If you’re driving a minivan, sedan, coupe, or crossover, what are your priorities in a set of tires? If you’re like most people, your answers would be longevity and good wear properties (with a limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty to match), a quiet and comfortable ride, handling that’s consistent and predictable, good stability and road manners at highway speed, and dependable grip on wet or dry roads. That set of traits pretty well sums up all-season tires; they’re a jack-of-all-trades solution for most drivers, a tire that checks all those boxes. That’s why all-season tires dominate the tire market and take up the biggest chunk of passenger car tire sales.

With all-season tires being such a popular choice, it’d just make sense that they’re available at every price point, from the priciest premium brands to budget tires from brands that are more obscure. At one time, an all-season tire’s quality would have been tied directly in with its price point, but not anymore; affordable tires like the Cosmo RC-17 can deliver features, performance, and value that rival tires that cost much, much more. Let’s get in and take a closer look at this Cosmo RC-17 tire review:

Features and Benefits

Here are some of the design features and a couple of surprising innovations that make the Cosmo RC-17 a great value and a great performer in a budget-priced all-season tire:

• Innovative “diamond groove” tread pattern is designed to enhance grip and control on wet or dry pavement
• Four wide circumferential grooves evacuate water from the tire’s contact patch to resist hydroplaning on wet roads
• Sipe pattern in shoulder blocks is strategically placed to enhance grip while reducing road noise
• 3D tread block design is optimized and computer tuned to cancel certain frequencies and overtones, reducing highway noise
• Internal construction includes polyester casing with two steel belts and a nylon cap ply for stability
• Continuous center rib delivers crisp steering response and dead-on stability in straight-line drives on the highway
• Reinforced shoulder blocks aid in cornering ability
• Covered by 45,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty
• Reduced rolling resistance helps boost fuel economy and cut emissions

Pros and Cons

In the case of the RC-17 from Cosmo, this is a tire where the Cons are far outweighed by the Pros:

PROS:

• Dependable and consistent grip on wet or dry roads
• Handling is capable and predictable with short braking distances and quick steering response
• Low rolling resistance enhances fuel economy and cuts greenhouse gases
• Ride quality is comfortable with low noise levels on the highway
• Affordable price point

CONS:

• Not good in heavier winter weather
• Can generate more pattern noise on some pavement surfaces

SimpleTire’s view on Cosmo RC-17 tires

Are you familiar with SimpleScore? SimpleScore is the proprietary ratings system devised by the SimpleTire team to give you a quick at-a-glance idea of the strengths and weaknesses of any tire. We take a look at the tire’s technical details, manufacturer info, warranty information, customer reviews, specs and other details, then that all gets processed into a 1-10 numerical score for the categories of traction, handling and longevity, along with an overall average SimpleScore number. For the Cambridge All Season II, the SimpleScore numbers break down this way:

Cosmo RC-17:

• Traction: 7.9
• Handling: 8.3
• Longevity: 8.5
• Overall average SimpleScore: 8.2

Those are some pretty respectable numbers, and they look even better when you remember that the SimpleTire price on the Cosmo RC-17 runs from $54.96 to $86.99 per tire, depending on tire size.

On the highway, the Cosmo RC-17 is a tire that shows few vices, if any. In straight-line cruises at highway speed, it’s steady and solid with little need for tweaks and correction, but those secure road manners are never sluggish and numb – it has great road feedback for the driver with a light and direct steering response. Ride quality maybe up to the expectations you’d have with a luxury Grand Touring tire, but even on rougher pavement it’s controlled and comfortable with low road noise and never feels jittery or loses its composure

In the corners or on interstate offramps, handling is capable and consistent, if maybe not up to the handling dynamics of a performance tire. The Cosmo might show a bit of understeer if pushed hard enough, but most drivers aren’t really going to crowd the handling performance envelope with a tire like this anyway. Grip on wet or dry pavement is safe and constant, with little tendency toward hydroplaning on wet pavement, and braking performance is decisive with short stopping distances.

A 45,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty just sweetens the deal that much more and makes the Cosmo look like an even better value. Our impression of the Cosmo RC-17 is that this would make an excellent choice in an all-season tire for an older vehicle, one that needs tires but you don’t want to empty out one of your bank accounts to be able to manage it. It’s a good example of the kind of budget-priced all-season tires that are on the market now and handily beat expectations by punching far above their weight class.

Vehicles the Cosmo RC-17 is a good replacement tire for

While the Cosmo RC-17 isn’t featured as the OEM tire for any new vehicles, it would be a great fit for cars and crossovers like these:

• Buick Encore
• Chevrolet Sprint
• Chrysler Pacifica
• Dodge Caravan
• Fiat 500
• Ford Focus
• Honda Civic
• Kia Sephia
• Mazda 6
• Nissan Rogue
• Subaru Outback
• Toyota Camry
• Volkswagen Atlas
• Acura TSX
• Audi A6
• Buick Lacrosse
• Cadillac CT5
• Chevrolet Cruze
• Chrysler 200
• Ford Mustang
• Genesis G80
• Honda Accord
• Hyundai Sonata
• Kia K5
• Mazda3
• Nissan Altima
• Tesla Model 3
• Toyota Supra
• Volkswagen Passat