For Owners /Intended Owners of Cooper Tyres Only

Haven't read any of those links...but as a worker on the floor in a tyre shop....and I have a few grey hair to prove my experience...and having seen the problems that users of Cooper Tires in Australia have had...well the last thing I would use in the bush or bitumen ...yep.. you got it in one Coopers ....not worth a penny worth of cats bleep ....and any amount of free beer and freebie night wont change my beliefs !!!

arthurking83,
What is the brand and size of your cheap chinese tyres. I will be looking for a set in the near future, and it's good to get others views of what they have and have used. Cheers

Greg

Change the name Cooper to BFG or Goodyear or Michelin or Hankook et cetra and you will find the same kind of thing all over the world.

When man invents a tyre that suits everyones needs and lasts for ever with no punctures or torn lugs or the cause of hundreds of deaths, we will all be producing the next batch of fossil fuel...

I was an 'intended owner', even though I thought it was a bit of a lucky dip. What worries me are the reports that this is common practice in the tyre industry. The fact that we may spend $1000+ on these brands due to marketing, but there maybe cheaper brands that are just as reliable or better from China (as referred to in other responses to this post), just makes it MORE of a lucky dip!

Hello Ms Lucy

Yeah I read all of the links.

I suppose 288,000 tyres recalled out of 40,000,000 is .07% of production. Not even a drop in the ocean.

I hope my new Cooper STT's are not from any of those batches...lol

Cheers

This my opinion on coopers they chip more than any tyre I have seen.

All the best
Eric

I think if we are going to "attack" something we have to be even handed about it. This statement is from one of the people who testified at the case mentioned in the second link.

"I think they're all the same. It wouldn't matter if it's Goodyear, Cooper, Firestone, whatever, they're all made the same," he said.

And yes we drive on Coopers ST's on the Paj and ST/R's on the Feroza. First set on both cars and happy at this stage.
Rusty

Although I haven't done any gibber-strewn roads on my set of Cooper ST's - I've done plenty of rough trail work on them. They now have 70,000km up and have only a couple of small chips. They still have another 20,000 plus left - no problem.

They are a tad expensive I think - but 90+ kays is OK in my book.

I think I'm going for Michelin XZY's next. A great tyre - but again, expensive.

None of the bad news with regards to Cooper is anything unusual except perhaps for the sloppy manf issues. All tire brands have had their share of bad news, heck what was the case some years back in the USA where Firestone or someone were being sued over Ford SUV's that wer having serious accidents etc.? Anyone remember..? Anyhow I have the ATR's on a new Hilux, 20,000km's so far and no signs of unusual wear. I think the tire is great, very quiet and grips well. Everybody will have their favourites and I thought in these forums the Cooper's always rated very popular.

Had my ST's 285/75/16 on my GU for just over 80,000 (rotating spare with others) and it looks like they will do 100,000 (so 80,000 if considering 4 tyres only). Been to Cape york but most other work has been mild. Horses for courses but for someone like me who does not waht to drive a noisy tyred monster truck to work but still have some grip when needed off road they are a great comprimise tyre.

'Lucy'
appreciate the effort you went to to gather as much bad press about Coopers as you could. However the first thing I noticed was they were all tyres that are not generally available in Australia, except one that mentioned Discoverer STT. They all seemed to be passenger car tyres.

I rate the Coopers. Have had a set os ATs now for over 40000 km (our original Grandtreks didn't last that long). We've done the Oodnadatta Track, Roper Hwy and numerous tracks and roads in the NT. Not a single chip. They wear well and are great off road.

Indeed a recent dealing with Cooper Tyres proved to be one of the most impressive display of customer service support I have ever experienced.

My next set of tyres will also be Coopers. A mate had BFG on his Patrol and had 2 blowouts on one trip. The worst I've had is a puncture caused by the only blo!@y screw on the Oodnadatta Track!

Every product/manufacturer has a bad day (or series of them). Look at the GUII 3.0 TD as an example. Doesn't mean they don't take steps for improvement... I'm sure a company the size of Cooper with a reputation at stake would take those types of initiatives.

Wizard
PradoTD
Gold Coast

If Coopers tires were no good, then no vehicle manufacturer would fit them as original equipment.....

Any company who calls tyres tires must be sus I reckon, on the other hand I have been gifted two new Coopers so I am marginally happy

I think the first set of chinese tyres were called 'Road Champ', maybe 'Chen Shing' ???
AT's, but road orientated AT's, if that makes sense?
Large block patterns, with straight grooves, definitely not highway tyres.
(The Falkens are ST ??)

For some reason those names stick in my mind.....

I tend to drive according to the condition of my vehicle.

eg. after a service the car feels much smoother, and the engine pulls a little bit harder. I find I'm accelerating more.
As the car nears the service interval, it begins to flat spot(a common problem in LPG vehicles where the valves are recessing!!)
Changing oil (or adjusting the valve shims) will stop that!

When I got the first set of chinese tyres I was very cautious in wet conditions.....
('lil ol granny Rodeo driver)
As I realised that I could push more and more, I tended to find I was having a ball when the rains came, at some ridiculous speeds!

Then the second set of chinese tyres felt similar (different brand though) and I found myself flying all over the place!!
(Yep, the dual cab Rodeo on 31x10.5's, fishtailing in the wet around suburban Melbourne was probably me.... having fun!! :o )

These incompetent Falkens I currently have, squeal in the dry at 20 km/h around roundabouts, and don't dare touch the go pedal!! :(

Pressures have been adjusted from between 30psi - 44psi......... :/

The main problem is inconsistent handling, in the wet, from severe understeer to oversteer without warning!
Luckily the speeds are so low that it's easily controlable.....but very tiring when I'm in cruise mode
IMHO, I believe the tyres were bad from day one, as I remember last February we had one of the wettest in Melb, and the (chinese) tyres I had were at the end of their useful life (after 100,000 klms), and about 1mm of tread.
The car flicked sideways coming onto a freeway on-ramp @ about 80km/h, and I thought time to get some new ones.
The new Falkens immediately seems more slippery (I just though..."They're new, needs time to wear a little!")
They have never seemed to recover, always sqealing, never felt sticky in the wet! :((

I got these Falkens because of the set I had on a Rover car I had years back. Good tyres!
But I made the mistake of assuming that one manufacturer was going to make a reasonable tyre throughout the tyre range!

I had bad experiences with Indonesian car tyres.....never again!

:)