Note: I’m putting the term “review” in the title so this thread will be easier for people to find in the future. I’ll be updating this thread as I get more miles on these tires.
I’ll be giving an honest review of these tires. If they perform poorly, you’ll be sure to hear about it.
Facts about the Cooper CS5 Grand Touring:
-Made in the USA. Made in Tupelo, Mississippi, to be specific.
-T-rated, 80,000 mile treadlife warranty.
-Constructed with a nylon cap ply, for those of you who are worried about using tires without a cap ply.
-Cooper says the CS5 is the first tire to use a new high-silica compound they developed.
-Cooper claims the CS5 uses a new sipe design where the sipes are deeper. They claim the CS5 has 40% more sipes available when half worn than the previous CS4 tire.
-Cooper also offers another version of this tire, the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring. It’s available in higher speed ratings, has a different tread pattern and is more performance oriented.
-I paid $385 after tax for the set installed at Discount Tire. I also have a $50 MIR. Assuming that goes through, I’ll have paid $335 out the door.
Why did I choose the CS5 Grand Touring?
I’ve been interested in giving Cooper tires a try. They’re one of the rare tire companies still based in the U.S., they make lots of tires in the U.S. and they seem to be on the upswing recently.
Cooper seems to be a company that was mostly known for private-label production in the past and producing lesser-known brands like Mastercraft. In recent years, they’ve seemed to change their focus a little. They become an OE-supplier to the automotive industry for the first time. They have released some tires under the Cooper brand that look to have a lot of R&D put into them to make them more competitive in their class.
The CS5 was recently released, so there’s little objective testing available. I generally prefer to read tests from places like Consumer Reports and Tire Rack before buying a tire, but I decided to give these a shot. The CS4 performed well in areas I’m looking for, and the CS5 claims to improve on those areas.
Other tires I considered included the General RT43 and Kumho KR21.
First impressions
I thought there wouldn’t be a huge difference between the Coopers and my previous Firestone FR710 tires. Boy, was I wrong.
There were the differences I expected, like the new tires being quieter. But the turning seems slightly sharper, the ride is significantly smoother and the wet traction is greatly improved.
I will say, these tires are on a 1999 Nissan Frontier. It’s far from a performance vehicle, so it’s not the most precise platform for testing tires.
It’s been very rainy here the last couple days. Several times I’ve tried accelerating quickly from a stop and had very little wheelspin. The previous FR710 tires did not perform as well in that regard.
What I’m waiting to find out
Winter traction is a concern for me, as I live in an area that can get a good amount of snow and ice, but not enough to justify buying winter tires.
I’m interested to see how these tires perform in the winter. The CS5 tread pattern doesn’t feature as many sipes as something like the Hankook H727, which is known for having good winter traction. But Cooper claims the sipes are designed to last longer into the tire’s life and the high-silica tread compound will help in the winter. We will see, as winter is just around the corner.
A close-up look at the CS5 Grand Touring
The CS5 tread is asymmetrical. Cooper says there are more sipes on the inside to help with wet and snow traction. The larger tread blocks on the outside are aimed at improving handling.
Here’s the tread from the outside edge showing the larger tread blocks.
Here’s the tread from the inside edge showing the more numerous sipes.
The old Firestone FR710
I’ve had these on my truck for nearly 50k miles and 5 years. I would sum up my experiences by simply saying “meh.”
They were never really good at anything, and the winter traction was really, really poor. That’s even considering that this is a 2wd truck that isn’t great in the winter to begin with.
Here are pics of a new FR710 and my worn tires.
I’ll be giving an honest review of these tires. If they perform poorly, you’ll be sure to hear about it.
Facts about the Cooper CS5 Grand Touring:
-Made in the USA. Made in Tupelo, Mississippi, to be specific.
-T-rated, 80,000 mile treadlife warranty.
-Constructed with a nylon cap ply, for those of you who are worried about using tires without a cap ply.
-Cooper says the CS5 is the first tire to use a new high-silica compound they developed.
-Cooper claims the CS5 uses a new sipe design where the sipes are deeper. They claim the CS5 has 40% more sipes available when half worn than the previous CS4 tire.
-Cooper also offers another version of this tire, the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring. It’s available in higher speed ratings, has a different tread pattern and is more performance oriented.
-I paid $385 after tax for the set installed at Discount Tire. I also have a $50 MIR. Assuming that goes through, I’ll have paid $335 out the door.
Why did I choose the CS5 Grand Touring?
I’ve been interested in giving Cooper tires a try. They’re one of the rare tire companies still based in the U.S., they make lots of tires in the U.S. and they seem to be on the upswing recently.
Cooper seems to be a company that was mostly known for private-label production in the past and producing lesser-known brands like Mastercraft. In recent years, they’ve seemed to change their focus a little. They become an OE-supplier to the automotive industry for the first time. They have released some tires under the Cooper brand that look to have a lot of R&D put into them to make them more competitive in their class.
The CS5 was recently released, so there’s little objective testing available. I generally prefer to read tests from places like Consumer Reports and Tire Rack before buying a tire, but I decided to give these a shot. The CS4 performed well in areas I’m looking for, and the CS5 claims to improve on those areas.
Other tires I considered included the General RT43 and Kumho KR21.
First impressions
I thought there wouldn’t be a huge difference between the Coopers and my previous Firestone FR710 tires. Boy, was I wrong.
There were the differences I expected, like the new tires being quieter. But the turning seems slightly sharper, the ride is significantly smoother and the wet traction is greatly improved.
I will say, these tires are on a 1999 Nissan Frontier. It’s far from a performance vehicle, so it’s not the most precise platform for testing tires.
It’s been very rainy here the last couple days. Several times I’ve tried accelerating quickly from a stop and had very little wheelspin. The previous FR710 tires did not perform as well in that regard.
What I’m waiting to find out
Winter traction is a concern for me, as I live in an area that can get a good amount of snow and ice, but not enough to justify buying winter tires.
I’m interested to see how these tires perform in the winter. The CS5 tread pattern doesn’t feature as many sipes as something like the Hankook H727, which is known for having good winter traction. But Cooper claims the sipes are designed to last longer into the tire’s life and the high-silica tread compound will help in the winter. We will see, as winter is just around the corner.
A close-up look at the CS5 Grand Touring
The CS5 tread is asymmetrical. Cooper says there are more sipes on the inside to help with wet and snow traction. The larger tread blocks on the outside are aimed at improving handling.
Here’s the tread from the outside edge showing the larger tread blocks.
Here’s the tread from the inside edge showing the more numerous sipes.
The old Firestone FR710
I’ve had these on my truck for nearly 50k miles and 5 years. I would sum up my experiences by simply saying “meh.”
They were never really good at anything, and the winter traction was really, really poor. That’s even considering that this is a 2wd truck that isn’t great in the winter to begin with.
Here are pics of a new FR710 and my worn tires.
