I had a very bad experience with Cooper tires, and I later found out that I'm not the only one. These tires cannot take any kind of heat build up, either from the weather, under-inflation, or high speed. Here in AZ they are know affectionately as "Death Treads". Our local ABC affiliate did an expose on Cooper tires and it was pretty scary. The company even employs people to go out on the roads and pick up their blown out tire carcasses so people won't find out how crappy their product is.
I had one explode (tread completly separated) on a 72 Duster during a burn out, and it wasted the right fender. I now only will run good tires on my cars--I have some new BF Goodrich Radial TA's on my 68 Newport and I'm very happy with them.
Joined: Thu May 01 2008, 11:15AM
Location: Chicago,IL
Posts: 2868
Krautmaster wrote ... I had a very bad experience with Cooper tires, and I later found out that I'm not the only one. These tires cannot take any kind of heat build up, either from the weather, under-inflation, or high speed. Here in AZ they are know affectionately as "Death Treads". Our local ABC affiliate did an expose on Cooper tires and it was pretty scary. The company even employs people to go out on the roads and pick up their blown out tire carcasses so people won't find out how crappy their product is.
I had one explode (tread completly separated) on a 72 Duster during a burn out, and it wasted the right fender. I now only will run good tires on my cars--I have some new BF Goodrich Radial TA's on my 68 Newport and I'm very happy with them.
other people may well have valid claims against those tires, but you can't really complain that one blew up during a burnout.......
I generally like my tires to last more than one month, which was about as long as this Cooper Cobra did. I've done hundreds of burnouts on other tires with no troubles (admit it, most of us have: they are just too much fun!!!). I did have a retread (remember those?) come apart on the highway back in the 70's- thay was nooo fun.
Joined: Fri Dec 22 2006, 08:41PM
Location: Warrenton, Virginia
Posts: 1366
Well my 67 Chrysler 300 had a set of white wall Michelin RainForce tires mounted on the stock 15 x 6 wheel and using the "disc brake" wheel covers. The tires were 225/75 by 15.
When I updated and UPgraded my car a bit over a year ago, I choose some Yokohama Avid tires in 245/70 by 15 on Wheel Vintiques 15 X 7 wheels. I went this route because I wanted to use my original hub caps and I was skeptical about going with low profile 16 or 17 inch wheels and tires. The Yokos are raised white letter and though I was skeptical about the look, it turned out just fine!! Everyone likes the look too! AND the tires are fantastic.
Joined: Sun Feb 26 2006, 08:46PM
Location: Kingston,Ontario
Posts: 5622
If it is cheaper and is available,go for it. The tire size make the ride more than specific brand,IMO. Actually you can put any tire on a heavy car and it will ride nice. My 77 NYB 2 door had the cheapest,worst tires we sold and it rode beautifully,that car was pushing 5200 lbs!!
You can find out who actually makes your tires by reading the DOT code on the sidewall. The BF Goodrich tires on my wife’s PT Cruiser were make by Kumho in Korea (Costco specials) and we like them just fine.
The DOT Code begins with the letters "DOT" followed by a two number or two letter plant code that identifies where it was manufactured. The last four digits represent the week and year the tire was built (for tires made after 2000). For example, a tire marked “DOTM32005” means the tire was manufactured by Michelin in Greenville, SC. (M3) during the 20th week of 2005
This site has a list of all the various manufacturers (guess what, most are in China!)