Goodyear to buy Cooper Tires

[ThundahBeagle]

A few days ago I read this. Havent seen any mention pop up here.

Goodyear to Buy Rival Cooper Tire for $2.8 Billion

The cash-and-stock deal would create a company with more than 50 factories.

www.wsj.com

Anyone running Cooper Discoverer At3's? I like my Discoverer Mud and Snows, so was considering the AT3's for this spring.

I thought Goodyear tried to do buy Cooper about 20 years ago but were stopped because then there would be only 1 US based tire manufacturer? BF Goodrich is owned by Michelin for the last 30 years. Falken is Taiwan or something. Firestone has been owned by Bridgestone Japan (Ishibashi) since the '80's...Dick Cepek is a sub of Cooper...

Thoughts or insight on this, anyone?

 

[eriefisher]

Never had an issue with Cooper tires. We use to mount them on hiway tractors all the time. I believe it was Apollo Tyres that tried to buy Cooper but they pulled out in the end. Something to do with the Chinese branches. I'm not sure if Cooper has any actual manufacturing in the U.S. anymore. Most of the tires I used to see were built in the East(china, taiwan etc.). I thought they just had distribution these days locally now???
I love B.F. but not a big fan of Michelin. I just saw too many problems over the years. The last set of Mich's I ordered were LT's for a pick up. When I finally got them each tire was made in a different country. This was near the end of that model. I couldn't convince the customer otherwise.

 

[haaken675]

I loved the AT3's when I had them on my old Ram. They did great off road, but I never pushed them too hard either. Wanted the ST Max when i ordered new wheels by only went K02's because of pricing and rebates at the time.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

I had Michelins on my 94 K1500 Blazer. They were good. Very good. But that was a decade ago. I have no idea what the quality is right now.

As I understand it, Coopers are made in Ohio, Arkensas and Mississippi. They do seem to have production facilities in the far east, and have an interest in Kenda, but I havent laid eyes on a new product to see where they are made.

Interestingly, the Yokohama Geolandars are made in USA.

 

[smritte]

Not happy with my AT3's. Ride is good, quiet, good sand flotation. Bad is I think I'm too hard on them. They are horrible in snow, fortunately I have to go find snow, its not here. My biggest issue is balancing. I do my own balancing and have access to some very nice balancers. Once I got about 5k miles, they almost wont balance. The last balance I did, I was looking at as much as half a pound on one of them. I have run BFG AT and mud, Goodyear wranglers and Toyo's over the years. I have never had a set of tire's this bad.

 

[eriefisher]

Most off-road tires are not good in the snow as they are too wide. Snow tires are better narrow. Tread pattern and rubber composition are also consideration in the snow.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Most off-road tires are not good in the snow as they are too wide. Snow tires are better narrow. Tread pattern and rubber composition are also consideration in the snow.

True. The pickup trucks that plow in our winters have a taller but relatively narrow tire. I like that setup but it's hard to find

 

[MidOH]

Great. Just when Cooper was getting really good. Hopefully fruityear doesn't screw up the STT Pro's.

Don't rebalance tires. Rotate them as needed only. Check for lug centric wheels and torque in the air, not on the ground. Cooper At3's were nothing special.

 

[haaken675]

Not happy with my AT3's. Ride is good, quiet, good sand flotation. Bad is I think I'm too hard on them. They are horrible in snow, fortunately I have to go find snow, its not here. My biggest issue is balancing. I do my own balancing and have access to some very nice balancers. Once I got about 5k miles, they almost wont balance. The last balance I did, I was looking at as much as half a pound on one of them. I have run BFG AT and mud, Goodyear wranglers and Toyo's over the years. I have never had a set of tire's this bad.

I don't believe they carry the snowflake ratings, so not surprised there...Odd however you are having balancing issues. I ran mine for nearly 49k without even a rotation, lol. No balance issue. Could be more aggressive, but they were an a/t, not a more aggressive m/t.

 

[smritte]

The ground here is very hard on tires. I drive off road with around 15 psi. More than likely I separated the tread. You could actually see the shimmy on the balancer. I popped them on my Road Force balancer and ran a graph. The tires were definitely bad. None of the other tires I've run had this issue.
I have probably 30k on them now.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

I'm running Mastercraft Courser AXT2's. Made in U.S.A. They've been good for 15,000 and stuff, but if Goodyear buys Cooper, I'll buy B.F. Goodrich next time.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Yeah, mastercraft are Cooper, right?

 

[MuckSavage]

I believe alot of tires are manufactured by Cooper. Dick Cepek, Mickey Thompson, etc. Remember when there was a Duck Dynasty line of tires? They were made by Cooper.
btw, my recently purchased Wildpeak AT3W are made in USA

 

[MidOH]

Does BFG even make a tire for us anymore? Don't even start with the ATKO2 or the unsiped MT's.

Try Falken, Kenda, Maxis, if Cooper toilet bowls.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Not happy with my AT3's. Ride is good, quiet, good sand flotation. Bad is I think I'm too hard on them. They are horrible in snow, fortunately I have to go find snow, its not here. My biggest issue is balancing. I do my own balancing and have access to some very nice balancers. Once I got about 5k miles, they almost wont balance. The last balance I did, I was looking at as much as half a pound on one of them. I have run BFG AT and mud, Goodyear wranglers and Toyo's over the years. I have never had a set of tire's this bad.

They are just getting setup for when they have goodyear quality in them. If you get my drift. Every set of good year tires I have owned were terrible. We are going with 2 sets of falkens on our rigs this spring when the winter tires come off. They will be used all year long and replaced when worn to about 50 percent. My friend has them on his Custom LJ and they are awesome tires.

 

[Anak]

I am happy with my Falkens too.

Just had the set on my XJ re-balanced. Very little change.

And they have taken a beating on some rocky trails. Hardly any chunking. Just a couple slight chunks--like 3/16" x 3/16" x 3/8".

 

[MidOH]

If GY messes up the STT pro, I'll be switching to these:

 

[MidOH]

And maybe on my other set of wheels for local use, the GOAT:

 

[ThundahBeagle]

If GY messes up the STT pro, I'll be switching to these:

Too aggressive for my daily drive. I have to use my Sierra as a daily driver as well as adventure-mobile. So I'm going to be more in the market for something not a highway tire, but entry into All Terrain. Maybe something like the Trailrunner, or the Cooper Discovery AT3. Topping out at BFG's or Duratrac at the most aggressive end of my spectrum.

Even if I fix up the '99 Jeep GC, I'd still go mild to midland AT. Because it would double duty on the road.

But those look cool if you plan on being in the mud

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Agreed beagle. I made the mistake of putting on an MT on my JK this season. I should have bought the Falkens or general AT-X in the beginning. According to what I have been reading both come in C load range which is what my next set of tires will be. On the Patriot the falken trails will be going on for sure.