DL9179

Im just about ready to fire up my rebuilt sbc 355 and im in the market for some new shoes. Im going to stay with the 15in stock wheels for now so my choices are Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 or Cooper Cobra GT prices are about the same so i was wondering if any of yall have a preferance thanks !

Alan 71

I'm always concerned (maybe too much) with what the tire looks like. Is it white letter or not, is there too much or too little wording, what does the rest of the sidewall look like, etc. Although performance is very important to some folks, appearance matters more to me. I'd vote Firestone because my car was delivered with Firestone Wide Oval tires.
Regards,
Alan

Tim81

I just put a set of Coopers on my 81 at the end of the summer. I like them alot. I wanted to get the Firestones but they were out of stock at the time. I spent a little less for the Coopers. The traction even on wet roads is very good. They look good and are quieter then the Firestone Firehawks I had before these. Just my 2 cents.

RagTop69

I had Firestone Firehawks on my 69 Mustang convertible for years. They were great tires. Held the road well, no chasing seams or other bad habits, and they handled and wore very well. Tire Rack rates them at the top of their group, which includes some pretty nice tires, and they're about the cheapest. Unfortunately, when I had to replace them I went with BFG Radial T/A's. I wanted a vintage look for the convertible and I loved the large white raised letter "FIRESTONE" logo on my old tires, but Firestone stopped putting their name on the sidewalls. Maybe it was the purchase by Bridgestone or the issues with Ford and the Explorer roll overs, but the sidewalls say "FIREHAWK" and "INDY 500" on them now. The BFG's are relative crap compared to the Firestones. My first impression of them was that I'd given up a lot of handling response and they do chase seams on the road. They even look skinnier than the Firestones despite the fact that they are the same size. BTW, I'm running RWL Goodyear GT II's on my 69 Vette. They seem like a good tire. I would have put them on the Mustang, but they don't make em in 14".

jn76vette

I like the look of the cobra's more than the Firestones. I like the BFG and that's what I currently have. I'm thinking of trying Coopers next unless I decide to put on bigger wheels.

blunblk68

put the firestone 500`s on my chevelle last spring and they are an awesome tire!! try priceing them here!!

www.thetirerack.com

DL9179

Im kind of leaning towards the firestones more , have any of you bought from these guys onlinetires.com they have sum good prices ( $346 ) to my door !

blunblk68

i got 4 of the firestones from the tirerack and 2 were 295x50x15 and it was like 350.00 to my door with shipping!

I'm Batman

I love the Firehawk Indy 500s...but I'm also a fan of Cooper tires. I'd love to drive a car with the Cobras installed to see what they feel like.

Jon Hekking

Just put a new set of Firestone Indy 500 255/R60/15s on mine this past Spring when I got my car, I love them. The car came with BFG's when I bought it and it had such a terrible ride I had the seller switch them out. I also have always prefered the blackwall out, not a big fan of lettering.

VeroL81

I've a set of Cooper Cobra GT's (255 R60 15) on my '81 - there's 5,000 miles on 'em now and I'm VERY happy with them. I intentionally drove aggressively on wet roads trying to get them to cut loose - they really held up well! At speed they feel solid with little road noise. I feel confident my wife and 22-year-old daughter will be safe with those shoes on - I highly recommend 'em!

Alan K.

Roughrider

Out of six cars my wife and I own, five of them wear Coopers. The sixth still has the factory equipped BFG G-Force tires. One car (not a Vette) has the Cooper Cobra tires and so far I'm very happy with them. My '69 427/435 has Cooper touring tires on it and they're excellent.

Part of why I picked Cooper is I like the local dealer...locally owned, not a mass market chain dealer. The service is great and the prices are very good or even less than other major brands.

That being said, if I didn't like the Cooper product so well, I'd be buying tires elsewhere.

vetteguy75

I currently have the Firestone Indy 500's on my Vette...and the white lettering is beginning to show lots of black cracks....not on just one tire but on 3 of them . Anyway, on Monday I am planning to change to Goodyear GTII (with RWL). I've heard both good and bad about Firestones...don't know why it's doing that....

Good Luck!

vette442

All my daily drivers end up with Coopers on them and I've had Cooper Cobra RWLs on several of my cars over the past 15 years. I've been very happy with them. My musclecars usually end up with BFG Radial T/As for brand-name snob appeal, but the Coopers are functionally every bit as good in my opinion...

DL9179

I think im going with the Firestones , now what do you like BLACK or WHITE on the out side ? Thats almost as hard a decision as which tire to go with ! In the past iv allways gone blackwall but i might try something differant this time ! HUMMMMMMMMMMMM

panic

Cooper Cobras are just honest tires and last longer then the car driver ...But if you like spirited driving just forget about them.

C3 4ME

My 79 came with the Cooper Cobra Radial GT's on them when I bought it 2 years ago. I wouldn't have picked them had I been the buyer, but have no complaints other than my impression is that they are an off brand tire. As far as blackwall or white letter, I go white letter out on stock wheels and black letter out on aftermarket, so mine with the stock aluminum wheels are white letter out.

RagTop69

The RWL side out gives you a nice vintage look. They were real popular from the 60's through the 80's. The black side out gives you more of a modern look. Just depends on what your objective is. I have the RWL sides out on the Vette and the Mustang because it adds to the old school look. If either were heavily modified, I'd be going with bigger wheels and tires with black sidewalls. My DD Z28 will always have blackwalls.

nutsy

i put indy 500s on last year and love em. white out.