Hi guys.
Decided to put on a set of Cooper Discoverer AT3 tyres a few months ago, to replace the almost new cheap chinese tyres put on by the previous owner.
I had to go a slightly larger size as the Coopers weren't available in the standard 255/60x18 112XL. Closest I could get was 265/60x18 110.

Anyway, they're way better grip than the budgets I replaced, but I did notice the ride is a way firmer and you'd feel every ripple in the road. Would that be usual for an AT tyre? Standard pressures are 33psi front and 36psi rear. I tried reducing that to 30psi front and 33psi rear, but they look under-inflated then. Ride is better but still not the same as road tyres. The balancing and 4 wheel alignment has all been done lately.

Anyone here ever run with Coopers or an AT tyre before and did you notice the ride was firmer?
Thanks
Pat

I had Goodyear MT/Rs on my 2004 (19" rather than 18" wheels) 4.4 Vogue each winter for 9 years. They were noisier, used maybe 10% more fuel than the summer Pirelli Scorpion Zeroes and had a firmer feel, with longer braking distances, especially on wet roads. The sidewalls were much harder than on the summer tyres. I have not tried the Coopers but would expect them to have harder sidewalls too, especially compared with a budget tyre. The non-standard size may be a factor too, I have not tried that. Only Range Rovers since 1988

Adding to the above, my current winter tyre is Goodyear Duratrac again 255/55 R 19, it has a firmer feel than the Continental summer tyres, but less firm than the MT/Rs. I would not describe any of them as "very hard" though. Only Range Rovers since 1988

Thanks for that CS. Maybe I'll just have to put up with the firmer ride. Sadly the roads around here wouldn't be the best.
Cooper haven't said much anyway. Just out of interest, how do you find the Duratracs? I've seen them mentioned a few times. For now I'll stick with the AT3 as they're a very grippy tyre in the dry or wet.

I've been happy with the Duratracs. They are much more of an all terrain than the MT/Rs, so better road manners and the reduction in handling, performance and economy and increase in noise are much less of an issue. On soft mud I found the back of the car could twitch a bit, but I occasionally get that with the summer Continentals on lateral ridges on the road, so I wonder whether it is a feature of the weight balance of the TDV8 as compared with the 4.4 petrol rather than just a tyre issue. Duratracs also have the advantage of being a LR homologated tyre so insurers should have less of an issue with it.
I know what you mean about the roads in some parts of Ireland. I recall a journey from Lismore to Cork where for a lot of the time the surface seemed to have quite a ripple on it. That said road surfaces in Edinburgh are very poor in places too these days. Only Range Rovers since 1988

Yes CS, I know that road well from Lismore to Cork. Ripples is right, but a lot of the roads are worse than that. You must have been visiting the Earl in Lismore castle yes? Thanks for the info anyway. I'd never really thought about the insurers and tyres, even though I should have done. My AT3's are wider than standard but the load rating is 110 instead of 112 (1060KG instead of 1120KG per corner)
In my handbook that came with the car the official load rating goes from 109 to 112 depending on size, excluding the temporary skinny spare in some markets which has a higher load rating like 121 or similar.