Tire update- Cooper CS5/ Yoko Avid Touring S

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
19,388
Location
Michigan
Realized I have not updated my tires, so here is a little update and review..


Cooper CS5 Grand Touring (195/60/15) - Threw these on the Cobalt last spring after losing two tires to a pothole. Was not sure I was going to buy nice tires for the "beater", but I'm glad I did. Tires have almost 10k on them now, and show very little wear. Thinking it will be possible to get 65-70k out of these, even with mostly city driving. They are quiet, and pick up the bumps quite nicely (way better than the Sumis before). Stays planted in the turns...just like the way these handle. Out of all the tires I have put on this car, these are by far the best. We will see long term, but at the moment I would have no problem getting another set of these!


Yokohama Avid Touring S (195/70/14)- Had these on the wife's Cavalier for few years now. Have a bit over 20k on them, and they too are wearing well (still have about 65-70% left or so) Thinking they will hit the 65k warranty mark with no issue. Not as much to say about this size because it's a 13 year base compact with noo handling whatsoever. They do really pick up the bumps quite well too. IF we still have the car (rust is eating it away
frown.gif
)I would pick up another set, granted it helps that there is nothing but junk in this size now anyways( for the most part)..

I would recommend both tires..


As a side note-I would include my other car's General Altimax RT's, but the car has seen few miles a the moment. At least they hold air well....
 
Wear rates are not as important as stopping distance figures. Oddly enough side grip performance is not effected much by which make or model of tyre you select, it is effected much more by suspension and tyre size.
Top of the range major brand tyres might cost more, but you get what you pay for, particularly when doing an emergency stop on a wet road. If you live in an area that gets significant snow in winter, use summer and winter tyres. Winter tyres do not make a big difference to cornering performance or braking distance on wet ice, BUT if the road temp is below 7c or it is covered by snow they are much better than summer tyres.

If you use all season tyres, Goodyear Vectors are a tough act to beat, otherwise Continental, Dunlop and Michellin make the best tyres. Michellin seem to have a reputation for slightly lower wear rates and I would include Nokian if you use winter tyres.
Winter tyres need to have at least 4mm of tread to be good in the snow.

I use Dunlop Blue response summer tyres and Continantal winter contacts. Both tyres are made in Germany.
 
Last edited:
I'd love to see a USA & a UK tire-tyre shop side-by-side.

I'd buy Cooper CS5's based on the OP's description and that my pair of CS4's wore extremely well.

The Yokohama Avids in the size I dealt with (205-55-16 V-rated) did not wear that well though they great performers (silent, stopped well).
 
I'm liking the CS5 Ultra Touring tires on my Cruze. They're very confident in the wet, handle well, and pretty quiet. With about 5000 miles on them, wear front to back is within 1/32".
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
I'd love to see a USA & a UK tire-tyre shop side-by-side.

I'd buy Cooper CS5's based on the OP's description and that my pair of CS4's wore extremely well.

The Yokohama Avids in the size I dealt with (205-55-16 V-rated) did not wear that well though they great performers (silent, stopped well).


Why don't you base tyre decisions on independent test reports rather than opinions or guess work ??

The best reports are published by the German ADAC, although some of the German car mags also publish test reports. They cover most makes of tyre sold in the EU and US, BUT are not much good for test data on all weather tyres, as very few Germans use them.
If you check the wet braking distance figures for most non major brand tyres, you will find they are a real horror story.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: UltrafanUK
Originally Posted By: Kira
I'd love to see a USA & a UK tire-tyre shop side-by-side.

I'd buy Cooper CS5's based on the OP's description and that my pair of CS4's wore extremely well.

The Yokohama Avids in the size I dealt with (205-55-16 V-rated) did not wear that well though they great performers (silent, stopped well).


Why don't you base tyre decisions on independent test reports rather than opinions or guess work ??

The best reports are published by the German ADAC, although some of the German car mags also publish test reports. They cover most makes of tyre sold in the EU and US, BUT are not much good for test data on all weather tyres, as very few Germans use them.
If you check the wet braking distance figures for most non major brand tyres, you will find they are a real horror story.


Not a single tire you mentioned is sold in the US.

I wish we had some kind of rating scale like europe/UK does.
but you quickly learn which tires are duds or better than average with some research.
 
My take on independent test reports, both domestic and foreign, is that they're often wrought with subjective qualities if for no other reason that the test mules they use do not approximate your particular vehicle they're going on...also I don't necessarily want to be relegated to summer and performance tires if there's an acceptable and longer wearing all-season that makes more sense. I would submit to you that there's still significant guess work unless you just want to take their results as gospel. Over time, I've learned not to do that.
 
Originally Posted By: sciphi
I'm liking the CS5 Ultra Touring tires on my Cruze. They're very confident in the wet, handle well, and pretty quiet. With about 5000 miles on them, wear front to back is within 1/32".



I've heard really good things about the CS5 UTs too....neighbor has them on his Dart.

I was happy to see that the CS3s now come in a 14 inch size for my car, as it would be between those and the RT43s when I need them down the road....
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
Originally Posted By: UltrafanUK
Originally Posted By: Kira
I'd love to see a USA & a UK tire-tyre shop side-by-side.

I'd buy Cooper CS5's based on the OP's description and that my pair of CS4's wore extremely well.

The Yokohama Avids in the size I dealt with (205-55-16 V-rated) did not wear that well though they great performers (silent, stopped well).


Why don't you base tyre decisions on independent test reports rather than opinions or guess work ??

The best reports are published by the German ADAC, although some of the German car mags also publish test reports. They cover most makes of tyre sold in the EU and US, BUT are not much good for test data on all weather tyres, as very few Germans use them.
If you check the wet braking distance figures for most non major brand tyres, you will find they are a real horror story.


Not a single tire you mentioned is sold in the US.

I wish we had some kind of rating scale like europe/UK does.
but you quickly learn which tires are duds or better than average with some research.



You might not find the 2 models of Continental or Dunlop summer and winter tyres I use in the US, as they sometimes US different names for their top of the range tyres. On most occasions the tyre has the same design spec even if it is made in the US.
Michellin seem to be fighting back against the good reputation of Goodyear all season tyres with a brand new model that might be worth looking at.

Another way of figuring out which tyre companies and models are best is to visit your local Volvo main dealers to see which tyres they fit, as they always seem to select the safest tyres available. Currently they are using and selling top of the range Conti's on most models, but I did see a few with Michellin winter tyres.
Mercedes are similar in selecting the best tyres, although they seem to favour Dunlop at present.
 
Originally Posted By: Vuflanovsky
My take on independent test reports, both domestic and foreign, is that they're often wrought with subjective qualities if for no other reason that the test mules they use do not approximate your particular vehicle they're going on...also I don't necessarily want to be relegated to summer and performance tires if there's an acceptable and longer wearing all-season that makes more sense. I would submit to you that there's still significant guess work unless you just want to take their results as gospel. Over time, I've learned not to do that.



The Germans just deal with facts so their reports are often the best. One controversial area concerns the definition of ice, as Nokian use their own based on dry ice (It needs to be around minus 20c to get dry ice) due to the fact that the EU/TUV regulators have yet to define a test standard for ice. I think the wet ice which is what you get above about minus 10c is of much more interest and that is the type of ice used in the ADAC tests.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top