Both the Federal Couragia MT and the Cooper Discoverer STT Pro are powerful mud-terrain tires, where the Couragia M/T offers a more aggressive design, where the main focus is raw off-road power, that’s why the tire compromises a lot when it comes to on-road comfort.
In my expert opinion as a tire engineer, the Federal Couragia MT with its such voided design gets to have a good mud/water/debris evacuation capability, the tire lacks a lot on smooth roads with traction and comfort, as they are really loud. Cooper Discoverer STT Pro on the other side, is better on highways, and off road it simply unbeatable on rocky terrains. You also get better tread life and fuel economy on this tire as well.
Table of Contents
Tread Design
The Federal Couragia M/T is designed to tackle some of the toughest terrains with its rather straight-forward pattern.
It features 4 bold ribs, where the middle ones having C shaped blocks face each other, forming 3 longitudinal channels.
And the outer ones are filled with staggered shoulder blocks.
All blocks carry very little tread features, as they are only seen with small notches/biters throughout.
Though still with such wider lateral tread voids between shoulder lugs, having powerful stone ejectors, you get ample self cleaning on all types of terrains.
But the tire could really use some sidewalls, as there are little to no lugs over there, and because of this, it does not have a great footprint to offer with lowered air pressure.
(This mostly helps on rocky terrains, in case of lateral traction).
The Cooper Discoverer STT Pro on the other side, does not have this problem, as you can clearly see.
It’s staggered shoulder lugs extend down towards sidewalls, and make sharp prominent biters there.
Though going towards the middle, these lugs don’t offer as wide (self-clearing) of a lateral grooves as the Federal M/T, despite having similar stone ejectors.
In the middle, the Cooper’s tread presents you with 3 unique lugs, arranged in a haphazard arrangement.
They have full depth interlocking sipes, off-set edges and foundational supports of another rubber layer underneath.
To make things further stable, these lugs are also connected by shoulder blocks form underneath, with the help of ridges (they also provide dirt ejecting properties).
The overall design of the tire is actually, pretty self cleaning, where the longitudinal grooves are basically narrower compared to lateral ones.
Tire Sizes
The Cooper Discoverer STT Pro offers 49 total sizes (15″ to 22″ rim sizes). All its sizes have following specs:
- Speed Ratings: Only Q.
- Load Range: C to F.
- Weight Range: 42 lbs to 94 lbs.
- Tread Depth Range: 18 to 22/32″.
On the other side, Federal Couragia MT comes in 15 to 24 inches rim sizes, with following specs.
- Speed Ratings: Q only (similar).
- Load Ratings: C, D and E only.
- Weight Range: 37 lbs to 77 lbs.
- Tread Depth Range: 19 to 21/32″.
Internal Construction
When it comes to mud tires, they have to be really strong, and that depends on how many plies they have on the inside.
Though too many plies also increases the weight which impacts other performance areas negatively, so designing the tire, you have to find a sweet spot here.
That’s why both of these tires although offer 3 ply polyester carcass, providing 3 ply sidewalls, they both have just a single nylon cap plies on the very top.
So I am going to rate them both as equally durable.
Dry Traction
When it comes to traction on dry roads, you can’t expect too much out of mud terrain tires, as they really lack in both directional and lateral grip, the two main parts of traction.
Directional Grip
The central lugs tell us about the directional grip, as that area gets to make the most contact with the surface, the tires on. And looking at both tires its pretty obvious why Federal Couragia M/T lacks here.
Even though the tire still has closed up lugs compared to outer shoulder area, they still don’t provide as much contact patch as it’s competitor.
The Cooper Discoverer STT Pro provides a dedicated central rib with 3 unique blocks placement especially optimized for directional traction, that’s why the tire gets to show shorter braking distances in comparison.
Lateral Grip
On the other hand, the lateral traction is judged by considering the shoulders and here again the Couragia M/T with it’s such huge tread voids there, dedicated to bold stone ejectors, eat away the rubber that could have been in contact with the surface.
The Cooper STT Pro on the other hand, is although not so great here either but in comparison, it’s handling is much more smoother.
Though by weighing more, the tire lacks slightly in providing as much steering response.
Wet Performance
On wet roads, fast water removal is crucial and this resists hydroplaning and gives “wet” traction.
Both of these factors should be taken into consideration when evaluating a tire’s wet performance.
Wet Grip
For wet grip, you need flexible sipes. In order words, you need a tire with soaking/soft enough tread, and a lot of siping.
Now when it comes to mud tires, although they get to be soft enough, they really lack in proving ample siping, and that especially goes for Federal Couragia M/T. The tire literally has no sipes.
So in comparison, the Cooper Discoverer STT Pro provides better gripping values.
Couragia M/T basically provides all of it’s wet grip with hydroplaning (resistance).
Hydroplaning
Hydroplaning is when a tire floats on a standing water, and to avoid this, tires are provided with grooves.
And since mud tires are so bald, that’s not an issue there, and with such balder structure, the lateral and longitudinal water elimination is seen better on Federal Couragia.
Cooper STT Pro on the other side, is only better in lateral water evacuation.
Fuel Economy
The rolling resistance of a tire is although dependent ton weight, the structure of the tire also plays a huge role.
That’s why Cooper Discoverer M/T is although heavier in weight, its fuel consumption is lower in comparison.
That’s because the tire actually gets to divide its weight on a larger surface area, so each lug, at the end of the day gets to have less pressure on it.
Federal Couragia M/T on the other side, even with its smaller weight forces its lugs to rub off the surface with more friction, decreasing overall fuel efficiency.
Tread Life
In the above section, as I explained how Cooper STT Pro yields less rolling resistance, its gets to offer more tread life.
Moreover, helping to that is also its tread depth, and although its only 1/32″ more in comparison, it makes a huge difference after all.
The Federal Couragia with such wider grooves, get to burn off more and so if you rotate these tires religiously after every 3k miles, you may get up to 30k miles out of them max.
Ride Quality
The ride quality depends on noise the tread makes and the comfort (bumps absorption).
In terms of noise, its not surprising to see why Federal Courgaia M/T is one of the loudest tire in the mud terrain category. With such wider lug voids, the tire allows air to independently move around and hit the tread walls, creating a lot of noise.
The Cooper STT Pro not only is more packed up, it also offers better variations of pitches throughout its tread (also called pitch sequencing).
Similarly with better rubber consistency, it also cushions the bumps much more nicely as well.
Side note: Ever wondered which is the quietest mud tire, check out the Falken Wildpeak M/T.
Winter Traction
Winter traction depends on a tire’s capability to keep its momentum going, and handling efficient.
And although both these tires are not suitable for hard packed snow and definitely not for icy terrains, they do go around okay when it comes to deeper snow.
That’s because both tires offers traction scoops on the sidewalls, and their inner lugs are quite swooping as well.
Though still with better “elongated” shoulder lugs of Cooper Discoverer STT Pro, that actually mimics directional tires’ features. This tire is able to provide better mud scooping in comparison.
Off Road Traction
A lot of folks think mud tires only do better on mud, that’s not true at all, it’s just that the muddy terrains are so difficult to maneuver on, even with all-terrain/rugged-terrain tires, that they named the most aggressive tires, mud-terrain.
So lets check out all these terrain types and see which one does better.
Mud
The balder the tire, the better the mud traction, I’m sure you’ve heard this by now. But what if I tell you there’s more to mud evacuation.
You actually need paddling with that evacuation as well. And that’s the reason why out of these two tires, you can’t really say one is doing better than the other.
The Federal Couragia M/T has no doubt better capabilities at escaping the mud out in no time, but it’s does not provide as much scooping as its competitor.
And if you consider the tread of Cooper STT Pro again (by scrolling above), you’d note that the tire’s asymmetric design actually makes wave like pattern of lateral grooves made out of elongated shoulder lugs and strategically placed central tread blocks.
These provide the “paddling” effect on the muddy terrains, and even on thick mud, they throw back the mud to move forward with the resulting force.
Rocks
On rocky terrains, you need grip in all directions, and here the Federal Couragia M/T with it’s massive shoulder lugs chew on rocks and offer ample traction.
However, it’s not enough to outperform Cooper’s boy over here.
The Cooper Discoverer STT Pro is the top-notch performing tire for rocky terrains. The tire does everything right here.
It’s wider lateral grooves offer great climbing abilities and it’s thicker sidewall lugs offer the lateral component which the Federal Couragia M/T is missing, as you don’t see any sidewall lugs on that tire.
For Your Info: Cooper Discoverer STT Pro provides much better rocky terrain performance than both of these tires.
Sand
The less digging the tire does on sand the better and so both weight and tread structure come in to action here.
The Federal Couragia M/T is although lighter in comparison, with missing sidewall lugs, it’s not able to provide as much footprint as the Cooper STT Pro (with of course lowered air pressure, as you always lower the air pressure on sandy terrains).
The Cooper STT Pro also features more rubber to sand meet up, and with less sharper sides, its continuous to move forward in a much better way.
Side Note: One of the best tires for sand is BF Goodrich KM3.
Takeaway Points
Out of both tires, the Cooper Discoverer STT Pro simply shines on rocks, that’s why I rated this tire for it in my list of top mud tires.
Moreover, the tire is also great with muddy terrains, and on smooth roads, its gets to provide better tread life and fuel economy.
Federal Couragia M/T on the other side, provides superior mud evacuation and off road performance, but the tire could really use some help on smooth pavements.
