This article offers a review of the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus and is intended to help you determine whether this tire is a good fit for your needs.
To make our recommendation, we’ve researched manufacturer specifications and the results of various performance and safety tests. We also looked at customer reviews to see what real people are saying about the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus tires. It’s crucial to consider user-written reviews and performance tests to formulate a final opinion.
Don’t have time to read everything? Here’s a quick summary of our review as well as pros & cons listed.
Conclusion:
Based on the data we gathered from manufacturer recommendations and customer reviews, we can determine that the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus is an overall good tire for its price. It has excellent dry traction and handling, the steering is responsive, and the cornering grip is tight. Tests show that it performs well throughout the speed range.
However, although the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus is marketed as an all-season tire, it does not handle off-roading as well as its cousins. Cooper also sells the tire as managing wet roads, but tests show that it performs on the lower end of average, which may make it a subpar choice for people who need to drive on wet roads year-round.
It has a comfortable ride and is quiet compared to tires of similar size. Some reviews state that the tires become loud after 20k-30k miles. This also echoes some reviewers’ concerns that the tire has a shorter lifespan; however, plenty of reviewers say these tires will last well into the 80k mile lifespan, so it likely comes down to how “spirited” of a driver the customer is.
Pros
Cons
Ready to learn more about the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus? Let’s look at what customers, performance tests, and manufacturer recommendations say about these tires.
Cooper Discoverer HT Plus Overview
According to the manufacturer’s product description, the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus is considered an “all-season” tire. It’s marketed as an option for those looking for the function and versatility of larger tires but who prefer the quiet ride of smaller tires.
The official Cooper Tires website highlights the Discoverer HT Plus’s ability to keep the driver’s vehicle stable on wet roads. It has added rim protection and extended rubber sidewalls to help reduce wear and tear. The treads are constructed with two wide channels for continuous water evacuation, helping to avoid hydroplaning or fishtailing. The alternating tread and block geometry provides stability and control and helps reduce irregular wear.
Overall, the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus performs well and has a reasonable price point. It is available in 18” or 20” sizes, making it a good choice for full-size trucks and SUVs looking for all-season performance.
Performance
Overall, many reviews of the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus mentioned that the tires were quiet, particularly for a set of larger tires. The treading on the tire is designed for all-season use, and other models with similar designs are reported to be louder.
Wet
Although the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus is marketed as an all-terrain tire with great wet road handling, many customer reviews stated they wished to see more wet traction. One reviewer mentioned that they hydroplaned on them easily, and another said they wouldn’t recommend pulling a heavy trailer on wet roads.
However, it is essential to note that according to a consumer survey on Tirerack.com, the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus was rated an 8.0 out of 10 overall wet performance. So it does appear that most customers feel that they handle well on wet roads using these tires.
Dry
Customers reported that the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus is superb with dry traction. The trucks and SUVs fitted with these tires cornered well and handled admirably on dry roads, including winter roads. Customers consistently reported excellent traction on pavement, gravel, and light off-roading. In fact, the dry performance was one of the highest-rated features across many review sites.
Snow
Many reviewers state that this tire handles well on packed snow and ice during winter. It is not exceptional in this area, but it does not perform poorly, either.
Braking Distance
According to Consumer Reports, the average dry braking from 60 to 0 mph is 132 feet. Naturally, larger SUVs and full-sized pickups take longer to stop than smaller vehicles or sports cars.
The Cooper Discoverer HT Plus performs at the national average, stopping at 130 feet in a dry climate. It stops at 177 feet in a wet environment, which is also in the median range, though slightly on the lower end. Other Cooper tires outperform the Discoverer HT Plus in this category, but this model does remain solidly in the “average” range.
Handling
Customers frequently praise the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus for its steering response and stable handling. The cornering grip and responsive steering are also cited often.
Noise and Comfort
The manufacturer advertises the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus as a quiet option for larger, all-season tires. And most reviewers echoed this. However, there were also claims that the noise increased after 20k-30k miles. It likely comes down to how the customer drove.
Durability
Many reviewers stated the durability of the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus was excellent, particularly for the cost. One reviewer who pulled a trailer said that the tires wore out quickly, but they were otherwise viewed as reliable and durable.
Price
The price point for the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus is somewhere in the middle. It runs around $220 per tire, but the manufacturer also offers rebates and sales. There are more expensive tires with better overall performance, but it is a solid choice for all-season performance.
Recommendations & Conclusions
The Cooper Discoverer HT Plus is a good tire in terms of overall performance: It brings solid all-season functionality to full-size pickups and SUVs with a competitive price point. Performance tests and user reviews show that it has responsive steering and handles well on both wet and dry roads.
Similar models that outperform the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus include The Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season Plus and the Yokohama Parada Spec-X. These two models are more expensive than the Discoverer HT Plus, but not a significant amount. They’re also designed for 20” or larger rims, whereas the Discoverer HT Plus can be fitted to an 18” rim and still maintain the functionality of a larger tire.
So if you’re looking for a quiet tire that can handle pavement, gravel, and light terrain year-round, the Cooper Discoverer HT Plus is a good choice. It has a decent tread lifespan when used for everyday driving duties. However, suppose you’re a more aggressive driver or need additional performance. In that case, it is recommended to look at the Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season Plus or the Yokohama Parada Spec-X, which outperform the Cooper across all categories.
References
All-Season Discoverer H/T Plus | Coopertire.com