Topic: Something Old, Something New... Mastercraft Courser MXT 35x12.50 15 REVIEW

[H8PVMNT]

I am getting ready to pull the trigger on one or the other of these new Mastercraft tires. They are a one off Cooper product.  A buddy of mine is firing up a tire shop and these are his main brand of light truck tire.  I thought I would give them a chance since they are USA made and locally sold.

He is pitching the Courser MXT (true mud terrain) pretty hard but I am strongly considering the Courser CXT (hybrid).  I was almost happy with my KO2s, they just needed to be more round, last longer and fling mud a little better.  I think the CXT would be a better balance of what I am looking for, but the MXT would be more funner-er.

Of the two what do you guys think?

[fireitup]

I'm in the market for new tires for my 82 and every time I think I have my mind made up I find a new thread by H8PVMNT and end up rethinking my decision

 

 

Between the two, the CXT's would have my vote.  MXT's if the truck would only be on the HWY occasionally.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

It's tough.  The CXTs aren't exactly sissy and I can't find a bad review on the MXTs and everyone says they are quiet too.  I guess I'm thinking the CXT is going to be superior in snow, which is kind of my thing.  I do daily drive the thing which is also a factor.  Aaarg.

The CXT does cost a good bit more ($60 per tire more), so you would pay for any additional tread life.  The MXT is on the cheap end as far as mud tire pricing.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

OK I went ahead and got the Courser MXT coming in 35x12.50 15. I'm not going to lie, price was the determining factor in the end. So I guess this will become another review thread next week .

Now, rim width!  I have been running on 8" wheels for years but I will admit my centers are always wearing thin before their time.  I have a set of aluminum 10" 90s style fan-boy wheels I got for almost free last summer... 

Don't know if you guys are old enough to remember these AR-39 wheels from high-school?  I guess I'm going to have to get "Ice Ice Baby" on my MP3 Player and wear my hat backwards.

Consequently, if anyone has like 1 of these laying around I would love to get one for a matching spare in the near future.

[OOPS]

These are the wheels we had when I was in high school!! LOL

[Rockcrawlintoy]

The CXT does cost a good bit more ($60 per tire more), so you would pay for any additional tread life.  The MXT is on the cheap end as far as mud tire pricing.

Save the tread by gettin hooked up with an e locker from bestgen when he gets one.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Courser MXTs were mounted up today.  All I've done so far is drive them across town from the tire shop to work.  Initial impressions are they are kind of fat.  I will measure one off the truck soon.

Mileage on my ODO today is 222,419 with about 0 miles on these tires.  It should be disclosed for the sake of the review that I am running a spool in the rear and I probably eat tires 20%-25% faster than usual.

I had these mounted on some 15x10 old school AR-39s for that late 80s/early 90s cool kid look .  I picked them up cheap last summer.  I wasn't sure about the wheels but I think they go good with the body style.  I'm used to 8" rims so I am curious to see if these will hold a bead at low psi.

I have been crying the last few years about the loss of the basic mud terrain tread style with lateral centers and normal good alternating side lugs.  Don't get me wrong we have some great tires now, with more siping, sidewall treatments ect, but I have missed the old traditional no gimmick mud terrains we had back in the day. 

These seem to blend the traditional old MT tread design I have been pining for with some of the benefits of the current era like full depth sipes, little risers between the lugs and a more modern sidewall design.

[Snowtoy]

Don't know if you guys are old enough to remember these AR-39 wheels from high-school?  I guess I'm going to have to get "Ice Ice Baby" on my MP3 Player and wear my hat backwards.

Old enough to remember their predecessor saw blades.  Ran a set chrome ones w/the center painted blue for a "blue chrome" color on my lowered '82 Toyota mini-truck, and yes it had the solid shell and went "boom".

Looks fine from that angle,

[Cheesemaker]

Is till get excited when I see a set of AR 26's.  The aluminum sawblades!  I had a set on my El Camino, but that was short lived. 

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

I have a set of those in 15x8" but they are pretty crusty and greyed out.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

I was loaded with the trailer with wheels, tires and a big round bale of hay last night.  It was nice backing through the mud hole with the trailer with mud terrains.  The all terrains left a little bit to be desired in that spot.  After dabbling in all terrains for a while and going back I think the light mud terrain is my weapon of choice for the day to day at our place.

Drove to work in the hammer down spring rain today.  Wet traction is better than I expected, the sipes must work.  They cut right through flooded pavement ruts and puddles, well, like a mud tire . These are very quiet for how aggressive they are.  Same amount of noise as my all terrains just a lower pitch.

My buddy did a powder balance and I noticed a little hop t 35-40 mph for about the first 3 miles then the bags must have broke open like he said and it went away.  These feel really round and true.  It is so nice not to have egg shaped tires!  I dare say these ride smoother than my last set of tires too.  Probably the 2 ply sidewalls.

I am pleased that they don't pitch out on corners, handling is on par with my KO2s.

Anyway I'll let the new tire buzz wear off over the weekend and post up again .

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

I did my dumb mud tire test on Friday evening.  For those of you who don't know it consists of a no finesse, street pressure run up "Dunbar Hill", an unmaintained gumbo base county road.  The hill is attacked in 2WD, second gear high range on a goopy day after it's been raining, considerable wheel speed is applied, then you see how far you can make it up the hill before you stop moving and go sideways.

These made almost a 3/4 pull before momentum became really slow.  They never really stopped moving forward though.  As a basis of comparison the BFG KO2s made it about 1/2 way, 34x9.50 Super Swamper TSLs made a full pull, the Goodyear MTR w/Kevlar made it 3/4.

I would put these equal to the MTR in mud performance.  The MTRs actually made it a few feet further, but stopped completely, these Mastercraft Courser MXTs lost momentum a few feet sooner, like 10 feet, but were still making slow, churning, sideways progress.  I could have made the rest of the hill in 2WD but it would have taken like 10 minutes and left 12" ruts so I locked the hubs and drove out easy .

I give these a 4 out of 5 in the mud.  These are a mud guys mud tire for sure, not a swamper, but just as good as you would expect any light mud terrain.

I also discovered with 10" wheels and the additional tire sticking out you really can't seen where you are going after doing something like this...

[Gnarly4X]

I did my dumb mud tire test on Friday evening......   I also discovered with 10" wheels and the additional tire sticking out you really can't seen where you are going after doing something like this...

TWEAKER.... l  L-O-V-E  your reviews!!   

Gnarls. 

[emsvitil]

........  I could have made the rest of the hill in 2WD but it would have taken like 10 minutes and left 12" ruts so I locked the hubs and drove out easy .

Why didn't you lock the hubs on the pavement so you didn't have to get out in the mud to lock them up?  (and then you could have just shifted into 4wd mud free)

 

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

I wondered the same thing while I was trying to fling the 23 pounds of gumbo off my boots so I could work the pedals .

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Did some measuring before I got too many miles on these.  These are fat little suckers on a 10" wheel.  Section width is just shy of 13" with an 11" tread face.  They run a little short, like their Cooper cousins tend to, at 34 3/8".

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

These things are wearing better than I expected.  I will revisit tread depth and mileage soon in case we need to call BS on that statement.  Really wearing nice and flat on the 10" rims though.

We had 7"of snow and then it melted into a muddy mess.  I had to get to a cabin site down on the river which amounted to about a 20 mile run of mixed jeep trail and farm road consisting of mostly gumbo, up and down bluffs on "impassable when wet" stuff.

As a working class mud tire these are the cat's meow...

[emsvitil]

Did you air down?

 

[Gnarly4X]

These were the very best off-road tire I have tried.  I ran these in mud, snow, ice, rocks, sand, and highway.  They were fat, very soft sidewall, very smooth. Soft compound, so wear was not good, but traction was superior to anything I’ve tried.

Gnarls.

[Slabzilla]

The best mud tire I've ever run was the Ground Hawg 36 incher, it was unstoppable in mud, rocks or snow, sucked on ice, roared like a lion on the road and wore out quickly on the street with a detroit locker in a 14-bolt. I like these, they're nice and floaty on those 10 inchers, look forward to see the wear review.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Did you air down?

 

I was in the low 20s, which I consider expedition pressure .