Cooper tires are better in terms of warranty period on performance tires, comfort, affordability, dry and wet traction. Whereas, Continental tires are better in noise cancellation, ice and snow grip, and resale value. They also give more warranty on Touring tires. However, both Cooper and Continental make very good tires and have many satisfied customers.
But is that all? Not really. Read this article for more insight to help you pick the tires that are right for you.
Cooper Vs Continental Tires: Quick Comparison
I will be covering a lot of details on both Cooper and Continental tires. But let’s take a quick look at the fundamental differences below:
| Criteria | Cooper | Continental |
| Tread Warranty | 45,000 miles to 80,000 miles | 30,000 miles to 90,000 miles |
| Comfort (out of 100) | 92 (Cooper CS4 Touring) | 88 (Continental ContiMaxContact MC5) |
| Approximate Price per tire | $235 | $280 |
| Traction on Wet Grounds (out of 100) | 93 (Cooper Zeon CS Sport ) | 83 (Continental ContiMaxContact MC6) |
| Traction on Dry Grounds (out of 100) | 96 (Cooper Zeon CS Sport ) | 92 (Continental ExtremeContact Sport) |
| Traction on Icy Grounds (out of 100) | 83 (Cooper WeatherMaster WSC) | 85 (Continental WinterContact TS 860 S) |
| Traction on snowy Grounds (out of 100) | 93 (Cooper WeatherMaster WSC) | 96 (Continental WinterContact TS 870 P) |
| Road Noise cancellation technology | Whisper Grooves | ContiSilent |
| Product Range | 7 tire families | 4 families of tires |
| Customer Satisfaction(out of 5) | 4.67 | 4.72 |
| Environmental consideration | Recycles 78% of generated waste annually. Adds 50% renewable materials in their Discoverer tires | Uses electricity from renewable sources in all production sites. CO2 neutral production by 2040 |
| Resale value | 55% | 65% |
Still confused about which tire manufacturer is better, Cooper or Continental? Don’t you worry. Our detailed sections below will have all the answers you’re looking for.
Cooper Vs Continental Tires: In-Depth Comparison
This is the detailed comparison between Cooper and Continental tires. Why do you need it? To choose what’s the best tire for your car.
Tire Tread Warranty
Cooper tires offers more warranty on performance tires, while Continental tire offers more warranty on touring tires. Continental provides a warranty starting from 30,000 miles, up to 90,000 miles depending on the tire type. In contrast, Cooper gives warranty on their tires from 45,000 miles to 80,000 miles.
Cooper offers the least warranty on their Zeon series, which is 45,000 niles. This warranty reduces to 23,000 miles if you have a staggered fitment(wider rear wheels). Continental, on the other hand, gives you 30,000 mile warranty on their ExtremeContact Sport tire series.
Continental gives you a longer warranty period if you purchase their touring tires. They offer a 90,000 mile warranty on their TrueContact tires. But this offer is for the USA only. Likewise, Cooper will provide you with a 80,000 mile warranty with their CS5 Grand Touring (T rated) tires.
Result: Cooper has longer warranty for performance tires and Continental has longer warranty for Touring tires.
Comfort
The term ‘comfort’ refers to how quiet your tire is and how well it can absorb vibrations when driving. Touring tires are designed for comfort of the passengers. For this reason Cooper CS4 Touring and Continental ContiMaxContact MC5 are being considered here.
They are among the best touring tires these brands have to offer.
Users at Tyrereviews rate Cooper CS4 Touring tires at 92 out of 100, while Continental ContiMaxContact MC5 gets 88 out of 100. Both tires, however, provide good noise cancellation and vibration reduction.
Both Cooper CS4 Touring and Continental ContiMaxContact MC5 are superb tires which can offer a very pleasant driving experience. But driving with Cooper CS4 Touring tires will be a bit more comfortable to you.
Winner: Cooper tires.
Price
Cooper tires are cheaper than Continental tires. Cooper tires generally cost around $230, while a Continental tire may cost you about $280.
For price comparison, I am considering a new Continental ExtremeContact Sport 265/35ZR19 and a new Continental ContiProContact 235/40R18 tire. However, for Cooper, I am considering a brand new Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring All-Season 235/60R18 and a Cooper Zeon RS3-G1 265/35R20 tire.
Both Continental ContiProContact 235/40R18 and Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring All-Season 235/60R18 tires are similarly sized touring tires. They are priced at $215 and $190 respectively in Walmart. So the Cooper tire is a bit cheaper than Continental tires. Both tires are among the best touring tires these companies have to offer.
On the other hand, Continental ExtremeContact Sport 265/35ZR19 and Cooper Zeon RS3-G1 265/35R20 tires are high performance tires. Walmart sells them at $345 and $280 respectively. Walmart did not sell 265/35ZR19 Zeon tires at the time of making this comparison. But despite being wider, the Cooper performance tires are cheaper.
Cooper and Continental sell a variety of tires. Depending on the type, some Cooper tires may cost you more than a Continental tire. But Cooper tires are usually a bit cheaper than Continental tires in terms of what they promise.
These comparisons were made using Walmart prices. Your experience may vary depending on the shop you purchase from and the government policies in your area. Prices can also fluctuate due to logistics and time of the year.
Winner: Cooper tires
Traction on Wet Grounds (Summer Tires)
For comparing wet grip, I am using high performance summer tires. Performance summer tires are designed for high traction on wet grounds. They have channels built into their treads to remove water from contact areas and maintain road grip. They also consist of more sipes for improved wet performance.
Cooper Zeon CS Sport is a ultra high performance tire sold by Cooper for superior wet performance. Continental, on the other hand, sells ContiMaxContact MC6 for better wet traction.
Users say Cooper tires have better traction on wet grounds than Continental tires. Tyrereviews rates Cooper Zeon CS Sport tires at 93/100, while giving the Continental ContiMaxContact MC6 tires 83 out of 100.
Both Cooper Zeon CS Sport and Continental ContiMaxContact MC6 are great tires. They both give great grip when driving on wet surfaces. But Cooper Zeon CS Sport gives you better wet traction. So if you live in a particularly humid area, I suggest you get the Cooper Zeon CS Sport for your car.
Winner: Cooper tires.
Traction on Dry Grounds (Summer Tires)
Dry traction is how well a car’s tires can stick to the road when it’s dry outside, which helps the driver control the car better. It depends on things like the tire’s design, what it’s made of, and how big it is. The surface of the road and how hot or cold it is can also affect how good the traction is.
Cooper gives slightly better traction on dry grounds compared to Continental tires according to users from Tyrereviews. Cooper Zeon CS Sport gets 96 out of 100 from Tyrereviews, while Continental ExtremeContact Sport gets 93/100.
Both tires being compared for this section are high performance summer tires. Summer tires have wider grooves and less siping(cuts on the treads), which provide a greater dry grip.
Both Cooper Zeon CS Sport and Continental ExtremeContact Sport will give you amazing grip on dry grounds. But Cooper Zeon CS Sport gives a little bit more traction. So, if you live in a particularly dry area, you could get either tires.
Winner: Cooper tires by a small margin.
Traction on Snowy Grounds (Winter Tires)
Tires that are made for winter have to be designed differently to work better on snow-covered roads. They have deeper patterns than regular tires, which help them grip the snow. Also, the rubber they’re made from can stay soft even when it’s super cold outside. If you don’t have enough traction on snow, your car might start to slide and you could lose control of it.
For this section I am comparing performance winter tires. These tires are designed to provide better grip on snow covered surfaces. They have deeper grooves than summer tires to remove the snow that gets trapped underneath them. Cooper WeatherMaster WSC and Continental WinterContact TS 870 P are the best snow tires offered by these brands.
Continental tires are considered to give slightly better grip on snowy grounds according to users. Users at Tyrereviews gave Cooper WeatherMaster WSC 93/100 while Continental WinterContact TS 870 P gets 96/100.
Both Cooper WeatherMaster WSC and Continental WinterContact TS 870 P are superb tires for use on snowy terrain. Low traction on snow can make you lose control of your car. You can use either tires if your area is prone to snowfall.
Winner: Continental tires, but by a slight margin.
Traction on Icy Grounds (Winter Tires)
Icy ground tends to provide less traction than dry roads. This is because ice has a low friction surface. Winter tires have a softer structural material to provide better grip on ice.
Cooper WeatherMaster WSC is the best ice tire by Cooper. Whereas, Continental WinterContact TS 860 S has the best ice grip among Continental tires.
Users rate Continental slightly better than Cooper at providing traction on icy grounds. Cooper WeatherMaster WSC gets 83/100 from Tyreviews, whereas Continental WinterContact TS 860 S gets 85/100.
Both Cooper WeatherMaster WSC and Continental WinterContact TS 860 S are winter tires and have better ice grip.
Cooper WeatherMaster WSC gives you a little bit less traction than Continental WinterContact TS 860 S. But both are great tires and could be used if you need to drive on ice.
Winner: Continental tires, but by a small margin.
Road Noise cancellation technology
Continental tires use better proprietary technology for noise cancellation than Cooper, but only on their summer tires. Continental tires use ContiSilent on their tires. Cooper tires, on the other hand, rely on whisper Grooves on their Discoverer tires.
Continental tires use a special polyurethane foam inside their high end summer tires to absorb road noise. This can reduce tire noise by 9dB without affecting mileage or performance. Cooper’s Discoverer tires use ‘Whisper Grooves’. These are carefully placed ridges on the tread to break up air flow. But they can make a low high pitched hum when driving.
Both tire manufacturers use proprietary technology to reduce road noise. But ContiSilent seems to perform better than Whisper Grooves. However, these technologies are not available on every tire they make.
Winner: Continental Tires.
Product Range
Cooper has more families of tires compared to Continental. Continental sells 4 groups of tires: Ultra high performance, touring, all weather, and winter. Cooper, however, sells 7 families of tires: Endeavor, WeatherMaster, Zeon, Discoverer, CS, WM and Evolution.
Continental does not categorize their tires like Cooper. But they manufacture consumer tires of all categories. Here is a chart which simplifies how the tires of the 2 brands are categorized:
| Tire type | Cooper | Continental |
| Summer Touring | Cooper Endeavour | None |
| Winter Touring | Cooper VM | VikingContanct, VanContact, ContiWinterContact |
| All season Touring | Cooper CS | PureContact, TrueContact |
| Winter Performance | Cooper WeatherMaster | WinterContactSport |
| High performance | Zeon | ExtremeContact, PremiumContact, SportContact |
| Off-road | Cooper Evolution, Cooper Discoverer | TerrainContact, CrossContact |
Result: Tie.
Customer Satisfaction
Both Continental and Cooper tires are almost similarly rated by consumers. Based on results from Amazon, Cooper gets a combined 4.67 stars out of 5, while Continental gets 4.72.
For Cooper, I chose three different tires. The first 2 tires are Cooper Discoverer AT3 LT All-Season LT265/70R17 121/118S and Cooper Evolution M/T All-Season 35X12.50R15LT 113Q. The third tire is Cooper Evolution Tour All-Season 195/65R15 91H. They are rated in Amazon at 4.8 (273 ratings), 4.8 (1,388 ratings) and 4.6 (2,814 ratings) respectively.
For Continental tires, I chose five tires. The first tire was a Continental TrueContact Tour Performance Radial 195/65R15 91T rated at 4.5 (41 ratings). The second one was a Continental ContiCrossContact LX Sport All-Season Radial Tire at 4,9 stars(30 ratings).
The third tire I considered for Continental was Continental ContiProContact SSR Run Flat Performance Radial Tire – 225/50R17 94V . It has a rating of 4.7 out of 5.(200 ratings). Another tire considered was Continental ContiProContact Radial Tire – 175/55R15 77T with a rating of 4.9(71 ratings).
The final continental tire considered was Continental ProContact Radial Tire – 215/55R18 94H. It had a rating of 4.7 out of 5(81 rating).
Averaging the ratings gives Cooper 4.67 out of 5 and Continental 4.72 out of 5.
Result: Tie
Environmental Factor
Both Cooper and Continental tires contribute to the environment in their own way. Continental has the lofty goal of becoming climate neutral by the year 2050. Cooper has recently joined SIGNUS Ecovalor, to environmentally manage their sold tires after their end of life.
Cooper maintains a nationwide recycling program to recycle their card boards, tires, paper and oil. They currently recycle 78% of their waste. They also claim that 50% of their Discoverer tires come from recycled material.
Continental, like Cooper, takes initiatives to be more eco friendly. They procure electricity from renewable sources and seek to be CO2 neutral in production by 2040.
Furthermore, Continental has been aiding in forestation in Germany and plans to source only environmentally responsible natural rubber by 2030.
Resale Value
Continental tires have better resale value compared to Cooper tires. Continental tires on average retain roughly 65% of their value, compared to 55% of Cooper tires.
To compare Cooper resale values, I chose the Cooper Adventurer HT Tire 235/65R16 tire and Cooper trendsetter SE P235/75R15.
For the Continental tires, I chose Continental ExtremeContact Sport 265/35ZR19 Tire and Continental ContiProContact 235/40R18 91 W. The tires have similar tread wear.
| Tire Brand | Tire Model | Tread Depth(mm) | New price | Old Price | Resale Value |
| Cooper | Cooper Adventurer HT Tire 235/65R16 | 7 mm | $185 | $100 | 54% |
| Cooper | Cooper trendsetter SE P235/75R15 | 8 mm | $96 | $26 | 28% |
| Continental | Continental ExtremeContact Sport 265/35ZR19 | 8 mm | $345 | $200 | 58% |
| Continental | Continental ContiProContact 235/40R18 91 W | 6.5 mm | $215 | $160 | 75% |
The old price stated here is the amount the sellers seek for each tire on Ebay. These prices are subjective and would depend on the actual state of these tires. But the tires compared here have similar tread depth.
Averaging out the drop in prices of the Continental tires, we land on a resale value of 65%. Likewise, the resale value of Cooper tires is around 55%. So Continental tires retain their value better.
Winner: Continental Tires.
Which Is Better: Cooper or Continental Tires?
Cooper tires are better if you are planning to buy a performance tire with a long warranty period. Continental tires, on the other hand, give more warranty on touring tires. Cooper tires also give better comfort and are more affordable than Continental tires in general.
If you need winter tires, Continental winter tires are better as they offer better traction in ice and snow. For summer tires, Cooper tires are better in terms of dry and wet grip. Continental tires, on the other hand, have better noise-cancellation technology. They also have better resale value than Cooper tires.
FAQs
Which is better, Continental or Pirelli?
Continental tires are better than Pirelli tires in overall comfort. They also have better all season tires than Pirelli. But if you are seeking high performance tires with great handling, then you should look for Pirelli tires instead. Both tire brands are highly reputed and make superb tires.
Why are continental tires so expensive
Continental tires are more expensive than cheaper brands because of the quality of their research and tire materials. They produce tires which often last longer than tires of many well known brands. But Continental tires are more affordable than Michelin or Goodyear tires with respect to tire type.
Which is better, Cooper or Bridgestone?
Cooper tires are better in terms of affordability and warranty period. Bridgestone tires, however, are better than Cooper tires in terms of comfort, performance, durability, noise cancellation and resale value. But both tire manufacturers are highly reputed and sell some of the best tires of the world.
Conclusion
Now you know about Cooper Vs Continental Tires. I hope that this article was helpful to you in determining which brand of tire is right for you.
There are some key distinguishing factors between the tires made by the two brands. But both manufacturers sell some of the best tires in the world. Both Cooper and Continental are highly reputed.
That is it for today. All the best and goodbye!
I love these tires from Cooper because they deliver responsive handling and good grip, which is a good choice in off-road conditions.
On the other hand, Continental tires offers a luxurious experience with specialized options for luxury, high-performance, or weather-specific needs.