Tire Rack now carries Cooper tires

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Here is Tire Rack's Cooper page.

They seem to carry their full line. One thing that popped up is that a few sizes of the CS5 Ultra are starting to be made in China. The CS5 Grand is almost all Chinese. Most of the CS3 sizes are also Chinese.

The RS-3 G1 is Chinese, but we already knew that. It's another thing to see the BITOG favorite the CS5 starting to become Chinese, which may be infuriating to some people, especially since they were all American-made at launch. But thanks to the Tire Rack, they can no longer hide such a bait and switch.
 
Originally Posted By: Leo99
Bait and switch?


When the CS3 and CS5 first came out, all of them were made in the US, in Tupelo, MS. But now they are made in China. A lot of companies, not just tire companies, do this, but since Tire Rack publishes the COO data, they can't hide it.

Lots of people on here recommend them in part because of the American-made reputation, so this will disappoint quite a few. When you build a reputation like that, whether it be made in the USA, or just being high quality, or whatever, then later quietly substitute with inferior components, or offshore to China, but still charge the same price, that's bait and switch!
 
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Originally Posted By: Leo99
Bait and switch?


When the CS3 and CS5 first came out, all of them were made in the US, in Tupelo, MS. But now they are made in China. A lot of companies, not just tire companies, do this, but since Tire Rack publishes the COO data, they can't hide it.

Lots of people on here recommend them in part because of the American-made reputation, so this will disappoint quite a few. When you build a reputation like that, whether it be made in the USA, or just being high quality, or whatever, then later quietly substitute with inferior components, or offshore to China, but still charge the same price, that's bait and switch!

Yawn
 
I find this interesting. It was frustrating to not be able to comparison-shop Cooper on Tire Rack. I am also curious if we'll see the infamous "China quality fade" with their tires.
 
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Originally Posted By: Leo99
Bait and switch?


When the CS3 and CS5 first came out, all of them were made in the US, in Tupelo, MS. But now they are made in China. A lot of companies, not just tire companies, do this, but since Tire Rack publishes the COO data, they can't hide it.

Lots of people on here recommend them in part because of the American-made reputation, so this will disappoint quite a few. When you build a reputation like that, whether it be made in the USA, or just being high quality, or whatever, then later quietly substitute with inferior components, or offshore to China, but still charge the same price, that's bait and switch!


I think you're taking bait and switch to an extreme level. It's still the same product. Many manufacturers do it. I think people had this same rant against Weber grills, used to be made in USA and now some of their cheaper lines are now made in China. You can't keep prices low, profits high without doing something.
 
Saw a newer Grand Cherokee with Goodyear Adventure AT tires on it that were Chinese made. I have a set of Coopers on my XJ, I think they're American. Came with the Jeep.
 
They show CS3's as made in china and I literally just put on a set that was made in USA. Granted the manufacture date was mid 2016, so they could have changed very recently.
 
One of the major reasons I bought mt CS5s for my cobalt was the fact that they were made in the US (mine are). The other was the good reviews...

The CS3s that I was planning on buying for the cavalier might be done for (granted, it's one the the few sizes that is still made the the US at the moment) The CS5s are pretty good overall for the almost 20k on them now...and the car still handles well with them. With them going to china to cut cost makes me question just how good the next set will be....
 
I only use TR for research and pricing comparison info anyway, so this is a good thing.

As for the "bait and switch" assertion, seems a hyperbolic one to me.
 
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Here is Tire Rack's Cooper page.

They seem to carry their full line. One thing that popped up is that a few sizes of the CS5 Ultra are starting to be made in China. The CS5 Grand is almost all Chinese. Most of the CS3 sizes are also Chinese.

The RS-3 G1 is Chinese, but we already knew that. It's another thing to see the BITOG favorite the CS5 starting to become Chinese, which may be infuriating to some people, especially since they were all American-made at launch. But thanks to the Tire Rack, they can no longer hide such a bait and switch.



Sad to see that, I'm close to having a set of CS5's installed on my Sienna.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Here is Tire Rack's Cooper page.

They seem to carry their full line.



Looking at some of the pages on Tire Rack, they don't have the full line, or all the sizes in the stuff they do have. I don't see the AT/W, I don't see anything in the 17" size on the AT/3, etc.

Maybe they're still getting stocked, but either way I'm kinda happy to see they are expanding their line to include Cooper Tire. I've had a lot of their tires of the years and have always had great luck/service from those tires.
 
Yea I use to run a lot of copper tires but their move to china has made me use General and some others now.
A lot of the CS5 ultras are still US made and I have put a couple sets of those on the inlaws cars. But the tires for my car are China made so will go with a different brand for those.
 
I was looking at the site again, and now it seems only one size of the CS5 Ultra is Chinese, so the CS5 Ultra should still be safe to buy--for now
45.gif


For reference, no RT43 is Chinese.

So if you have that one size that the CS5 Ultra comes from China, or if only the Grand or CS3 is available in your size, you might be better off with the RT43
smile.gif
 
Interesting. They don't carry my vehicle OE size or Cooper stopped making 195/55R15 in the CS5 Ultra. On the other hand, the size I swapped to when considering their Grand Touring is made in China according to the specs page. This makes me happier having chosen the Yokohama Avid Ascend.
 
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