Originally Posted By: Corollaman
Originally Posted By: Ken2
I telephoned a Cooper tire engineer about Cooper's three brands, Cooper, Dean, & Mastercraft. He said that they were, "built in the same factory." I asked if the quality was equal. He said that they were, "built in the same factory." I guess he wasn't allowed to answer my question.
That's the same answer I got. There are actually a lot of different tires under the Mastercraft brand, I imagine they are decent quality.
To me, a lot of it appears to be marketing driven.
You can be a Cooper dealer, or you can sell Mastercraft. So what's the difference?
Cooper has their largest customers selling Cooper tires. They are full line dealers. They are likely getting their tires through Cooper... along with customer support, marketing materials, and perks to selling Cooper tires directly from Cooper.
Underneath that, a smaller shop... an independent tire dealer, or a larger auto/truck mechanic with several bays and tire equipment... can sell Mastercraft tires. This shop could still be next door to a Cooper dealer... but there's no "overlap" between the two brands, and no direct competition. The independent is likely sourcing his Mastercraft tires from a distributor, and all of his contact is coming through the distributor.
The Mastercraft tire can also be at a slightly lower price as well, as there is less marketing at the national level as well. For example, Mastercraft doesn't sponsor any racing events.
Cooper could also use a slightly different rubber formulation in the Mastercraft tire, to lower the price of a tire by a couple bucks as well.
This way, Cooper has two customers instead of one, and everyone is happy.
Michelin does it in the same way with Sam's and Costco. They sell virtually the same tire to both their dealers and to Sam's and Costco (think of the LTX and the X Radial LT).
HOWEVER, the tire sold to Sam's and Costco has a slightly different tread pattern, and a different name molded into the sidewall. And now there isn't any *direct* competition between Sam's and the Michelin dealer less than a mile away.