On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 12:00:14 -0600, rbowman wrote:

The last set of tires I bought were Cooper CS5's. In part my choice was
determined by reviews by boy racers like this:
http://www.motortrend.com/news/coope...5-tire-review/

Auurgh! Tire reviews.
Tire reviews are like people rating their mother's cooking.
Everyone is biased toward the tires *they* selected, while some can't stand
their mother, no matter what.

The market research I quoted earlier said that 60% of buyers want someone
else to choose their tires for them. To me, that's what reviews are for. So
some boy racer in a 1968 Camaro can tell you what you should put in your
Honda.

The problem with boy-racer reviews is that they're religion and politics
wrapped up in false buttmeter readings surrounded by marketing placebos.
Oh, and did I mention that there is absolutely zero instrumentation?

Did you ever watch a boy racer take a motorcycle drivers' license test?
Everyone one thinks he nailed it, and yet, with a dispassionate observer, a
huge proportion actually failed.

A guy spends six hundred bucks for tires, and then he writes a review about
it. The review is sort of like how the CIA rates dictators we prop up in
South America. Yeah, they're *******s, but they are "our *******s".

Anyway, with that in mind, let's read that review:
COOPER TIRE CS5 TIRE REVIEW
http://www.motortrend.com/news/coope...5-tire-review/

This is getting long so I'll post my observations of that review
separately.

I did not chose the OEM tires, Bridgestone Potenza 92E's.

You probably do what most people do, including me.
The market research I quoted said that most people choose OE tires early in
the life of the vehicle, where they stray further and further away as the
vehicle ages.

I won't even start on my process for selecting bike tires, particularly
for my dual sport bike. For example, Dunlop D606's are great in mud but
howl like a banshee at 80 mph on pavement. Bridgestone Trailwings are
civilized on the pavement but only marginally better than any pure
street tire in the mud.

I'm not sure how motorcycle tires differ from passenger-car tires, as it
has been a while since I have ridden myself. Last ones I bought I mounted
myself though, and didn't bother to balance them.

Even bicycle tires are not exempt. Want to know the rationale behind my
recent purchase of a set of Serfas Drifters?

The problem I have with bicycle tires is that the specs aren't known, so,
you're stuck with lousy data to make a decision upon.