Cooper Cobra Tires??

[moparedtn]

I like my Coopers so far. I knew better and didn't check the dates on them before buying. Later I discovered that they were already three years old.
View attachment 1046807

Man, I just love that car soooo much... oops, sorry.
Carry on with the tire talk, don't mind me.

 

[moparedtn]

For what it's worth - and grain of salt here....
For S & G I went to the tirerack site and searched for Fred's particular tire sizes
and got this:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/Tire...5&rearWidth=275/&rearRatio=60&rearDiameter=15
A couple things stuck out at me once I started reading customer reviews on there:
a. higher average customer rating for the Cooper
b. higher UTQG (treadwear) rating for the Cooper
c. BOTH tires are made in Mexico

To beat all, the Coopers are considerably less expensive, too.

 

[68BabyBlue]

Have BFG T/A on my Super Bee. Tires were manufactured in Jan 2000. I have the receipt showing they were purchased from a Discount Tire store in late March 2000. So going on 21 years old. Tires were over 8 years old when the previous owner got the car. In the 11+ years he had it he never replaced them.. In addition to the age the rear tires are almost bald from prior owners doing burn outs. Front tires have a lot of tread remaining, showing they were never rotated.. All four wheels and tires are the same size.

I haven’t replaced them yet because I’m having tremendous difficulty deciding what to do about both the wheels and tires on the car. In addition the car had only moved 3.8 miles in the past year prior to two weeks ago. If it was 25 or 30 years ago my decision would be much easier. 2020 makes it agonizing..

A week ago I had the car briefly up to 60 mph, for less than 10 seconds.. The car and I survived.. I guess if Hagerty knew all this they would cancel my insurance policy..

I should start a thread to explain why the decision is so agonizing and why it sucks big time to be looking for wheels and tires for this car in 2020..

And what about the guy with the unrestored Black Ghost Challenger.. Is he really driving that thing with its original 51 year old Polyglas GT tires?!?!

Saw a 71 Cuda340 for sale for $99K that has Goodyear Eagle ST tires on it.. I used to run those tires decades ago, when a decent tire selection was available for these cars. The tires on that Cuda have to be at least 20 years old! Last time I bought a set of Eagle ST was in 1992.

I put Eagle ST's on my third GTX in 1992. Saw the car for sale on Gateway's site last year, and darned if they're not still on it!

 

[tak419]

Maybe a different category, where I work our shop puts Coopers on our F-350 work trucks when tires are needed. A fleet of about 50 pickups. Coopers are the worst tire you can buy for longevity. Even with proper alignment and rotation, they are the noisiest tire and the tread chops fairly soon. I'm in Ohio not far from one of Coopers large tire plants in Findlay and everyone here hates them. Also, look at the specs, their tread width is almost always the narrowest of all tires. Get a better tire, just my opinion.

 

[junior340]

Coopers

 

[gtx6970]

Maybe a different category, where I work our shop puts Coopers on our F-350 work trucks when tires are needed. A fleet of about 50 pickups. Coopers are the worst tire you can buy for longevity. Even with proper alignment and rotation, they are the noisiest tire and the tread chops fairly soon. I'm in Ohio not far from one of Coopers large tire plants in Findlay and everyone here hates them. Also, look at the specs, their tread width is almost always the narrowest of all tires. Get a better tire, just my opinion.

Problem is if you want white letter tires , the options are getting pretty slim nowadays

Coopers,
BFG ( they dont stay white letters for long )
Milesteel ( never heard of these )
And Mickey Thompsons.

I hate the black sidewall look , especially on a black car .
I can buy a set of Coopers locally in the $600 range installed

My personal only other options are spring for a set of redline radials , at nearly $1300 for a set of 4

THE BFGs on my car , look great and I REALLY like the look. BUT, they are approx 15 or 16 years old now. but have less than 2500 miles on them total

 

[33 IMP]

They are actually milestar street steel. There is also Hankook ventus (dont know the exact model number) and mastercraft avenger gt. I think it would be kinda hard to have HANKOOK in white letters on a classic mopar. Harder even than COBRA.
And the Mickey Thompson's are a subsidiary of Cooper, so probably the same basic tire.

 

[MoparGuy68]

Tire selection for our cars, at present, is not good if your want to run factory wheels. Milestar Streetsteel, mentioned above, are made in Taiwan. Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T are Cooper Cobras with the MT name and lettering on them. They cost more than Cobras because of the MT brand name on them. They are the identical tire.

Cooper Cobra, MT Sportsman S/T, and BFG Radial T/A are all now made in Mexico.

There is one other option.. Vitour Galaxy R1 Radial G/T. These are RWL, but the lettering is not spaced 180 degrees apart like the other RWL brands. I would personally run them blackwall facing out. Their 60 series are V Speed rated (149 mph). Their 70 series are H Speed rated (130 mph). They appear to be made in CHINA, which is probably why they cost less than any of the other RWL tires.. None of the other brands are H or V speed rated..

Are any blackwall tires for our 14/15" wheels made? Maybe by Hankook?

 

[Bee1971]

My Coopers white letters keep turning brown very fast after I clean them up white again

Where installed over five years ago , very little miles in WI

Ride nice , I like them , but those damn brown letters drive me nuts

 

[MoparGuy68]

My Coopers white letters keep turning brown very fast after I clean them up white again

Where installed over five years ago , very little miles in WI

Ride nice , I like them , but those damn brown letters drive me nuts

Your Cooper Cobra white letters are turning brown?? I've heard this complaint numerous times about BFG Radial T/A, but this is the first time I've heard it about Cooper Cobra.

 

[Jerry Hall]

Your Cooper Cobra white letters are turning brown?? I've heard this complaint numerous times about BFG Radial T/A, but this is the first time I've heard it about Cooper Cobra.

I agree, a first for me, but at least he said they clean back up.

 

[67charger383]

Hmmm...Age related maybe ? Bet they were much older than 8 years old. Mileage means nothing. The rubber compound on any tire has a limited life based on time.. Tires are manufactured to last an average of 60K miles now a days. National average for normal driving is 10-15 k per year. 4-6 years typically.
Guys.. please check your DOT numbers. If your tires are older than 5-6 years old try to avoid hi-way speeds. The heat and centrifugal forces at higher speeds will help the tread to detach from the carcass causing fender/body damage at the least. Yes, guys will now post how their tires have been just fine that are this or that many years old but think about it for your self..
But It is a fact that millions of older tires of any brand have not done well at old ages. How long would you trust your belts, hoses, wiper blades ? Rubber hardens with TIME.
Non reproduction BFG T/A tires have been made by Michelin since the eighties. Heard of that company ? After bfg and Uniroyal were purchased by Michelin, the T/A tire was no longer manufactured the same way. Only the tire molds were the same. The actual green tire was a Uniroyal steel belted . The "authentic" BFG made T/A was an all Rayon tire, no steel belts. Very few tread separations because of that. Sadly those tires have not been made for over 40 years...

Have a NOS set of original BFGs going on the charger. 295/50/15 on 15x12 Cragar Starwires

 

[Ranger16]

My Coopers white letters keep turning brown very fast after I clean them up white again

Where installed over five years ago , very little miles in WI

Ride nice , I like them , but those damn brown letters drive me nuts

Your Cooper Cobra white letters are turning brown?? I've heard this complaint numerous times about BFG Radial T/A, but this is the first time I've heard it about Cooper Cobra.

Can't keep the letters white on mine either. There is probably some type of rubberized paint out there to repaint them, but I'll probably just live with it unless I get really ambitious.

Having used this stuff on concrete basement wall cracks, I'd bet it would work quite well.

 

[TLH101]

Just an update. Went with Cooper Cobras, and Torq Thrust Vintage wheels.

 

[beanhead]

Just an update. Went with Cooper Cobras, and Torq Thrust Vintage wheels.

View attachment 1081503 View attachment 1081504 View attachment 1081505

I love it!

 

[DownZero]

My 1 year old Coopers are also turning brown. Thinking about using tire paint.

 

[beanhead]

Do you guys with RWL ever clean them??
I used to give mine a quick Ajax scrub about once a month and they would clean right up for the most part. The fronts would get dirty pretty quick.

 

[Ranger16]

I've tried cleaning them,. I seems to help a little, but not very much.

 

[YY1]

Westley's "Bleach-White".

 

[Bee1971]

That crap went down the tubes also



They turn brown from the inside out

Kind of like rusting from the inside out - Only so much you can do before it comes back

It’s not like I don’t know how to clean - tires