michelin tires. Unfortunately,  they're no longer made for the Ollie size, so let's see how the Coopers work. If Cooper made a tire that fit my 2008 15 rim, I  would be on it. I find a lot to like about Cooper.

Sherry 

Edited January 27, 2020 by SeaDawg

[Galway Girl]

Here's what I heard from Sales this AM about the Specific Cooper Tires being used now on 2020 models.

Tires are the Cooper Discoverer HT3 LT225/75R16 Load Rating E  * 2680lb per tire*

The Discoverer HT3™ is designed for drivers of commercial pickup trucks and vans, optimized for highway driving.

• Engineered to resist abnormal wear
• Improved handling, performance and traction
• Quiet running tread design
• 50K Mile Warranty

M+S Rated

http://us.coopertire.com/tires/discoverer-ht3