donhov
near Jackson Michigan
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Joined: 01/31/2006
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Have a Cedar Creek 33' fiver. 2003 Model with original tires. Unit had bad axles and changed them last year but tires show very bad one side wear so time to replace the 235/85-16 Merits that have given me excellent service.
Found some Cooper SRMII 235/85-16 E tires for $400 for all 4 mounted and balanced on my aluminum wheels with new valve stems. Date code is 2808 so should be late 08 manufacture. I could not find Made in USA or Made in China on them, but think Coopers are made in the US. It will fit my budget quite well, much better than the $150-$300 pricing each + mounting and balancing I have been finding. This is from a small town tire shop that I have bought from before with absolutely no problems. (I think someone special ordered them then didn't follow up and buy them so he is subtracting their deposit from the total price to get me such a good deal as far as pricing goes).
Can I get some real opinions of these tires and how Cooper is for warranty as we travel quite a bit. I have put 8000 miles on it since last year when we changed the axles with the angle worn tires but they now need replacement prior to my September trips.
Please give me some honest real world answers ASAP. If I'm going to get these I have to buy these by next Friday or they will be gone.
Thanks in advance.....
* This post was
edited 07/04/09 06:07am by donhov *
2003 Cedar Creek 30RLBS
2007 Dodge 5.9 Cummins Turbo Diesel 325hp/610Tq
4x4 3.73 axles short bed
Inferno Red W/Gold pinstripping
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Traveling Texans
College Station, Texas
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Joined: 12/15/2005
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I've been doing some checking into tires for my trailer also, and the only experience I have with cooper is a friend changed to cooper tires on his 2500 work truck because they doubled the mileage he was getting with goodyear. Not all cooper tires are made in the USA just tires for certain models of vehicles. One brand I had not heard of was Greenball Tires. I found these while replacing my truck tires at a Discount Tire Store. Greenball tires are made for 18 wheeler rigs. The salesman recommended the Greenball because I was trying to find a slightly taller trailer tire and one that had a higher speed rating. Find a Discount Tire Store and visit with a salesman there and ask a lot of questions, because they sell several different brands. You might also consider Michelins. That is what I put on my truck.
2007 Chevy 2500HDCC D/A SWB
2006 Outback Sydney 28FRLS
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Chuck&Gail
In the Colorado Mountains
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Joined: 06/16/2004
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DOT code tells all. My Coopers were made in USA, but that was 6 years ago. Can't say about now, so just read DOT code and find out where made. Cooper TT tires I have are great. Can't say about warranty, never used warranty on any tire so far.
Note complete DOT code is normally only put on one side of each tire, per Murphy, the side underneath your RV. Note if yours is a dually, DOT code is likely between duals.
Example from a tire: DOT MA L9 ABCD 036
DOT is Dept of Transportation,
MA is Mfg Plant Code (see http://www.harriger.com/exptire.htm),
L9 is a tire size code,
ABCD is optional manufacturer info,
036 is mfg date (in this case third week of unspecified year ending in 6, but not 2006)
The newer tires are using 4 digits, the first 2 = the week, and the last 2 = the year.
For example 4202 = 42nd week of 2002.
Chuck
Wonderful Wife
Lovely Australian Shepherd
1999 Mercedes ML320 TV
2003 Wanderer 187TB Toybox, 3620# UVW, 4800# loaded
Not yet camped in Hawaii, 2 Canada Provinces, & 2 Territories
I can't be lost because I don't care where this lovely road is going
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donhov
near Jackson Michigan
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No one with Cooper Tires?????
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ol Bombero-JC
USA
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Joined: 06/24/2004
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donhov - I had "Made in USA" Coopers on a small TT a few years ago.
The Marathons the tire guy ordered were 17 months old!
Told him no way. Ordered Coopers - date code was about 3 weeks old.
Like "Chuck&Gail" said - YOU need to check the codes to see where they
are/were mfg - and when.
In your original post - you said,
"Date code is 2008 so should be a late 08 manufacture."
Why - "late 08"?
Could be the *FIRST* week of 08 - - or the *LAST* week of 08.
This is July '09 - so they could be a year and a-half (18 months)old.
Check the entire code. If the "deal" works for you - great.
However - if you're paying the *SAME* price for 18 month old tires - as new
tires, it's *NOT* a good deal.
~
JC
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Texas Jim S
Belton, TX
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Cooper builds a excellent product. I sold them for years and have run several sets of their light truck tires myself. Before I retired I was using them extensively on ambulances and other severe duty vehicles. The price that you quote is an excellent deal. I would jump on it in a heartbeat.
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donhov
near Jackson Michigan
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OK, Not so worried about the date code. As I said above it is 2808 which is the 28th week of 2008 if I understand the dating properly so they should be approximately 1 year old. The tires on the 5er now are dated ??02 so they are at least 8-9 years old and defiantly need replacing. I'm more worried about the quality of the Cooper tires and would like some information from anyone that knows any facts or has real world experience with these tires. The list price on these tires is substantially higher than the quote I got for 4 installed. That is why I's so concerned, almost too good of a price if you know what I mean.....but if as salesman told me is so I guess they just want their money back for when they ordered them. Again thanks for the above replies so far.
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Chris
Shelter Bay, Wa
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So if you can not afford Michelin XPS RIBs for it, why not install the BRG Commercial TAs?
The search tool is your friend. Saving money on tires is not very wise!
Tire Plant Codes
Chris
My Rig
2001.5 2500 STD CAB AUTO SLT 4x4, CTD 4:10's, Bomb'd to Tow
2005 Cardinal 29WBLX.
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nivrig
Kingsville Md
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Joined: 02/03/2004
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I put Cooper Trailer Plus on my Creek last year, have Coopers on my cars and truck, no problems yet. The Trailer Plus tires did say made in the USA.
Sam Nivrig
2001 F350, CC, 4WD, PSD, DW
2009 Select Suites 36RESB3
2002 Alpenlite Limited, Cheyenne 950
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donhov
near Jackson Michigan
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After reading the above guess I feel that the Coopers would be a good addition to my Creek. I know that the price is very good but my questions related to the current quality of the Coopers themselves. Many years ago the were one of the better rated tires as far as quality goes but I have not kept up on those things as I very seldom buy tires anymore. The newer ones give such good mileage I get 50-70000 miles on all my vehicle tires anymore and I used to buy used RV's and trade every few years and have never bought new tires for an RV. This one, the Creek is more of a keeper and we are now driving more miles as both of us are retired now. So, guess I will pay for them this week and have them installed while I do the Eazy-Flex install next weekend.
Thanks for the replies.....
* This post was
edited 07/05/09 05:57am by donhov *
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