Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring Review
Designed for both sedans and modern crossovers, the CS5 Ultra Touring is premium offering from Cooper Tires at an affordable price.
PROS
- Extremely quiet
- Dry and wet weather grip
- Well-priced
CONS
- Mileage warranty on some sizes could be better
With performance-tire style, the tread design features five unique rows of treadblocks that all perform specific tasks, while the large circumferential grooves work to expel water and prevent hydroplaning.
The center tread line gives a stable highway feel and more immediate turn-in response in corners. The outside shoulder makes use of tie bars that help connect two tread blocks together for better stability while cornering. More than a few tires use a thin rib like this to connect all of the exterior tread blocks but we’ve never seen this sort of middle-ground solution before. The result is that high level of dry grip, while having some slits does help to deliver some extra water evacuation capabilities, giving this tire its impressive wet weather traction.
The overall design of the tire was made with minimal tire volume in mind to deliver an extremely quiet ride.
A silica-based tread compound has been used to give the tire better wet weather grip and better all-weather capability, meaning it retains its summer performance features even when the temperature starts to cool off and when the roads get wet.
Depending in the tire size and speed rating, the warranty can be vastly different for this tire, ranging from 50,000 miles for higher-performance W-rated tires all the way up to 70,000 miles for H and V rated tires. So depending on how many miles you put in, that’s at least one extra year of wear on a set.
Who Should Buy This Tire?
Overall, this tire delivers on its promises, looks great too and is really quite affordable.
It’s often cross shopped with the Michelin Defender LTX MS and here we’d say that it offers a performance edge int he dry while retaining much of that tire’s wet weather grip. And it costs less.
Perhaps a better comparison is the Pirelli Scorpion Verde or Cinturato P7 tires. Next to them, the Cooper offers only slightly less handling dynamics but at a much better price point.
We’d recommend this for any crossover, SUV or sedan buyer looking for a more engaging tire, with long life and good all-season traction, at a more affordable price than the top-tier offerings.
Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring Price
Pricing for the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring starts at roughly $85 per tire for a 15-inch size and goes up to about $190 per tire for a 20-inch size.
Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring Warranty
Cooper backs the CS5 Ultra Touring with a treadwear warranty of 50,000 miles for W-Rated tires and a 70,000 mile warranty for V and H-rated tires.
All Cooper Tires are backed by the brand’s limited warranty, which covers defects in materials and workmanship. Defects that occur within the first 2/32-inch of treadwear will be replaced free of charge. A pro-rated replacement is available after that point and down to the final 2/32-inch treadwear.
As well, Cooper offers a 45-day test drive guarantee. If you’re not completely satisfied with your tires after the first 45 days of ownership, Cooper will replace them with a similar set of equal value for free.
Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring vs CS5 Grand Touring
Tire technology isn’t easy to understand and tire names don’t really make it any easier. Adding to the confusion, you’d be excused for confusing the Cooper CS5 Grand Touring with the CS5 Ultra Touring. If fact, you deserve a few “car guy” points for even knowing these two tires exist. Making it more confusing is that both are technically touring tires. What that means is that they are premium quality, but designed more for ride comfort and low noise level than high performance.
That said, the Ultra Touring version of the CS5 does add more sport into the mix. It makes use of Cooper’s Stabiledge technology, which is essentially the tread design you can see on the outside section of rubber, where the tread blocks are joined together to help give added stability under cornering. There’s also less void space, meaning there’s more rubber on the road and a larger contact patch means more grip.
Also helping add grip for the Ultra Touring is a softer rubber compound with a UTQG rating of 640 versus 780 for the Grand Touring.
And o further emphasize the purpose of each tire, Cooper offers the Ultra Touring in lower profile options for higher performance vehicles with more fitments for larger diameter wheels as well.
Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring Sizes
15-inch sizes
185/65R15
195/65R15
205/65R15
205/65R15
205/65R15
195/60R15
195/55R15
16-inch sizes
205/65R16
215/65R16
205/60R16
205/60R16
215/60R16
215/60R16
225/60R16
235/60R16
195/55R16
205/55R16
205/55R16
215/55R16
225/55R16
17-inch sizes
225/65R17
235/65R17
225/60R17
225/60R17
215/55R17
225/55R17
225/55R17
235/55R17
235/55R17
235/55R17
205/50R17
215/50R17
225/50R17
235/50R17
215/45R17
225/45R17
225/45R17
235/45R17
235/45R17
245/45R17
18-inch sizes
255/65R18
225/60R18
225/60R18
235/60R18
245/60R18
215/55R18
225/55R18
235/55R18
235/50R18
235/50R18
245/50R18
225/45R18
225/45R18
235/45R18
235/45R18
245/45R18
19-inch sizes
255/60R19
235/55R19
225/45R19
245/45R19
255/45R19
235/40R19
245/40R19
20-inch sizes
245/50R20
255/50R20
255/45R20
255/35R20