Stook02SS

Let me begin by saying that I love my 71's 15" tires and never plan to swap em out (unless they stop making them altogether, lol)

With that in mind, I'm looking for recommendations on what would be the best tire for my 15x8 Torque Thrust IIs. The current tires are Eagle IIs which I may get again. At the moment the only other tire I'm looking is the Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T.

I'm willing to consider almost anything and would love to find a grippy r-compound tire - but to the best of my knowledge none exist Any advice would be appreciated.

F4Gary

Goodyear doesn't make anything for our C3 15" wheels anymore. I didn't know about Mickey Thompsons, but you might check out Cooper Cobras. Cooper might make a better tire than MT. Don't know for sure. There's also BF Goodrich radial T/As.

69autoXr

There are several 15" DOT race tire options from Hoosier. You can get the R6 in a couple of different 15" sizes that are appropriate for a Corvette - 245/50 and 275/50. The 15" A6 sizes are really too short for a Corvette (23" diameter). R6's won't be as fast as A6's, but they'll be faster than street tires.

Your A6 size options improve if you move up to 16"+ wheels.

Hoosier also has 15" Street TD DOT bias ply tires in good C3 sizes. 245/45, 245/60, and 275/60. My dad runs 245/60 front and 275/60 rear on his '70 with 15x10 TTII's (with flares). The Street TD's won't be as fast as A6's or R6's, but again they'll be faster than street tires.

I used the bias ply tires on my '69 for many seasons before switching to radials when the A6 came out. I use 16" and 17" wheels however because I wanted the A6 rather than R6.

Hope this helps.

Gordy M

When I ran my 64 I used the Kuhmo 225/50x15 and was fairly successful. To bad Hoosier discontinued the 245/50x15 tires. The 225 size was a challenge putting it on the trailer.

Subfixer

I'm in the same boat with my 64. My 215-75R 15 Michelin Defenders just don't cut it on the course.
I'll probably break down and get some 17x6 wheels and some of good 17" rubber for auto-x days.
Or will that put me in an "other than stock" class?

mr.beachcomber

Swapping to a 17" non-stock rim would put you out of the Stock class at SCCA and NCCC events; but, shoot, if you're like most of us, your engine, carb, etc isn't stock anyway so who cares?

Stook02SS

Thanks for the info, you've all been very helpful!

mr.beachcomber

Both of these tires have tread wear ratings in the 400's. Don't think that they will be very competitive in auto-xing, but if that doesn't matter, they'll last forever on the street.

mr.beachcomber

Did a quick search of all the discount tire sites on the web and really couldn't come up with what I would consider a decent tire for auto-xing/street driving. Even the M/T Sportsman S/T you mentioned is a mud & snow all season design. If you're serious about auto-xing, you may need to go up to a 16"/17" rim for auto-x only tires. Vette Brakes & Performance is a forum sponsor, offers discounts to forum members, and carries the hardware you would need for the changeover.

Good Luck with your search for auto-x tires.

Subfixer

Actually, the car is a bone stock 327/300hp 4spd, although there's a 460hp small block 400 in the garage......

mr.beachcomber

I think that you just made my point as all '71 SBC's were 350's, i.e., 350/270 or 350/330 (LT-1). The last model year Vette to have a stock 327 was 1968.