Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring Review [2023 Updated]

By Tire Expert, Joe Steffen

Were you searching all over the Internet for an unbiased, in-depth review of the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring?

You have come to the right place. I will give you a review based on my nine-plus years of experience in the industry. My experience and knowledge, combined with feedback from real people like yourself, create the best tire reviews out there.

Today I will do an in-depth Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring tire review, a touring all-season manufactured by Cooper Tires.

Cooper Tire boasts this tire’s handling and ride comfort while backing it with a seventy-thousand-mile tread wear warranty in the H and V-speed rating and fifty thousand miles in the W-speed rating. It will also provide outstanding performance in wet weather.

This is an American-made tire as Cooper has been manufacturing quality rubber products in the United States since 1914, so if having an American-made product is a deal breaker, have no fear. I have a lot of experience with Cooper tires, so I can’t wait to tell you all bout it.

Now that I have told you everything this tire offers let’s get to the fun part.

Feel free to jump to any sections below if you want a specific aspect review of this tire.

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Pros

Cons

Ratings

4.0

2.5

4.5

2.0

2.5

3.5

3.0

2.0

3.5

Wet Traction:

★★★★★ 4.0/5

Dry Traction:

★★★★★ 3.5/5

Snow Traction:

★★★★★ 2.0/5

Ride Comfort:

★★★★★ 2.5/5

Ride Handling:

★★★★★ 3.5/5

Ride Noise:

★★★★★ 3.0/5

Hydroplaning:

★★★★★ 4.5/5

Tread Life:

★★★★★ 2.0/5

Value For $$$:

★★★★★ 2.5/5

Traction - Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

Touring all-season tires typically offer the least amount of traction when it comes to different weather conditions, especially snow. The CS5 Ultra Touring has some of the worst snow traction you will see in snow tires.

Their inability to pack snow inside the tread channels will make you feel like you are flying down a hill on a sled when slamming on the brakes. For those of you living in snow conditions through the winter, I recommend you not purchase these.

At the very least, get a set of winter tires if you consider buying the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring.

The redeeming quality in traction will come in wet weather. When designing a tire, I don’t know how you can miss the mark so badly in the snow and then have top quality on wet roads.

The asymmetrical tread design paired with the additional siping and biting edges make this tire suck water into it and kick it out with ease. Anyone living in heavy rainfall regions should consider this Cooper for the wet weather traction.

Using stabiledge technology allows the tread blocks to remain flexible for increased dry traction. This technology uses tiny rubber squares between the tread blocks to prevent them from colliding and generating friction heat.

When the rubber compound gets too hot, it can cause the tread not to perform as designed. Preventing the tread blocks from closing the gap allows airflow, so the tread compound stays cool.

If you were looking for a tire to provide safe spring and summer traction, I would recommend this tire. Do not buy this tire if you intend to use them in the light snow.

Traction Rating: 4.0/5

★★★★★ 4.0/5

Ride Comfort - Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

Driving on the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring feels like rolling on rocks for wheels. That might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but in all seriousness, they are not comfortable.

I know Cooper manufactures high-quality products like the Cooper Discoverer AT3 XLT/4S, which offers great ride quality for an off-road tire.

Cooper didn’t seem to put the same level of quality into the CS5s ride comfort as you will notice when driving, more than likely feeling a subtle vibration in your steering wheel or seat.

From my experience with these tires, they have issues being out of round and not balancing out, especially when they were the W-speed rating.

W-speed-rated tires typically have lower profile sidewalls and go on high-performance vehicles like BMWs or Audis.

Not being correctly balanced can cause a lot of road vibrations. Since the weight in the tire hasn’t been appropriately counteracted, it makes the tire shake up and down or side to side.

The ride comfort is just another reason I don’t recommend the Cooper CS5 ultra touring. I would recommend the Falken Sincera SN250 A/S for a smooth ride.

Ride Comfort Rating: 2.5/5

★★★★★ 2.5/5

Ride Handling - Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

The other benefit of Cooper’s stabiledge technology is that it increases the tire’s handling. Preventing the tread blocks from over-flexing allows more rigidity for improved steering response.

While this tire has three speed ratings, you will find quite a difference from the H to the V and W. The H speed rating will offer the least handling ability of the three, but with that being said, it still can make a crossover handle a lot better than the factory tires.

The best handling will be in the W-speed rating, and it can make your Toyota Corolla S feel like it handles the same as a BMW coupe. This tire will want to respond when you twitch your steering wheel. It is that reactive.

Taking corners like a champ, you may think you’re riding on a set of Goodyear Eagles, offering minimal body roll going through corners even at higher speeds.

I knocked this tire down to a 3.5 because of the H and V-speed rating, and you don’t get quite the same maneuverability as the W’s.

If you were looking to upgrade how your car handles and maneuvers around, this would be a tire I recommend. However, don’t pull that trigger quite yet. There’s still more to go over.

Ride Handling Rating: 3.5/5

★★★★★ 3.5/5

Ride Noise - Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

Typically, touring tires utilize symmetrical tread patterns because they are optimal for even wear. Symmetrical tires are what they sound like. They have the same tread design on the right side of the tread as the left side.

This ensures that the tire will wear the same on both sides of the tread.

The Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring uses an asymmetrical tread pattern, meaning that the inner portion of the tread design differs from the outer. While the Cooper provides an overall quiet ride, they are prone to irregular wear patterns that generate road noise.

Irregular wear can be caused because the inner tread design is more likely to wear differently than the outer. While manufacturers do their best to build a tread not to do this, it is more likely to happen, especially if you are not good at maintaining your tires.

I have infrequently seen this tire come in with cupping, which can be extremely loud. So while I can’t say this tire has a bad habit of irregular wear, it is possible.

For this reason, I gave it a slightly above-average ride noise rating. Since the overall ride is quiet, I have had a few road noise complaints as they wear down.

If you were looking for a tire that offers a superior quiet ride, I would recommend the Michelin Defender 2.

Ride Noise Rating: 3.0/5

★★★★★ 3.0/5

Hydroplaning - Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

It can be a terrifying ride for anyone who has ever been in a car that has hydroplaned, and that is precisely why I cover hydroplaning resistance in these tire reviews.

While the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring may not offer the best ride quality or snow traction, what it lacks in those aspects, it more than makes up for in hydroplaning safety.

This tire using four circumferential grooves and using coupled silica into an asymmetric tread design, makes one great water evacuating machine. You can take this tire out on the rainiest days and feel confident that you won’t be spun into a ditch.

Full-depth 3D micro-gauge siping makes some of the wettest roads feel almost dry. That means the siping in the tire will be there until the tire is completely worn out.

The only reason this tire did not receive a 5 out of 5 rating because that is reserved for a tire that can genuinely go through any wet conditions without slippage. I have received feedback on this tire where a customer would start to slide when slamming on the brakes.

I recommend this tire for anyone that needs confident wet weather traction.

Hydroplaning Rating: 4.5/5

★★★★★ 4.5/5

Tread Life - Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

Time for the worst tire quality, the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring tread life is some of the shortest you will find in its class. It has built-in wear squares that tell you how much tread is life. However, you will watch them quickly disappear every time you check.

In the H and V-speed ratings, I have seen this tire wear out as soon as twenty thousand miles, while the average mileage for replacing them would be around thirty to forty thousand. Now this tire comes with a seventy-thousand-mile tread wear warranty. When you’re getting, on average, half of the miles guaranteed, that’s not good.

The W-speed rating gets a fifty thousand mile treadwear warranty which you can realistically expect to get about thirty thousand miles. It is frustrating when manufacturers promise these insane mileage ratings, and the tire won’t even come close.

While the miles you get out of the tires are terrible, it might comfort you to know that they won’t suffer from premature dry rot. Cooper’s rubber compound used in their tires is highly durable when it comes to rubber aging prematurely.

If only it were as good in making the tread last longer.

The recommended age for replacing a tire is six years, and you could reasonably expect that if the tread didn’t wear out so quickly.

For a tire that is much more likely to receive its mileage, I would recommend the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife.

Tread Life Rating: 2.0/5

★★★★★ 2.0/5

Value For Money - Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

Regarding value for money, I gave it a low rating for the specific reason of tread life and snow traction. Any time a manufacturer puts high expectations of high mileage just to get you to buy a product, it automatically makes a tire less valuable.

The fact that it comes with a warranty is great, but that doesn’t mean you get free tires when they wear out prematurely. You will receive a pro-rated credit based on the miles you didn’t receive, that is, if the tires qualify. Even if you qualify for this credit, you still need to pay new tire install fees again.

Cooper also manufactures the Cooper CS5 Grand Touring tire, and it has the same deal, a short-lived high mileage warranty.

I don’t believe Cooper’s passenger touring tires offer a good bang for the buck because you will effectively pay for two sets of the CS5s when you could have bought one set of higher quality rubber.

I recommend the Falken Sincera SN250 A/S for an option in the same price range and will give you a very good value.

Value For Money Rating: 2.5/5

★★★★★ 2.5/5

Final Verdict - Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

You can find this Cooper tire in a wide range of tire sizes that will fit any sedan, minivan, and some SUVs. I don’t believe you will find great value in this tire; in my experience, value is half the reason for buying anything. Nobody wants to spend money on something that will not bring them value.

I compared this tire to various tires, including the Falken Sincera SN250 A/S, Hankook Kinergy ST, and the Yokohama Avid Ascend LX. I also compared the prices for these Coopers and its competitors across retailers like Amazon, Tire rack, Discount Tire Direct, and many more.

When making these comparisons, you can find this Cooper for cheap, but the low price doesn’t justify the poor tread life, snow traction, and ride comfort.

I recommend anyone of the tires mentioned in this review before purchasing the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring.

Still trying to find the tire that’s best for you?

Check out some of my other in-depth tire reviews.

Meet Your Tire Expert

Joe Steffen

Joseph Steffen is a trusted expert in the tire industry, with nine-plus years of experience. He has worked as a tire installer, tire salesman, and more recently a writer for various companies, providing honest feedback and advice to those who need it.

Tire Recall Information

While scouring the internet to find any recalls on the CS5 Ultra Touring, I found no recalls. In my search, I did find a recall on the Cooper CS5 Grand Touring, the T-speed rated variant of the Ultra Touring.

This recall was in size 225/65R17 with the date codes 2920 through 3220, 4220 through 4420, and 5120 through 0121. You can find the date codes of the tire on the sidewall. It will be the last four digits of a series of letters and numbers, which can be found after the letters DOT.

The recall was issued because the affected tires may have a low tread gauge in the shoulder slot area, potentially leading to tread separation and sidewall failure.

Cooper Tire seems to have frequent recalls on their passenger and performance tires. While recalls can happen for several reasons, it should not deter you from purchasing Cooper tires as they always remedy the situation.

Warranty & Tire Sizes

Warranty Details

Tire Sizes

Warranty Details

Tire Sizes

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are Cooper tires made by?

Cooper tires are made and manufactured by Cooper Tire. There may be some confusion about this since Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company acquired Cooper Tire in June of 2021.

Are Cooper tires made in the USA?

Yes, Cooper Tire has manufactured tires and rubber products in the USA since 1914. While Coopers are designed and made in the United States, they have manufacturing plants worldwide.

Are Cooper touring tires all-season?

Yes, Cooper’s touring tires are all going to be all-season rated. Touring tires, in general, will all be all-season capable.