Buying a set of Kumho Sense 205/65R15, because....

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: tommygunn
Actually, most Cooper tires are made in China (Lifeliners, RS3A, etc). The only US-made Cooper that I know of is the CS4 Touring. The RS3A was US-made for its first year, then production moved to China.


"Most Cooper tires are made in China"... Really?

"that I know of"... Are you sure?

Then what is Cooper making in their tire plants in Ohio, Arkansas, and Mississippi? Rubber baby buggy bumpers?

Here's an inconvenient fact: Cooper has more tire plants in the US, than they do in China.

 

[datech]

[quote:
-I'm about to pull the trigger on a set of Kumho Sense 205/65R15 for a 2007 Toyota Corolla CE (this -is the base trim of the Corolla and it comes stock with 185/65R15 Goodyear Integrity tires, the -volume trim "LE" of the Corolla comes with 195/65R15's.)

-I'm currently on 195/60R15 General Altimax HP tires, they're mounted on a set of 15X7 alloy wheels.

-I'm having alignment issues and there's inner edge accelerated tire wear.



- According to the spec sheets, the 205's are actually only very slightly wider than their 195's, -this is good because I don't think wide tires are good for the Corolla.

-4. These tires are fairly lightweight. These are the lightest 205's at only 18 lbs. each.

-5. In choosing this size, I understand that the rolling diameter will have changed from 24.2 inches -to 25.5 inches, this will raise the height by a little more than half an inch. This is not a problem, the extra clearance will help and also this car has no-ABS, I will mentally compensate for the odometer/speedometer.
[/quote]






In going to a wider alloy wheel, perhaps you should have also gone to a 16" diameter wheel, and then a lower aspect tire, like a 50 or 55. A wider rim necessitates a matching tire

There are 25.4 mm per inch, so when you go up a step ( 185- 195 ) you are going about a half inch wider.

When you change the overall wheel (tire + rim ) size, circumference, diameter, offset, etc. , you are changing the way the suspension works. Hopefully realignment would help, but many cars don't have adjustments in all the dimensions, caster, camber. Many just adjust the toe-in. So you might get abnormal wear.

Did you read on the tire rack website about upsizing tires? I think they have a pretty good explanation of this.

I agree that overall bigger wheels should help with potholes. Imagine hitting a pothole with a grocery cart wheel. But I wonder if a minor change would help that much. If you try to go with really oversize tires you run into not only suspension geometry issues and speedo error, but fender clearance problems.

All in all it is probably easier and generally better to just stick with the size on the door jam.

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
They are still cheap Korean tires. I only buy car tires that are made in USA and have a fairly high max PSI rating.


What companies do that? I know Cooper. That strongly swayed me to buy coopers, actually.


Some Goodyear, Dunlops, Yokohama's, General, Michelins, etc. Depends upon the specific tire, since some tires certain sizes may be made in a different country even. Tore Rack specifies Country of Origin.

 

[tommygunn]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Originally Posted By: tommygunn
Actually, most Cooper tires are made in China (Lifeliners, RS3A, etc). The only US-made Cooper that I know of is the CS4 Touring. The RS3A was US-made for its first year, then production moved to China.


"Most Cooper tires are made in China"... Really?

"that I know of"... Are you sure?

Then what is Cooper making in their tire plants in Ohio, Arkansas, and Mississippi? Rubber baby buggy bumpers?

Here's an inconvenient fact: Cooper has more tire plants in the US, than they do in China.


Easy: the CS4 Touring, maybe some truck tires, the higher profit margin "specialty" tires (Mickey Thompson, **** Cepek, etc), and I think they even make some tires for Nokian.

Cooper also has plants in Mexico and England, but I don't recall any Cooper tire coming from either of those countries, although their Avon tires probably come from the British factory. I've also heard of many of Cooper's private label tires being made in Mexico from old retired US molds.

Add to that, Cooper is having quite a few problems at the corporate level, that even led to Apollo backing out of a deal to buy them up, so I wouldn't be surprised if they indeed weren't doing anything at one or more of their factories, US or elsewhere.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I THINK that some of the Starfire lines come from Mexico.

 

[Rand]

Actually cooper backed out because Apollo kept trying to lower the buyout price from the 35$ share price agreed upon.

You realise that greater than 25% of cooper tires sold are in the chinese market? of course they would be smart to make tires there.

That doesnt tell us what US MARKET tires are made in china.

I would like to know beyond this WAGS you seem to post in every tire thread that mentions cooper. Do you have any sources I've searched and found nothing. I have looked at quite a few in parking lots (in ohio alot of cooper tire are sold) and they were all made in usa.
Originally Posted By: tommygunn
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Originally Posted By: tommygunn
Actually, most Cooper tires are made in China (Lifeliners, RS3A, etc). The only US-made Cooper that I know of is the CS4 Touring. The RS3A was US-made for its first year, then production moved to China.


"Most Cooper tires are made in China"... Really?

"that I know of"... Are you sure?

Then what is Cooper making in their tire plants in Ohio, Arkansas, and Mississippi? Rubber baby buggy bumpers?

Here's an inconvenient fact: Cooper has more tire plants in the US, than they do in China.


Easy: the CS4 Touring, maybe some truck tires, the higher profit margin "specialty" tires (Mickey Thompson, **** Cepek, etc), and I think they even make some tires for Nokian.

Cooper also has plants in Mexico and England, but I don't recall any Cooper tire coming from either of those countries, although their Avon tires probably come from the British factory. I've also heard of many of Cooper's private label tires being made in Mexico from old retired US molds.

Add to that, Cooper is having quite a few problems at the corporate level, that even led to Apollo backing out of a deal to buy them up, so I wouldn't be surprised if they indeed weren't doing anything at one or more of their factories, US or elsewhere.


back on topic
The kumho sense are decent touring tires.

They are a modern new tire design with cheapness being its main quality.. they are at least average or better in performance.

 

[paulswagelock]

I put the Sense tires on my daughters Cruze before I traded it. Logged about 5000 miles on them. Very good tire for the price. Did well in hard rains, dry handling was fine, smooth and quiet, and did ok in light snow.
Would definitely purchase again.