Shopping for tires is harder than ever before. There are dozens of brands that promise quality at an affordable price, but it can be hard to determine which brands are telling the truth. Mastercraft Tires is one of the few companies that continues to deliver exceptional tires at a fair price.
A subsidiary of the Cooper Tire and Rubber Company, Mastercraft Tires, has been around for over one hundred years. During this time, their engineers have worked closely with their parent company to produce high-quality tires with unique design features. While they may cost less than Cooper tires, they’re made with the same level of care and quality.
If you’re a fan of Cooper Tires, you’ll notice that there are a lot of similarities between the two companies. Many tire designs are shared, and Mastercraft benefits from pulling design features off of the most popular Cooper tires. In fact, since Mastercraft can share their research, design, and production costs with their parent, they can price their tires lower than Cooper tires.
So, not only are you shopping for Mastercraft tires, but you’re indirectly looking at Cooper tires too. Mastercraft Tires is one of the few affordable companies that produces a high-quality tire right here in the United States. If you’re curious about whether or not a Mastercraft tire is right for you, read on.
Mastercraft Tires’ History
When shopping for any brand of tires, the first thing you want to consider is the brand’s history. History can teach you a lot about a company, and if a company has a limited history, it’s going to be difficult to trust them. So, we’re going to take you through the history of Mastercraft Tires.
First and foremost, we’re going to talk about the Cooper Tire and Rubber Company, or Cooper Tires. Cooper Tires is the company that owns Mastercraft Tires, and the two companies have been working together for years. While Mastercraft Tires is a less well-known company, you’re still getting a premium Cooper tire when you buy a Mastercraft. Since information on Mastercraft Tires’ personal history is limited, we’re going to keep it brief.
Cooper Tires was founded in 1914 and began to grow from there. Mastercraft Tires was previously under the ownership of the Falls Rubber Company, which had a difficult time competing with forty other Ohio-based tire companies. For twenty-five years, the company operated on its own, but in 1930 the company was purchased by Cooper Tires.
Growth was small at first, but during World War II, the company had a surge of income and demand. During the war, the company aided the US government in the construction of balloons, landing boats, camouflage items, waterproof bags, tires, and tank decoys. Ironically, the company was operating under the name Master Tire and Rubber Company.
While the name Master Tire and Rubber Company was changed to the Cooper Tire and Rubber Company in 1964, the master name stuck around as Mastercraft Tires. After the war, Cooper Tires failed to see significant growth until the company became publicly traded during the 1960s. Cooper Tires and Mastercraft Tires maintained steady growth throughout the 1970s and 80s, but by 1997 the company took another massive leap.
In 1997 Cooper Tyres bought Avon Tires, and its workforce grew well beyond 10,000 employees. Reaching the rank of a Fortune 500 company, plenty of engineers and employees had time to perfect their tire designs. Today, Cooper Tires are some of the best tires that you can find on the market. Mastercraft Tires deleted their “falls” logo around the same time that Cooper Tires purchased Avon Tyres.
What Sets Mastercraft Tires Apart
Mastercraft Tires is a unique company because it receives a lot of influence from Cooper Tires, which has been producing high-quality tires for over one hundred years. Looking at Mastercraft tires, you’ll soon realize that they’re Cooper tires with a lower price tag. With that being said, let’s take a look at why Mastercraft is unique.
Customer Satisfaction
First and foremost, you want to consider the reputation of a company before you shop with them. Companies that maintain high levels of customer satisfaction generally offer a superior product. There are a few ways to look at a company’s reputation, and these include their customer reviews and offered services.
Mastercraft Tires maintains an excellent reputation with its customers. Warranties aside, the company offers numerous means for communication with the company and provides a quick and thorough response. One aspect of Mastercraft that stands out is their 45-day road test guarantee. If you’re not satisfied with Mastercraft tires, within the first forty-five days of using them, you can return them to the retailer that you purchased them through. This is significant because if you don’t believe in the quality that Mastercraft offers, you have no obligation to keep the tires.
Mastercraft Tires also maintains high customer satisfaction through their reviews. Based on data from Simpletire.com, hundreds of reviews have been collected and recorded. Of those reviews, Mastercraft tires keep ratings of four stars or better (out of five stars). When customers feel compelled to leave a positive review, it’s a great indication that the company holds a great relationship with their customers.
Affordable Prices
Affordable tires are a dime a dozen, but you need to be careful with the quality. When tires dip below a specific price, less than about $500 for a set, it’s reasonable to assume that those tires won’t perform as well as premium tires. When shopping for tires, this makes it difficult to find a set of tires for a reasonable price.
Mastercraft tires are known for their quality, but they’re also known for being affordable. Thanks to support from Cooper Tires, they can afford to sell their tires with a lower price tag while maintaining above-average quality. In most cases, you can find a full set of above-average Mastercraft tires for less than $500. A great example of this is the Mastercraft Courser AXT. The Cooper Discoverer AT/3 is nearly identical to the Mastercraft Courser AXT, but the Courser AXT has a lower price tag.
Diverse Catalog
Shopping for tires has become more complicated than ever. For example, an SUV requires different tires than a passenger car, and if you have off-road or high-performance preferences, choosing the right tire becomes even more difficult. Not only do you need to find the right tire, but you also need to make sure it comes in the correct size. For this reason, Mastercraft carries a wide range of different tire styles and sizes.
Sizes
When shopping for Mastercraft tires, you have two options. You can search based on your make and model, or you can simply type the dimensions of the tire you need into their search bar. Standard tire sizes range from 15 inches to 24 inches, but Mastercraft carries tires from 14 inches through 30 plus inches. With a wide range of sizes, finding the perfect tire for your aftermarket wheels has never been easier.
Styles
Mastercraft Tires makes sure that everyone is taken care of. Not only do they have all-season tires for passenger cars, but the company has off-road mud tires, high-performance radial tires, and fuel-efficient tires. Even if you have unique needs, there is a great chance that Mastercraft Tires has the right fit.
Warranty Coverage
The warranty of a tire indicates how long the company believes its tire should last. For example, if a tire has a 50,000-mile warranty, manufacturers believe that the tire will last more than 50,000 miles—and if they don’t, you’ll get your money back. When you shop for tires, it’s essential to understand the assurances that the company offers. If a company lacks a warranty, you can expect to replace a tire sooner than usual. Mastercraft Tires has some of the most competitive warranties in the market.
Standard Coverage
Mastercraft’s standard coverage warranty applies to tires that wear unevenly during the first 2/32 inches of tread life. If this occurs, all you need to do is contact Mastercraft for a replacement.
Tread Wear Protection
Mastercraft Tires also offers a tread wear protection warranty. The warranty is milage based and provides a replacement or discount towards one if a tire wears improperly before it reaches the specified amount of miles. The milage warranties start as low as 20,000 miles, which is less than ideal, but they do improve with different tire models. For example, the Mastercraft LSR Grand Touring Tire covers up to 80,000 miles. To add perspective, some of the top companies tend to limit their warranties to 75,000 miles.
Mastercraft Tires Design Features
With influence from Cooper Tires, Mastercraft has plenty of innovative design features. We’re going to take you through a handful of design features that you can only find in Mastercraft tires.
Handling
Your vehicle’s handling depends on a lot of factors, but one of the best ways to improve your vehicle’s handling is with the right set of tires. Tires can make sure your car puts the power down correctly, for racing, and keeps your vehicle hooked to the road when making sharp turns or braking. With the help of Cooper Tires, Mastercraft can make tires that excel at handling.
Stability Control Slipping Technology
One of the unique features that Mastercraft tires come with is Stability Control Slipping (SCS) technology. This technology has been developed over the past few decades and uses 3D-imaging to create deep sipes in their tires. When using this technology, Mastercraft can analyze how well a tire can reduce the chance of hydroplaning before it hits the shelves.
5-rib treads
While 5-rib treads are an industry norm, Mastercraft uses 5-rib treads like no other company. The composition of 5-rib tread patterns on their all-season tires incorporate wide circumferential grooves with deep sipes to irrigate water out of the tire treads. With larger grooves and sipes, Mastercraft all-season tires are able to reduce the chances of hydroplaning on water surfaces drastically.
Angled Shoulders
On their high-performance summer tires, Mastercraft tires come with angled shoulders. The shoulder of a tire keeps it stable during sharp changes in directions, and angled shoulders are typically found on expensive high-performance tires. Mastercraft tires feature angled shoulders that improve a vehicle’s ability to corner and make sharp turns.
Biting Edges
Biting edges are small edges built into a tire that allows it to grab uneven surfaces. On all-season and off-road tires, biting edges are crucial for both safety and ride quality. Mastercraft uses a combination of thick treads and biting edges on their Courser MXT Mud-Terrain Tire. These edges and thick treads improve handling off-road, in the snow, during the rain, and keep a tire straight if it comes into contact with hazards.
Durability
There was a time when tires lasting 50,000 miles was luxury, but times have changed. A high-quality tire should last you well over the 50,000-mile mark, but you have to know what you’re looking for. Not all tires are made equal, but Mastercraft tires offer unparalleled durability for the price.
Mastercraft tires come with reinforced sidewalls that stand up to punishment on the pavement and off-road, and their off-road treads have a self-cleaning tread pattern. The self-cleaning tread pattern might not seem like much, but when the debris is expelled from in between the tire treads, it increases the tire’s lifespan.
Mastercraft tires, like the Courser AXT, also feature paired intermediate tread elements. The paired treads use a ramp-lock design to push debris and gravel out towards the large tread grooves. As the waste is pushed towards the grooves, the large circumferential grooves expel potential dangers to the tire.
Comfort
In the past, the comfort of a vehicle was often an afterthought. While this was true in the past, today, the comfort of your ride should never be overlooked. The suspension of your vehicle can only guarantee a certain level of comfort, which is why you need tires that complement your vehicle’s suspension and enhance comfort on the road. Comfort comes in two forms: stability and noise reduction.
Noise Reduction
Mastercraft tires come with a signature tread pitch sequence designed for noise reduction. As the tire rolls over the road, the grooves within the treads of the tire evenly distribute vibrations away from the tire, which keeps things quiet on the road. This feature is accessible in all-season, high-performance summer, and off-road Mastercraft tires.
Stability
Stability in tires is challenging to maintain, and while a lot of people are quick to judge a vehicle’s suspension, balance also comes from the tires. Mastercraft tires leverage sturdy center ribs and reinforced sidewalls to mitigate bumps and potholes on the road. To further improve stability, Mastercraft uses R-tech construction on its sidewalls. This technology enhances a tire’s ability to respond when faced with uneven surfaces.
Fuel-efficiency
The fuel-efficiency of your vehicle has never been more critical. Whether you’re trying to save money at the pump or reduce your carbon footprint, you want to consider a tire that reduces the gas consumption of your vehicle. Mastercraft Tires are known to help you at the gas pump with their line of economy tires.
Mastercraft tires feature a silica tread compound that reduces rolling resistance on their tires. When a tire has more strength, it’s going to require more fuel to push that tire across a surface. By using these treads, Mastercraft can get you more gas mileage out of their tires.
Mastercraft Tires Recognition
One way to tell whether or not a brand is trustworthy is to take a look at their recognition and sponsorships. Reliable companies typically focus on improving their community, and their identity within that community, so we’re going to take a look at a few examples of Mastercraft’s brand recognition. While Mastercraft does not directly sponsor events, Cooper Tires is known for participating in the community and winning awards for their tires.
Professional Baseball
Cooper Tires is known for getting involved in the Major League Baseball community. In 2017, Cooper Tires continued to sponsor MLB teams. The teams include the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, Saint Louis Cardinals, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Compared to other tire manufacturers, Cooper Tires sponsors the most Major League Baseball teams.
Good Design Awards
In 2019, Cooper Tires received two Good Design Rewards from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and design. One of the awards was for the Discoverer ATT, which is one of Cooper’s best tires. This is relevant for Mastercraft Tires because the Mastercraft Courser AXT is nearly identical to the Discoverer ATT.
Best-Selling Mastercraft Tires
Mastercraft Tires manufacturers premium and affordable tires that sell well, but there are a handful of Mastercraft tires that deserve special attention.
Mastercraft Strategy
The Mastercraft Strategy is one of Mastercraft’s best selling all-season tires. This tire is built with a durable 5-rib design that reduces noise on the road and features deep tread grooves and sipes. The grooves and sipes make sure that hydroplaning doesn’t happen, and the reinforced sidewalls prolong the life of the tire when it comes into contact with debris.
The Mastercraft Strategy also benefits from 3D-tested deep sipes. The sipes are created using Mastercraft’s SCS technology, which allows the company to test the tire’s performance in wet conditions.
Mastercraft Courser AXT
The Mastercraft Courser AXT is an all-season tire designed for SUVs, light trucks, vans, and off-road vehicles. The tire is made with a silica tread compound that reduces rolling resistance, which improves gas mileage. The treads are built with a 5-rib design that helps keep the tire level in off-road and snowy conditions. The Mastercraft Courser AXT also features a unique zig-zag tread pattern that reduces the chance of slipping on hazardous terrain.
For longevity, the tire features a reinforced sidewall that can ward off debris from both highway driving and off-road driving. The Mastercraft Courser AXT also comes with a 50,000-mile warranty that allows you to replace the tire if any damage occurs.
Mastercraft Courser MXT Mud Terrain Radial Tire
The Mastercraft Courser MXT Mud Terrain Radial Tire is a great tire for both off-roading and pavement usage. While the tire focuses on enhancing off-road performance, it does so without sacrificing quality on the roads. One way that the Mastercraft Courser MXT Mud Terrain Radial Tire accomplishes this is by noise reduction. Off-road tires are notorious for making a lot of noise when you use them on the pavement, but these tires feature a unique tread pitch sequence that keeps noise levels low.
For traction, this tire features circumferential grooves that reduce the chance of hydroplaning. The tread grooves are broad and deep, which allows the tire to get rid of any water that gets in between the tire and the road. This works for use in the mud, and even better on pavement. Plus, these tires feature aggressive styling that looks great on most light trucks, vans, and SUVs.
Mastercraft Avenger G/T Performance Radial Tire
The Mastercraft Avenger G/T Performance Radial Tire is engineered for perfection and longevity. Engineers from Cooper Tires worked closely with Mastercraft on this line of tires to make sure that they’re delivering the best possible product. For ride quality, these tires feature a reinforced center rib that glides right over any potential hazards without taking damage.
To make sure that they hold up to their promise of longevity, the Mastercraft Avenger G/T Performance Radial Tire comes with a 50,000-mile warranty that allows you to replace the tire if any possible damage occurs on the road. This tire also features the optimized tread pitch pattern that reduces noise on the road by evenly distributing road vibrations. For muscle car drivers, owners of older vehicles, and sports car enthusiasts, the Mastercraft Avenger G/T Performance Radial Tire is an affordable tire that offers high-performance and stability.
Mastercraft Courser STR All-Season Radial Tire
The Courser STR All-Season Radial Tire is one of Mastercraft’s most reliable tires. This tire features deep, and reinforced sidewalls that ensure debris from the road doesn’t damage the tire. One unique feature of this tire is the large traction edges that keep the tire level on the street, regardless of the conditions.
For use on pavement and off-road, the Mastercraft Courser STR All-Season Radial Tire is an excellent choice because it can make a smooth transition between dirt and pavement. This tire also comes with large shoulder scallops embedded with biting edges to make sure your tires hook into the terrain that you’re driving on.
A List of Mastercraft Tires
Touring All-Season
Mastercraft Avenger Touring LSR
Mastercraft Strategy
Mastercraft SRT Touring
All-Season
Mastercraft A/S IV
Mastercraft MC-440
High-Performance All-Season
Mastercraft Avenger G/T
Light Truck / SUV /Crossover
Mastercraft Courser AXT
Mastercraft Courser C/T
Mastercraft Courser CXT
Mastercraft Courser HSX Tour
Mastercraft Courser HXT
Mastercraft Courser HTR
Mastercraft Courser HTR Plus
Mastercraft Courser LTR
Mastercraft Courser MXT
Mastercraft Courser STR
