Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring Tire Review

{{tire-info-with-links="/tire/cooper-cs5-ultra-touring"}}

‍About the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

Cooper specializes in making a wide range of tires. And the CS5 Ultra Touring is one of its most popular tires.

The Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring is one of Cooper’s latest all-season touring tires. It’s designed for drivers of sedans, coupes, SUVs, and crossovers.

According to Cooper, this tire is engineered to deliver outstanding traction in a wide range of weather conditions and great handling.

It’s also built to deliver great cornering and top-notch stability, combined with a quiet and smooth ride.

Performance Features and Technologies

Cooper has equipped this tire with several unique features and technologies, to enable it to tackle various conditions and surfaces.

Also, these technologies are designed to enable the tire to withstand the rigors of your daily driving while enhancing its longevity. They include:

An Advanced Tread Compound

Cooper has equipped this tire with an advanced or modern tread compound.

According to Cooper, this new tread compound comes with four times more silica, compared to most of the other tires in its category.

The higher level of silica in the tread compound is designed to enhance the tire’s grip and traction on dry roads, wet surfaces as well as snow-covered roads.

And like most of the other Cooper all-season touring tires, the CS5 Ultra Touring also features full-depth 3D Micro-Gauge siping on its entire tread surface.

These sipes and grooves provide additional traction and stability, especially when it comes to handling and high-speed cornering.

Optimized Tread Blocks

The Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring also comes with performance-optimized tread blocks, featuring wide outboard shoulder blocks.

This design helps to reduce the void area on the tire’s tread, leading to enhanced lateral traction.

Cooper has further outfitted it with inboard shoulders and center ribs, which come with a higher side density.

The CS5 Ultra Touring also features three wide circumferential grooves. These features work together to enhance the tire’s traction and braking in wet conditions.

StabilEdge Technology

Just like other Cooper tires, the CS5 Ultra Touring also comes with Cooper’s StabilEdge technology.

As the name suggests, this technology is designed to improve the tire’s stability and cornering performance.

It also helps to enhance the tire’s steering response while providing added control especially when you are driving at higher speeds.

Tread Wear Indicators

Treadwear or maintenance indicators help the driver to monitor a tire’s level of tread wear.

Furthermore, it’s a legal requirement for all DOT-approved tires to carry easy-to-see tread wear indicators

To this end, Cooper has provisioned this tire with its exclusive Wear Square technology.

This technology features a series of small rubber bars, which have been inserted inside the tire’s tread grooves.

You can only see these indicators slightly when your Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring tire is new.

But as the tread wears down, they will become increasingly visible. And when they flush with the tire’s surface, you should replace that tire.

Performance in Different Conditions

As earlier mentioned, this tire is engineered to provide adequate traction in different weather conditions, great handling, and a top-notch steering response.

So, does it deliver on these objectives? I installed a set of these tires on my Toyota Camry and these are the observations that I made.

Performance on Dry Tarmac

A decent set of all-season tires should provide adequate traction and grip on dry tarmac.

Fortunately, this tire will not disappoint you when it comes to dry tarmac. Its grip on dry tarmac is outstanding, if not one of the best in this category.

Another area that this tire shines is high-speed cornering. It tackles corners with confidence, even when I pushed my car to the limit.

Furthermore, dry traction is superb and braking distances are reliably short. Also, it’s highly responsive.

It responded to my driving commands fast while the handling ability is decent, even when you encounter hard corners.

It’s important to mention that these tires will not transform your vehicle into some sports or racing car.

So, if you own a high-performance vehicle or you are planning to hit the track with your vehicle, then this is not the tire for you.

Despite its outstanding capabilities on the streets, it cannot match a proper ultra-high performance tire.

Overall, its performance on dry tarmac is excellent. In fact, it performed beyond my expectations.

Performance in Wet and Slippery Conditions

Judging by its performance in dry conditions, I was optimistic about this tire’s performance in wet and slippery conditions. And it didn’t let me down.

As earlier mentioned, Cooper has provisioned this tire with several features and technologies, specifically designed for wet weather conditions.

During my test ride, Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring supplied adequate traction and grip in wet conditions and surfaces.

It also performs impressively well, when it comes to handling in wet conditions. The braking distances remain short, even when the conditions become extremely slippery.

Furthermore, its hydroplaning resistance is excellent even in heavy rain, thanks to its three wide and deep circumferential grooves.

Performance in Snowy Conditions

The Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring is an all-season tire, meaning it should also be usable during winter.

While it may supply some traction and grip, it will only be reliable when you are driving on roads with light snow.

When driving with this tire on heavy snow, it lost its grip almost entirely, thus making it hard to control the vehicle.

So, if your area experiences harsh winter conditions that run for several months, then it will be highly recommended to opt for proper winter tires.

Ride Quality

All-season touring tires are designed for everyday driving needs and long-distance trips.

To this end, they should provide a smooth, comfortable, quiet and enjoyable driving experience.

So, does the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring provide a comfortable, refined and enjoyable driving experience?

Well, while it may not be the most comfortable all-season touring tire, its performance is decent for its price.

It’s quieter than the majority of the all-season touring tires in its price range. Its ride quality is also pretty decent, even when you come across uneven and rough surfaces.

Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring Warranties and Guarantees

Cooper has backed the CS5 Ultra Touring tire with several warranties and guarantees.

They include a workmanship and materials warranty, road hazard coverage, tread wear coverage and a satisfaction guarantee.

Workmanship and Materials Warranty

Also known as the standard coverage, this warranty is designed to protect you against loss, if your Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring is removed from service due to workmanship or materials defects.

For this warranty, Cooper offers to replace this tire with a comparable new one, free of charge if it becomes unserviceable during its first 2/32-inch of its original usable tread.

If the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring is removed from service when its tread is worn more than 2/32-inch of its original usable tread, Cooper will still replace it.

However, you will be charged a replacement amount, which will depend on the percentage of the original tread worn off the tire by the time it becomes unserviceable.

This percentage will then be multiplied by the dealer’s current selling price for the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring.

Besides paying the replacement amount, you will also be responsible for the tire’s mounting and balancing charges, together with applicable taxes and all other additional service charges.

Road Hazard Coverage

All Cooper premium tires come with road hazard coverage, which is popularly known as extra coverage for premium tires.

 And considering the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring is one of its premium tires, it will also be covered under this warranty.

Under this warranty, if your Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring is removed from service due to a covered condition or road hazard during its usable tread life, Cooper will replace it with a comparable new one, free of charge.

Tread Wear Protection

The Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring comes with a 70,000-mile treadwear warranty.

So, if you buy this tire wears out uniformly down to its tread wear indicators and fails to deliver the above-warranted mileage, then it should be replaced.

But unlike the materials and workmanship warranty, there is no free replacement period under this warranty.

Therefore, if the tire wears uniformly without attaining 70,000 miles, Cooper will replace it on a pro-rata basis.

Under the pro-rata basis, you will be required to contribute a certain amount of money towards the tire’s replacement.

The amount you will pay will depend on the percentage of mileage the tire has delivered.

This percentage will then be multiplied by the tire’s current selling price. You will also be responsible for additional service charges and applicable taxes.

You should also note that if your vehicle has different rear and front-wheel sizes, the warranted mileage for the rear tire will be half.

In this case, the warranted mileage for the rear tires will be 35,000 miles, if your vehicle has different front and rear wheel sizes.

Customer Satisfaction Guarantee

Cooper has also backed this tire with a customer satisfaction guarantee, known as a 45-day road test.

If you purchase the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring, you will have up to 45 days from the date of purchase to assess it and decide whether to keep it or not.

In case you decide against keeping the tire, you can return it to its original place of purchase, and it will be exchanged free of charge, with a comparable Cooper tire.

Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring Sizes and Fitment

The Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring comes in a vast selection of sizes, ranging between 15 inches and 20 inches.

And with such a vast selection of sizes, it can fit the majority of midsize sedans, sports coupes, sports sedans, minivans, crossovers, and SUVs.

Some of the vehicles that this tire is compatible with include:

• Chevrolet Impala, Bolt EV, Equinox, Spark EV, Colorado, Traverse, Cruze, Caprice, Captiva Sport, Trailblazer, Sonic LTZ, Malibu, Trax, and Cobalt
• Buick Regal, Enclave, Envision, Encore, LaCrosse, Encore GX and Lucerne
• Ford Fusion, Mustang GT, Focus, Edge, Transit Connect, Escape, Fiesta, Explorer, Flex, Crown Victoria and Taurus
• Cadillac XTS, STS, XT4, CT6, CTS, CT5, DTS, ATS and CT4
• GMC Canyon, Acadia and Terrain
• Honda Odyssey, Civic, Accord, CR-V, Ridgeline, and Insight
• Mazda3, Mazda6 and 929
• Volkswagen Touareg, Routan, Passat, Tiguan, and Jetta
• Dodge Nitro, Neon and Grand Caravan
• Acura CL and TL
• Lincoln MKZ, Corsair, Aviator, Continental, MKS, MKX, MKC, MKT, Town Car and Nautilus
• Infiniti G35x, QX30, Q60, QX50, Q40, Q70, M37, M35, M56, EX37 and G25
• Subaru Impreza, Forester, Crosstrek, WRX, Ascent, Outback and Legacy
• Toyota Yaris, Mirai, Venza, Matrix, Highlander, Toyota 86, Sienna, Camry, Avalon, Prius, Solara and RAV4
• Nissan Cube, Versa, Altima, Leaf and Maxima
• Hyundai Sonata, Veloster, Tucson, Venue, Kona, Santa Fe, Veracruz, Equus, Azera, Accent, Elantra and Genesis
• Kia Forte, Sportage Cadenza, Rio, Niro, K5, Optima, Soul, Seltos, Sedona and Sorento

Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring Price Range

Cooper is a budget tire brand. And while the CS5 Ultra Touring is one of its more expensive tires, it remains within an affordable price range for most drivers.

It’s currently going for around $90 to $200, depending on your vehicle type and wheel size.

Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring Pros

• Great traction in dry, wet and slippery surfaces
• Excellent handling and steering response
• Smooth and refined ride
• Great value for the money

Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring Cons

• Poor snow and ice traction

Should You Buy the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring?

When it comes to touring all-season tires, you have hundreds of options to choose from. However, if you are looking for an affordable tire that will perform well in different conditions and surfaces throughout the year, then the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring may be just what you need.