Tire Question

[TommyDodge]

I am looking for information/feedback on tires. I was raised by my mother and dad that I should always try to buy American Made products, and I recently found out that Cooper is still making tires in the USA. Apparently it is a hit and miss as to what tire and what size.

My Town & Country Limited has 215-65/R16 tires on it and they are the original tires from the factory (March 2006)
While it has less than 26,000 miles on the clock, the tires need replaced.
Cooper makes a CS4 Touring tire and I am considering buying that, however what I would like to know is how many ( if any ) of you have had experience with Cooper Tires? and what did you like/not like about them. The van has Bridgestone's on it now, and all the crap with Bridgestone/Firestone a few years back left enough of a bad taste in my mouth that I won't buy them, and if there is a way to buy a good tire made here, it would please me greatly. I really like the idea of helping a fellow American worker out by purchasing what he makes for a living.
Thanks in advance for your help as always!
Tom

[Gordon Maney]

I like Cooper tires and am running my third set that I have purchased for a total of two trucks. I run a Cooper Discoverer, but can't remember the specific model just now. It is a more aggressive one, in 255/85/16. It is a great tire. I get about 55,000 miles per set on my Ram 2500. I would recommend them to anyone.

[greg rider]

I only buy Cooper tires for my cars. I get very good milage out of them and most are very good in the snow. We had a car years ago that had Firestones and they were junk. Our current car, a 2003 Monte carlo SS, came with foreign tires on it when we bought it used 5 years ago. That set looked good then but only lasted another year. It has Coopers on now and they are still 50 percent. Cooper does make tires for other names like Dean, so do your homework, it will pay off.

[NNICKB]

We had two cars with Coopers, a Mercury Grand Marquis, and a VW Jetta, and both had chronic problems with air leaks at the bead. Both had aluminum wheels, and my best guess was that the design of the tire was somehow not compatible with them.

I did not know Cooper was the only remaining American tire. That is something I feel strongly about, so I might try them again. I see a lot of them on big pickups and medium duty trucks.

If your van has steel wheels, I wouldn't hesitate. If it has aluminums, then I just don't know...My 2c.

[TommyDodge]

I don't know for sure whether Cooper is the only one that makes tires in America or not, I did find out that they do make some sizes of their tires here. I would guess, and this is only a guess, that there aren't very many manufacterers that make tires in the United States, there may be others, I am not sure about that.
This is the first vehicle I have ever had with a tire pressure monitoring system on it, which I really don't like, and would not have bought. It also has aluminum wheels which I don't like either. I may look into buying steel wheels which is my preference.
Thanks all!

[Ron in Indiana]

I've got a BF Goodrich plant 3 miles from my place where they make tires for the replacement market and light truck tires. They build 25,000 tires a DAY with a warehouse that holds 1 million tires. Yes they still make tires here in the USA. The plant is celebrating 50 years in operation here in Woodburn. I've been in the plant a number of times doing work for the plant.

[NNICKB]

Yeah, I think I misspoke. I interpreted DB's comment that Cooper was still making tires in the US as saying it was the only one. There have to be some others. I have BF Goodrich TA tires on my Jeep and truck. They are expensive, but look great, do well in snow, are quiet on the highway, and wear like iron. Only drawback (a big one) is that they are not a very good mud tire.