Cooper Cobra GT Tires good?

[hate2work]

I went to buy a set of four Pirelli P4s for my truck ( 215/70R/15 ) and they want $150 more for them than they quoted me a year ago( DT now wants $602 OTD for the set )!!

So I've been looking around and found a local shop that will sell me a set of four Cooper Cobra GTs for $400 OTD.

Are these a decent tire for commuting? I don't carry loads or tow anything, I just need them to get me back and forth to work.

Anybody have any experience with these tires?

https://www.tiresavings.com/tireShop.php...;season=Regular

 

[OldCowboy]

Cooper tires are 3rd tier tires. They are cheap because they don't last. I bought some Coopers a few years ago. They were about 2/3 as expensive as Goodyear, Firestone, etc. Unfortunately, they only lasted half as long. So, in the long run, they cost me more per mile.

Those Coopers have a 50,000 mile warranty. Yokohama Avid Touring-S has a great rating and a 65,000 mile warranty. The Tire Rack has them for $264 for a set of 4.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I bought a set of BFG Long Trail T/A Tours back in January or February. They are a very good truck tire, they have great traction in the heavy rain we get this time of year and they are great on dry pavement too. I don't go off road. I didn't take any hits on gas mileage either. They are super quiet, very smooth rolling and the ride quality and handling are excellent. I paid $380.00 at Tire Kingdom for a set of 4, mounted, balanced and taxes/fees all included. I did have a coopin for $40.00 off a set of 4 tires though, I got it off the Tire Kingdom web site.

I don't know if you have Tire Kingdom or NTB stores where you live but I really do like these BFG Long Trails. I guess you can buy them at most any good tire store. I read that BFG makes the Cooper tires but they are a much cheaper-built and a lesser-quality tire than the BFG tires. I did a lot of research before I bought my tires and didn't see very many good things written about Cooper.

 

[fsskier]

I would not call Cooper a "3rd Tier" tire, the Lifeliner and CS4 series both seem to get good reviews, and I have had good luck with both.

The Cobra's have a good reputation as a dry weather tire, but many report that they hydroplane easily in the rain.....

Several years ago when Consumers Reports tested "mid priced performance tires" they gave the Cobra a very poor rain traction score, although they performed adequately in other areas.

I suspect the Yokohama's or another Cooper tire would be a better choice.

 

[38sho]

BF Goodrich and Cooper aren't together

BF goodrich and uniroyal are owned by Michelin

cooper is its own stand alone company, they even make cheaper import tires under different names.

The cooper cobras seem to wear fast

other Coopers seem to be decent tires, I'm particularly found of the CS4 tires for a daily driver type application. They ride decent and have a high treadwear rating. Also the Cooper truck tires are ok as well. The Discoverer H/T is a nice riding/wearing tire that is about on par in that department as anything else available. If I was going with a load range E tire I would probably take something else though, like a Uniroyal HDH or Michelin LTX ms2 or the Bridgestone REVO depending on useage of tires

 

[Stu_Rock]

Definitely some misinformation in this thread; thanks 38sho for clearing it up.

Cooper does make some very good tires; it's completely wrong to call all of their products "third tier."

I had a set of Cooper Cobras once. I would maybe call them a "second tier" tire. Wet traction was a little lacking; dry traction was pretty good. In some sizes, there might be competitors that have better ride quality or cornering performance. With the RWL sidewalls, they looked fantastic on my old steel rally wheels.

In P215/70R15, there are a lot of good choices out there, but I don't see anything better for anywhere near $400 mounted and balanced. If that's your target price, I think the Cobras are a good choice.

 

[hate2work]

Wet traction, yeah, I definitely need that around here. That's the kind of info I was hoping to find out, so I'll look for different tires.

The Long Trails look good, but aren't available in my size, according to TR.

I keep hearing good things about the Michelin X tires, but that means I have to deal with Costco and have nitrogen filled tires, not sure about that.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: Stu_Rock
Definitely some misinformation in this thread; thanks 38sho for clearing it up.

Cooper does make some very good tires; it's completely wrong to call all of their products "third tier."


Just for the record I never said Cooper is owned by BFG. I said I read that BFG makes Cooper tires. Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read. And I never said Cooper is a third tier tire, I only said that I did not read very many good reports on Cooper tires when I was researching every tire known to man back when I bought my BFG's. I have never owned a set of Cooper tires so I have no personal opinion on them.

I like my Long Trails. They are a really good tire. Maybe the OP could find Long Trails in an alternate size that would still work well on his truck. I think the OE tire on my truck was a 225/75R15. I have always used 235/75R15's and have had no problems at all.

I did read a lot of good reviews on the Michelin X Radials too but we have no Costco or Sam's Club near here. IIRC they only sell that tire at warehouse club stores. I don't have memberships to those places anyway and the Tire Kingdom store here is just a few miles from home if I ever have a tire or wheel balance problem.

 

[simple_gifts]

+1 on discoverer h/t. I"ve bought a few sets

Not sure why they (cooper) constantly get classified as third tier. I can't dispute O.C's experience, however, I've had excellent performance from the Lifeliner and Discoverer lines. Just put on some CS4s this morning.

OT:American Prospector are made by Cooper, they are sold as generic SUV and LT tires

 

[rjundi]

IMHO every tire maker including $$$ ones like Michelin and Bridgestone make "third tier" tires. They all have their star(s) the balance mostly average and some real duds.

The key is research not the dope trying to selling what he's got in stock.

 

[daves87rs]

Mastercrafts are good as well..

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: fsskier
The Cobra's have a good reputation as a dry weather tire, but many report that they hydroplane easily in the rain.....


That's surprising, as they have many wide channels and lots of tread depth. The set that I had seemed to be good for hydroplane resistance. I remember driving 85 mph through a heavy downpour in the mountains without any issues. If they had poor wet traction I didn't notice, but I didn't really have much to compare to back then and my car had 98 hp and a 3-speed automatic. They were certainly far, far better than the B Traction el cheapo tires on the girlfriend's Tempo at the time. I did a lot of spinning and sliding on those things. I tried to put a set of Cobras on her car but she didn't like snakes, including the snake image on my tires, so she got Uniroyals as a replacement.

One of my buddies who owned a faster car than me at the time and had a set felt that wet traction improved dramatically when he replaced them after only a couple of years with a set of BFG Traction T/As with a AA Traction rating. The main reason he replaced them was due to constant bead leaks. It may have been an issue with the tire shop he bought them from.

I have no complaints about the set I owned. Four of my friends have also each owned a set at one time and the above was the only negative feedback I've heard about them. Treadlife was excellent for me and they did well in snow. Steering response was good for such an inexpensive tire. At the time, I found nothing else near that price with a two-ply sidewall.

 

[Ken2]

Quote:
I went to buy a set of four Pirelli P4s for my truck ( 215/70R/15 ) and they want $150 more for them than they quoted me a year ago( DT now wants $602 OTD for the set )!!
Find the lowest on line quote and DT will match it. Or, save even more by buying the tires on line and get Wal*Mart to install them. But, if you have a warranty claim, you're better off with a local store like DT that can handle the replacement then & there.

Onlinetires.com is the lowest price I've found for Cooper CS4, DT matched that price, and I like those tires a lot. The new Cooper tire lines are the only ones I'd buy from them, and the CS4 is working out great.

Michelin/BFG do not make Cooper tires. Cooper has their own tire plants. Cooper CS4 T-rated tires have a 80,000 mile treadwear warranty (but I don't count on that). (HOORAY, Cooper has a new web site, much better than the old, gimmicky flash site!)

 

[38sho]

I just drove a set of halfway worn BF Goodrich long trails, ok maybe slightly more then halfway worn, on a damp rod today and was not thrilled with the acceleration performance.. I.E. spun super easy.... and this is on a v6 Escape. Spun hard trying to drive it up the ramp on my alignment rack. When they are new, I'm sure they are better, but some tires have better wet traction then others when they start getting wore out.

Most people ride the tires out to the end these days(can't blame them with the economy- I don't see people replacing halfway worn out tires 99% of the time) so how a tire performs when it starts getting some mileage on it is an often overlooked selling point. It is also not easy to come by information, as most things you will get involving that are opinions, based on how informative and observant the owner is, plus the user habits and how they took care of the tire(alignment, driving habits, tire rotations, proper inflation) Luckily I work on a few fleets at my work and get some good test mules under less then ideal conditions.



I sell tires and install them a lot too, so I have some good scoop on seeing certain tires a lot. I mainly sell Michelin, BF Goodrich, Uniroyal, Cooper, and Yokohama. I do spice it up with some Generals here and there too. I don't normally sell Goodyear, Firestone, Bridgestone, Fuzion, Hankook, or Falken. My regular tire warhouse doesn't carry those brands.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I guess I will see how my truck does when my Long Trails get more miles on them. Right now they only have about 5 or 6K so it is too soon to tell much about them, other than they handle and ride great and have great traction wet or dry.

This is the third set of tires I have put on my truck. I put a set of LTX's on it when I first bought my truck, I bought it used with 41K on it and the used car dealership had put a set of Michelin Harmony (a car tire that has no business on a pickup truck) in the wrong size on it. The LTX's went about 55K and I replaced those with a set of Firestone Destination LE's. Another set of LTX's was just not in my budget at the time. The Firestones were a good tire but they developed bad noise and harsh ride problems at only 42K. Part of that problem was my own fault when I ran 42 psi for a while trying to get better gas mileage. It did net me a little more mileage but it sacrificed the center treads in the process. That is when I bought these Long Trails. I have never had to replace a tire or set of tires on my trucks because of poor traction. I have replaced tires due to noise, poor ride quality due to age and tread getting to the end of its useable life.

I read a lot of great reviews on the Long Trails before I bought them. Like anything else, there were some bad/mediocre/indifferent reviews too. I keep my tires at 35 psi (lesson learned), rotate every 5K and when I have my truck off the ground for tire rotation I always inspect my front and rear brakes, shocks, suspension and steering parts and look over the entire undercarriage for any problems and check very carefully for anything that looks to be out of the ordinary. I keep my alignment in perfect specs too. I get it aligned and/or tires balanced anytime the steering is even the slightest bit off or I feel any odd tire vibrations. I am following a cross-type rotation pattern with these BFG's too, which may help me get more miles out of them. I used a front to back, on the same side rotation pattern with my Firestones and that may have been another error on my part that led to their failure. I always torque my lug nuts back on by hand anytime I remove and reinstall the wheels.

Anytime I find anything wrong with my truck I fix it right away. I take good care of my truck because I want it to take good care of me. I guess time will tell as far as these BFG's go. So far they are a great tire, especially for the price I paid. If they fail early it will be another lesson learned and I will have to try some other tire.