235/65R18 Cooper CS4's or BFG Long Trail

[d.bright]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Need your thoughts on something.

Its time for me to replace my short-lived Michelin X-Terrain SUV tires with something else. I have narrowed my search down to two tires:

Cooper CS4 Touring
BFGoodrich Long Trail Touring T/A

I can get both for around the same price, the BFG's just a tad more expensive.

I'm leaning towards the BFG's, however I had a set of Cooper Discovery H/T's on my 92' Explorer that were great, so I'm torn.

Please post your experience with these tires, any pros/cons and the perceived benefits of one vs the other...

One thing the tire salesman said is that the Coopers were meant more for crossovers than SUV's, and that the BFG's were made specifically for trucks/suv's... all I care about is a nice smooth, quiet ride and for it not to get all wallowy in corners. Oh yeah, and they need to get more than 33K miles (which is what the OEM Michelin's got, which is abysmal, old Michelin LTX's get much more mileage)...

Thanks in advance! I'll be sure to post pics of whatever I get!

 

[sjdowlin]

I Like the BFG

I don't know much about Cooper but, I have the BFGs and like them on my Explorer. I've got about 10k on the set and they are the same size you are looking at. They are quiet, seem to be wearing slowly and evenly, and provide great traction on wet/dry and even snow. I'd buy them again.

 

[nleipziger]

I have the Coopers on my 06 EB. Love them! They are very quiet and handling is much better then the originals. So far, 40k and still lots of tread left.

 

[tv4fish]

I have the Coopers on my 06 EB. Love them! They are very quiet and handling is much better then the originals. So far, 40k and still lots of tread left.

I agree -- after MUCH research and comparisons - I went with the Coopers on my '07 EB - Just a little over 10,000 mi. on them, but they are great tires.

 

[d.bright]

OK,

Well thanks for all of the input, I went with the BFG's after all, I got them for $715 installed, plus $100 mail-in rebate from Kauffman tire, so $615 ain't too bad. Are you guys running the Cooper CS4's or the Cooper CTS's? I went to two more places and they were all like "those tires aren't meant for heavy SUV's, they are meant for passenger cars and at the most crossovers... Then they tried to sell me CTS's for about $220 a tire.

Anyways, the tires ride great, there was a little bit more road noise the first few miles, but it has gone away, I think it has something to do with the coating on the tread/tire from the factory, could be wrong tho. We'll see how long these last, hopefully Michelin will have an LTX/MS in that size by then, but these BFG's could end up making me a believer. I'll update this post with thoughts over time.

Thanks again!

 

[Beargap]

Did you mount the BFG's with the white lettering facing out? If so, could you post a picture? I am needing to buy new tires to replace the short-lived Cross Terrains, but having trouble picturing OWL tires on the 18" rim.

=Vic=

 

[tv4fish]

d.bright - I'm running the CS4's -- As I posted - do some tire reviews/independent research on'em. Check out their ratings - definitely suitable for our Exploders.

 

[d.bright]

Hey, sorry it took me so long to get back, actually the tires I got were not white letter, which kinda ticked me off cause I asked for it, but they knocked an extra 50$ off, and to be honest, I like it better now. I'll post pics soon, remember, I'm using Sport Trac 18" rims on my Eddie, so no faux-chrome here.

 

[d.bright]

tv4fish,

Thanks for the info, but I had already gone with the BFG's, I may go with the CS4's next time. I did do a lot of research online, and most reviews for the tires were for light trucks, or crossovers, and only on here did I find anyone stating they used them for Ex's, even Coopers online support responded to me saying the CTS were the tire to use rather than the CS4. So given that, you can probably understand my hesitation in getting them.

I will be asking this question again in a couple of years probably, so I will be interested to see how long they last (the CS4's) vs. my BFG's, so far I am really pleased with the BFG's so given that I think I at least narrowed it down to the two best tires for the truck, esp. when taking into account a good mix of value and substance.

Thanks!

 

[jawman]

I know I am a bit late to the party but I was in a similar position last year with X-terrains that were bald at 24K miles.

After a lot of research and some apprehension I decided to go with Firestone Destination LE's and today 18K later I couldn't be happier with the choice. I rotate every 5K miles with oil changes and the tires still appear new. The x-terrains were looking terrible at the same point in their life.

The 07 Limited also rides and handles better than it did with the Michelins. Again I wasn't to real excited about the firestones but they are looking like the smart choice to me. I did look at both the BFG's and the Coopers but they didn't seem to have enough bite for winter driving in Western Pa.. BTW the x-terrains also totally stunk in the snow.

 

[jawman]

And BTW the Firestones were in raised white letters which was something I wanted to maintain the appearance of the vehicle.