Cooper opinions and interesting NHTSA stats

[ejes]

I'm looking at tires here soon and I'm pretty interested in a new tire they've just released; so there isn't much for reviews on it yet obviously. I've had many brands over the years, including Cooper, but that was only one time. I wasn't really wowed by them then (CS4's), but didn't have any terrible issue with them. I've already done some searching on here already, but what is the general REAL WORLD consensus on Cooper tires with you all?

One of the things that bothers me is I did some research on NHTSA for all the brands I'm interested in, including Cooper and when you put their brand into thier search engine, it returns 306 overall results. So far that is FAR more than any other brand, with Goodyear coming in second. Not exactly encouraging since Goodyear purchased Cooper not too long ago. Now that can mean something or it can mean very little when considering certain perameters (total volume sold, etc.) But when I read some of the complaints I find discouraging patterns (tread seperation, belt seperation, etc. )

 

[dishdude]

Cooper and Mastercraft are usually at the top of my shopping list.

 

[parshisa]

Im currently running cooper evolution on my civic at the moment, around 25k at the moment. Pretty loud and wearing down a bit quicker. Had same cooper evolution on my Pilot, similar experience - they’ve gotten loud around 20k and wore down a lot quicker despite frequent tire rotations. Switched to Michelin defenders on my Pilot - far superior experience. So, my next tire won’t be cooper

 

[AutoMechanic]

I’ve had Cooper Evolution on my Escape for the last two sets of tires. Won’t buy them again after they got taken over by Goodyear but they have been good tires. My main reason for buying them was the white lettering. No noise or out of round issues like I’ve had with other brands of tires. This set is two years old and 20ish or 30,000 something miles on them. Last set was 2 years old too when they wore out but the short span is because I drive 60 miles a day for work.

 

[The Critic]

Cooper and Mastercraft are usually at the top of my shopping list.

For a mid-grade tire, they're decent.

But their incentives are generally weaker and inventory wise, they're weaker in this part of the US. So, I often find premium brands to be comparable in price (if you time your purchase) and you get a replacement more quickly in the event of an unrepairable flat.

 

[weaponoffreedom]

I have tried the Discoverer HT3 on my 2013 3500 dually and Discoverer Maxx on my 2500 Suburban, neither impressed me, nor will I buy again. Hope this helps.

 

[atikovi]

My perception is they are ok second tier tires behind the American majors like Goodyear, BFG, Firestone, Dunlop, Uniroyal, etc.

 

[Passport1]

I have a set of CS5 on my Outlander. Less than 30K miles and they are almost down to the wear bars. Bought them at DT so I went back and the manager told me to drive them a bit more and bring them back. He thinks Cooper will prorate them. Got a set of Endevour Plus on my Ford and they are better. They've been ok but don't know if I will buy another set. Probably go back to General.

 

[dogememe]

I have a set of CS5 on my Outlander. Less than 30K miles and they are almost down to the wear bars. Bought them at DT so I went back and the manager told me to drive them a bit more and bring them back. He thinks Cooper will prorate them. Got a set of Endevour Plus on my Ford and they are better. They've been ok but don't know if I will buy another set. Probably go back to General.

Lol the Generals on my Volt are the worst tire I've ever owned/driven on. Not sure why you'd want to go back to those!

 

[PontiacHO]

My wife bought a new 2024 Mercedes that came with factory installed Cooper run-flats. I can say with certainty that they are noisy with less than 2k miles. I believe that Goodyear purchased Cooper to eliminate competition and likewise cheapened the overall Cooper tire line. Not as good a tire as 5 years ago for sure.

 

[k1xv]

You can do better. If you are not looking to buy a top of the line brand, such as MIchelin or Continental, you might look at something from Yokohama or Nitto.

 

[MattPersman]

Just a meh tire. Easier to pick a tire by your vehicle make model and application than just a blanket brand recommendation

 

[ejes]

You can do better. If you are not looking to buy a top of the line brand, such as MIchelin or Continental, you might look at something from Yokohama or Nitto.

I have OE Michelins on now (2020 Tundra). They'be been a good tire, but I need something with just a tad bit more all terrain capability and they don't really make quite what I'm looking for. Even though I don't rock crawl and drive very conservatively, the Michelins have gotten pretty cut up and and are down to the wear bars at just shy of 50K. I do about 35-45% of low to no maintenance roads; the rest of the time I'm on the highway getting to those roads. I'm looking at several brands, but Cooper has a new Discovere Road and Trail AT that intrigued me. I am leaning away from the Cooper for just the reasons I stated already and I'm seeing a lot of confirmation here. Considering some offerings from Hankook, Sumitomo, and a Vredestein that have what I'm looking for in load ratings and types of compounds. Thanks for all the replies.

 

[atikovi]

For a mid-grade tire, they're decent.

You can do better.

Just a meh tire.

What happened to all the Cooper lovers? When I posted they were just so so tires 4 years ago, I was raked over the coals,

Cooper vs Continental SUV tires?

I just purchased a parts vehicle for my 2000 Durango R/T. The parts vehicle has Cooper 265/75/17 tires. About 6,000 miles ago I bought a set of Continental 265/75/17 tires. Both have similar mileage, both have similar street treads. I'm going to sell one set. I was wondering if there was any...

bobistheoilguy.com

 

[ejes]

What happened to all the Cooper lovers? When I posted they were just so so tires 4 years ago, I was raked over the coals,

Cooper vs Continental SUV tires?

I just purchased a parts vehicle for my 2000 Durango R/T. The parts vehicle has Cooper 265/75/17 tires. About 6,000 miles ago I bought a set of Continental 265/75/17 tires. Both have similar mileage, both have similar street treads. I'm going to sell one set. I was wondering if there was any...

bobistheoilguy.com

I wonder if it is because Goodyear purchased them and quality has perhaps went down??

 

[MattPersman]

What happened to all the Cooper lovers? When I posted they were just so so tires 4 years ago, I was raked over the coals,

Cooper vs Continental SUV tires?

I just purchased a parts vehicle for my 2000 Durango R/T. The parts vehicle has Cooper 265/75/17 tires. About 6,000 miles ago I bought a set of Continental 265/75/17 tires. Both have similar mileage, both have similar street treads. I'm going to sell one set. I was wondering if there was any...

bobistheoilguy.com

I think the cs5 or something like that was a fav. But then again the general rt43 was too and that tire imo was crappy too

 

[ejes]

I think the cs5 or something like that was a fav. But then again the general rt43 was too and that tire imo was crappy too

This is an interesting comment. I had the CS5's as OE on a 2015 Jeep Cherokee. They were just an ok tire wearing out pretty quickly due to the AWD system on that car. I replaced with the General RT43's and they were not an impressive tire. They too wore quickly and had very soft, mushy sidewalls. I ended up replacing those with BFG Advantage T/A Sports which ended up being a very good tire for that car.

 

[ripcord]

I think the cs5 or something like that was a fav. But then again the general rt43 was too and that tire imo was crappy too

The RT43's were good wearing with decent wet and dry stopping traction though kind of noisy. I had 3 sets on two different cars. Definitely not a high performance tire and not a light trick or heavy SUV tire but checked a lot of boxes for me for passenger cars.

 

[GMBoy]

Absolutely love Cooper tires - have them on almost all my vehicles and have been using them for the last 10yrs+

 

[Merek]

Evidently General has discontinued the 43's and replaced them with the 45, seems like a decent tire overall but like most when they near the end of their lifespan they get brutal as in harsh ride quality and the noise. Depending on the tire I've found that anywhere 5k-10k miles remaining tread life is typically when it becomes an issue.

I don't have any experience with Cooper but I agree that the general consensus would be that with the statement made about being bought out by Goodyear and the quality may have gone downhill. I've always wanted to try Goodyear but honestly I cannot find anything I even like from them with good enough ratings for me. They seem like an ok tire but for the money I can save and actually get better tires it doesn't make any reasonable sense to go with them.