Sad to hear. I run Coopers on my F150. 3rd set just installed last year. I have gotten over 50K miles per set. Also have them on the wife's Taurus. Hopefully the will stay as a subsidiary and still produce great tires.
Cooper also manufactures tires in the UK and in Serbia as well as China; and Mexico. It's a global economy. I also run the Cobra's on my GS Cal and I like them...
The paper quoted Goodyear as saying some consolidation will be forthcoming. I think that's corporate speak for The guy doing you're job A year from now will not be living in Ohio. As far as I know the only tiers made in Akron today are race tiers buy Goodyear. My automotives class in high school toured Goodyear and I got to see tires being made. Almost took A job in A tire shop in 1979. It was great money but the writing was in the wall for the rubber shops even then. On the racing front remember Indy car tires are made buy Firestone. (Now owned buy Bridgestone) and Indy lights buy copper. No comment from IRL yet. Any one else remember the days of the tire wars at Indy? An old school buddy of mines father worked for the race division at Firestone and had great stories. How about the land speed racing of the 60s. One of the old stories that no one will ether confirm or deny has A Firestone engineer breaking into the Goodyear facility on the salt flats to steal a tire to see how it was made. I know it's a global economy today but I miss the days of being "the rubber capital of the world." Even if the whole town smelled like burning rubber sometimes.
I put three sets of Cooper's on my truck. Got 60k+ out of each set. They were way better than the BFG Rugged Trail tires that came on it. Much quieter, better traction and longer life. And I had the Cooper-made Mickey Thompsons on my GS400 and Coopers on my 2004 GTO. I liked the Coopers that I put on the GTO much better than the Goodyears that came on it. I hope Goodyear doesn't screw up a great tire company.
I had a set of Coopers on my Convert and they were fine as they were cheaper than BFG's. However when my 2017 Ram needed the original crappy Goodyears replaced I was looking for a set of AT Tires with a bit more aggressive tread. I went with the Cooper Discoverer A3 XLT's, they really looked great, BUT, had an irritating vibration between 60 and 70 MPH that 3 rebalances could not fix. I finally went back to the dealer and he told me that this has been a chrnoc Cooper problem as of late and swapped them with a set of BF Goodrich AT-Ko2's, problem solved.
Cooper tire will survive, It has always been a quality middle tier product with a strong and loyal following .. It may go the same as Michelin's purchase of B.F. G and the Uniroyal brand , neither had the market or assets to exist today otherwise .. Kelly Springfield has been owned by Goodyear since 1935 believe it or not.. Goodyear owns several private label brands and holds a major interest in Dunlap as well..... The tire business has changed dramatically in the last 40 years, brand loyalty is no longer a major factor in this price driven economy .. The manufacturers and distributors have to combine in order to survive.. I still sell multiple brands at a fair price but it's the service end that keeps me afloat..
When BF Goodrich was purchased by Michlin, BFG radial t/a tires were built in New Brunswick (I think) and the quality was great - white letter stayed white. They closed that plant and move production of these tires to Mexico - white letters = blacking letters !! Remember the adage - Goodyear tires, good for one year..
I run Michelins on my DD and I will be switching the wife's SUV to Michelins when the Goodyears on it now wear out. I like Coopers for muscle cars and trucks.
The last set of Coopers I owned caused the car to pull left. 3 alignments later, I realized it was the tires.
Truck. Tires on trucks... Truck has so many definitions... There are small trucks. Example Luv courier Toyota There are S-10 & rangers... 1/2 ton 2wd straitaxle.. I beam.. and chevy... 4wd .. 3/4 ton. on and on.. reason said.. Coopers disco tires on a 95 3/4 ton dodge 4wd and a 98 f-350 4wd dully both diesel those tires didn't make it 20k. BFG TA & Michelin LTX are on the trucks now going the distance.... Yep the coops went out like disco music..
Sad day for cooper ... seems any tire i buy goes up in smoke since installed trishield 482 lol Have to lighten up my right foot a bit somehow might take some physical therapy to get it done
