Are Cooper Tires Safe?

A firm, not panicked, grip on the wheel and smooth steering inputs, and the car will track just fine. My tire blew on a Volvo wagon, with a 3,000# tandem axle Uhaul in tow. It was loaded with a bedroom set and a piano. I stayed straight, let off the gas, pulled over to the shoulder. No problem.

My daughter, six months old at the time, was in her car seat, and slept through the whole thing.
I would expect nothing less from a Navy pilot
 
Car and Driver did an interesting, detailed, set of experiments with a Ford Explorer when they were rolling over after tire failure. The failures occurred because of an awful combination of low factory pressure recommendation, poor owner maintenance practices, and flawed tire construction. They did lots of runs, with a setup that allowed for explosive loss of pressure. They went faster and faster. They tried worse and worse circumstances.

The long and short of it?

The Explorer rolled over as the result of driver input, not tire failure.

When their test driver (wearing a helmet, gloves, and driving suit in an Explorer fitted with a roll cage) kept their hands OFF THE WHEEL, at 70 MPH, the Explorer pulled to the side but didn’t roll over.
 
Same thing happens when racing motorcycles, they are called “survival reactions”. When going fast, the bike gives a twitch, causes you to have a scare, so you overreact and cause a sudden change, which crashes the bike. Your reaction crashes the bike, not the actual twitch from the imperfect road.

You need to train yourself to stay calm and let the bike kick and then self right itself, while you relax and don’t react, keep riding your line.
 
Cooper has one of the highest if not the highest number of NHTSA safety recalls for a tire manufacturer. All I would expect to see on Bob is a bunch of anecdotes. I would call their hotline and report the issue here is the link.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/Complaint.cfm
Thank you for this. I'm reporting it.

As some people have asked, I go to DT monthly for pressure checks and keep them properly inflated. They had just been rotated on March 26th.

I appreciate everyone's input, especially for how to react if it ever happens again.
 
I had one set of truck tires and generally liked them. The CS5 has been a bitog favorite for years. mine were heavy, thick rubber, and really soft. They were great truck tires but also wore funny... like they were using good, reliable old tech but also had the detriments of old tech. They were, compared to a lot of other offerings, seemingly overbuilt.

from all the years of reading tire reviews, continental seems to carry the burden for inexcusable rashes of sidewall failures, though I do like 2 specific models they carry - the dws06 (which should be bald sooner than the sidewall fatigues) and the contitrac AT, their first attempt at an all terrain.
 
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I think one of the great things about Cooper tires is the shops that sell and install them. At least that's the way it is in my area. We have a few tire shops that can sell and install any brand, but they mainly advertise and display Cooper / Mastercraft.

In fact I had a great experience with one such shop yesterday. The factory goodyear wrangler SR-As on my 2019 Ram classic developed an annoying vibration at 55-65mpg. I took the truck to them to have the tires re-balanced. It took a few calls/tries to get in over a week or two because they are always busy. They balanced all 4 no charge! I gave the guy that did the work a 20.
 
My good friend in Colorado runs Cooper exclusively because the local dealer is good. Three kids, four cars, all weather, mountain driving. His F-250 Super Duty is used for heavy towing (a camper) in the mountains. His Coopers have been great. I think the experience at his servicing dealer has a lot to do with why he keeps going back.
 
Cooper RS3-As on the Trans Am, Cooper AT3 XLTs on the truck. The Coopers, to me are better than the Eagle F1s, GS-Cs and RS-As I have had.
I love the Coopers on the truck. I tow heavy and they are not noisy and good in the snow.
 
Have CS 5 on the Sentra and Evolutions on the Versa. No problems. CS 5’s are from 8/18. Evolutions are from 1/21. Always have had real fresh tires from Tire Rack. They are soft, grippy, and quiet.
 
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I like cooper's but if you feel unsafe by all means switch brands
I agree but my driving is so benign now I would feel safe on bicycle tires. Low mileage, only occasional interstate speeds. I actually thought I overspent on the Coopers but what the heck. They weren’t that expensive and I just figured 7 or so years of forgetting about tires was worth it.
 
5 cars in the family on Cooper tires with no issues. A truck, an SUV, and three cars. The Atlas will also get Cooper's when the Conintentals are dead.
 
Yea, I get it. I’m OCD but sometimes you gotta take a break so you can sleep a few hours. I’ve got the dishwasher set to start at 2am. That means I’ll toss and turn until I hear it start. Then what if it leaks while I fall asleep listening to it? That’s why I bought the Coopers. One less thing.
 
I started a thread a while back on posting your tire failures. One family member had a failure on a Starfire, which from what I know is made by Cooper as a value line. No tire abuse that I know of. No underinflations. Tread separation at highway speed. From what I know and have seen, I will not be buying any Cooper brand or sub-brand. That's my 2 cents. As always, your experiences may differ.
 
I sold Cooper and other tires. Cooper mostly were pretty good, but this was years ago. I made mistake of trying to use up over 7 years old sport tires, and had 3 separate on a hot weekend. The ones on rear grew larger as tread came off and steered F150 all over road. I guarantee that you better have some hard driving experience to contain that. These tires were only fill to 35 psi. I never had trouble with speed rated tires of 130+.
 
Good luck with Cooper tires here. I've even been on race tracks with their summer tires (which aren't bad).

The primary cause of blowout and structural failure on tires is, say it with me y'all, tire pressure being too low.
 
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