Pearsall, Texas – The love affair with sport utility and crossover vehicles continues in North America. By the end of 2014, Americans had purchased just shy of a half million of them (an increase of more than 12 percent), while Canadians snatched up 15 percent more than they did the year before. The volume keeps going up across every sub category of SUVs as well. Buyers really and truly love these things.

So it’s no surprise then that the folks at Cooper Tires are looking to give the sport-ute-loving masses what they need: a new and improved tire option that delivers performance improvements and good value for money.

Bettering the outgoing Cooper CTS model in several key measures, the new Cooper Discoverer SRX is bound to impress SUV and light truck drivers, particularly if they are replacing the typical original equipment rubber on most SUVs today.

Thanks to advancements in technology, the Discoverer SRX utilizes a tread compound composition that features four times more silica than competitive, traditional SUV tires. Cooper claims this simultaneously reduces rolling resistance resulting in improved fuel efficiency, but it also improves grip, particularly in wet conditions, and reduces stopping distances. In the past, one could typically improve one of these aspects at the expense of the other, but there’s some clever science happening here.

With the SRX, the increased silica results in lower energy dissipation, yet thanks to its molecular bond to the other materials in the compound, it still facilitates increased grip.

While it may sound like all a tire company needs to do is throw some sand (which is basically what silica is) into the cooking pot, the reality is that without a perfected mix, the silica will not be dispersed properly, leading to little performance improvement, and localized heat build up in the tire, also degrading performance.

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The tread width and curvature were carefully re-examined for the SRX to help further reduce rolling resistance, but also to help provide an even distribution of pressure across the tire patch, resulting in more even wear over time.

Bold marketing claims are one thing, but the folks at Cooper were willing to put the SRX up against one of the most popular Tier One competitors: the Goodyear Wrangler SR-A. This Wrangler is standard fare on the Chevrolet Tahoe full-size SUV among many other light truck and utility vehicles. I was among a small contingent of automotive and tire journalists who were invited to the impressive 1,000-acre Cooper Tire and Vehicle Test Facility in Pearsall, Texas to drive a pair of Tahoes and put the Discoverer SRX to the test.

Starting on a 14-acre wet pad, we were instructed to push the Goodyear-equipped truck to its limits on a designated handling course to get a sense of the tire’s emergency scenario capabilities in wet conditions. Driven prudently, the big Chevy would navigate the course well enough, but pushed a bit further and the tires abruptly gave up their grip resulting in all sorts of oversteer and understeer antics.

A second Tahoe, identical in all but paint colour, was fitted with a set of Discoverer SRX tires in the same size as the Wranglers. Entering the first corner, the increased grip and stability were immediately noticeable, and the security of the more predictable rubber enabled me to post lap times more than two seconds per lap quicker with the Cooper. Some of my colleagues found even greater time improvements with the SRX. The greater control could help a driver avoid a big “oops” moment during a momentary lapse in judgment out on the open road.

One of the key secrets to the increased wet condition performance comes from the specially designed ‘3D Micro-Gauge’ sipes that allow for more area to bite at the road surface. Their ‘Stabiledge’ technology involves small bumper elements between the tread blocks that help stabilize the tread at speed, enabling improved transition response and stability that might have otherwise been sacrificed with all the siping.

Following the wet-track test, the same Tahoes were driven around the two-mile oval track to demonstrate dry condition testing. This time the Goodyear Wranglers were replaced with a set of Sailun Terramax tires – a Tier Three brand marketed on price point. Varying road surfaces were intended to showcase how much quieter the Coopers are versus the competitors, though admittedly, I noticed very little difference.

Where the Coopers did show their superiority was in the moose test – where the vehicle, travelling at a constant 70 km/h, is immediately flung into a rapid right-left-right maneuver, simulating the avoidance of a moose on the road. The truck equipped with the SRX offered more immediate transition response, but much more importantly, it also exhibited a far quicker recovery rate from the dramatic steering input.

In the real world, both the wet and dry testing become important at crucial moments when a vehicle needs to perform at its best in the interest of avoiding an accident, and in both instances, the Cooper impressed.

While the new SRX is not a dedicated winter tire (like the Weather-Master WSC and Discoverer AT/W), Cooper’s engineers have tried to improve upon the traditional “All-season” compromises by adding their unique ‘Winter Edge’ tread design that helps lock in snow to the tread since the folks at Cooper Tires maintain snow grips better to snow than it does rubber. This could be an important feature for drivers in climates that see snow on very rare occasions, but up here in the Great White North, we still recommend a dedicated winter tire.

The appealing ‘Wear Square Visual Indicator’ feature found on some of Cooper’s passenger car tires makes its way to the Discoverer SRX now. Located at multiple points around the tread are small squares that change to L’s and eventually an exclamation mark as the tires wear, giving drivers a fool-proof sign that the rubber has reached the end of their safe and useful life.

Although Cooper has priced the Discoverer SRX below most of the original equipment tires on many new light trucks and SUVs, the performance is at, or above the costlier options. To further sweeten the deal, Cooper covers the SRX with a 105,000 km tread wear warranty and offers a 45-day road test guarantee. If a driver is unhappy with the performance of the Discoverer SRX, they are free to return them within 45 days for a refund.

If you are among the many who love their crossovers, SUVs and light trucks, the Cooper Discoverer SRX is an excellent choice for your replacement rubber. It is available now at your local Cooper Tire retailer and is offered in 36 sizes and in S, T, H and soon V speed ratings.

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