Tracy IsemingerI had never given much thought to how tires truly do impact the safety of a vehicle. So much thought goes into buying a car with high ratings, airbags, and extra safety features, but how often do you consider the tires that car is riding on? What if your tires kept you from having to utilize all those safety features of the car? How to pick tires doesn’t have to be a challenging question and women should feel comfortable talking and asking questions with tire dealers to be sure you and your family stay safe.
Recently I was invited by Cooper Tire to try out their newest tire, the CS5, at their test facility in San Antonio, Texas. Myself and a group of other moms set out to test, compare, and learn about tires. The “Supermom Ride and Drive Challenge” places ordinary moms like me out on a large wet track filled with tight corners in order to see just how a tire will handle in these conditions.
Check me out on the course!
What happened, I never expected. When riding on the Cooper Tires CS5 my car handled differently than with the challengers tire. I could actually feel the difference. We were asked to push past our insecurities and really get some speed on the corners. So I did what I was asked and lost control of the vehicle in the challengers tires. When doing the same thing with the CS5’s, I felt the tires grip, giving me a little bit of warning I might lose control and I had time to brake safely. Since this course is designed so you can not roll when losing control, I was able to “spin” without worry, but if I was on a freeway with my family, we all could be seriously injured.
(The Cooper Tires and challenger tire were both new tires of similar value for true side by side testing)
So what makes these Cooper Tires a better choice to keep my family safe? The technology, research and passion of the Cooper Tire brand.
We sat down with the research and development teams and everyone who works with Cooper Tires and they all share they same passion of building the best tire to keep us all safe at an affordable price.
Check out the features that make the CS5 so special!
What do you do if you can’t afford to buy 4 new tires? Well, we test drove again with only 2 new tires and 2 worn tires. If you only can afford to buy 2 tires, then always have them placed on the back. I thought it’d be opposite but let me tell you the difference is HUGE! By placing the new tires in the back, when you start to lose control, the back tires have a chance to work and grip when you brake before you enter a fishtail. If you have the worn tires on the back, you lose control without any warning (again speaking from experience spinning my car!).
Aside from the wet track, we also had a bit of fun on a distracted driving course, really making us aware of how easy it is to lose your attention from the road. It was a real eye opener for moms on things we do everyday that endanger us. We also got to have some fun with Johnny Unser and do some hot laps. Whoo hoo!
Check out the final video of all the Moms at 2014 Supermom Ride and Drive!
Read MORE about our adventures and what we learned about tires and tire safety:
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