Ok, so bought 69 vette, love it but tires were dated 1992.Refuse to ride on that1 Very excited that finally found the extremely wide (has flares) back tires and found front tires that are similar tread but not perfect match. They are summer tires. Grrr Not really what we wanted but I refuse to ride with 24 year old tires. New tires arriving Thursday . YAY A friend told us that they believe you can order whatever size you need from Kroger, Koger, or Coker? Anyone have info on this? Would love to have REDLINES . Need 345/35 ZR15 on back and 235/60R 15 on front. Bought Pirelli's that we really didn't want just to get her back on the road , but suggestions for better choice are welcome. The Pirellli's arriving Thursday, but they are summer tires , we are in OK and would rather have better long term solution . Suggestions? Can you really order whatever size you need and if so ...Where ?

 

You are right, Coker is one source for redline tires. I purchased a set of four from Diamondback. At that time they had more of a variety of sizes. Plus, when they re-work the tire they seem to have a cleaner tire.
Good Luck,
Kelly

 

Why do you not want summer tyres? Provided you're not driving in freezing temps they'll give you much better performance.

 

Mainly because it is my understanding that if you live in areas where temps get below 45 (which we do) that we should winter store on floor jacks or on rack. The tire dealer said we should do that or they might get flat spot ? Other than that, we don't care I guess. No intention of driving it on bad roads or in bad weather. Then there is the fact that the REDLINES are cool but now that new ones are purchased we are fine with that other than the "special needs" aspect. Not really wanting to accommodate that . Really asking for opinions of someone other than the guys selling the tires. Excited that the very hard to find sizes in summer tires are to arrive Thursday, be installed Friday and we will be back on the road.

 

Where we live it gets that cold and colder than that. we have 3 cars that aren't driven in the winter 2 Jags and '69 corvette. the tires will flat spot but after a couple of miles they smooth out just pump them up to max pressure as shown on the tire sidewall when you store it.

 

I know that it is possible to cut away the sidewalls to make whitewall tires(there's a shop in Houston who does it for traditional kustom guys), but I don't know if they can make redlines this way. Diamondback does not offer them in the ultra-low aspect rating 35 series; probably because, and this is just my opinion, they would look funny. When I think redlines, I think tall sidewall, fairly narrow, bias ply tires, like they made in the sixties. Tires you would use on a stock restoration, not flared-fender high performance road racer style look, which is what your car is. I like them, but just not right, aesthetically, for your car(just an opinion). Mixing of two different styles. Also, I love rallys, I have them on my car and plan to keep them, but I feel the ultra low profile tires look better on a three piece modular(think BBS) or other aftermarket aluminum wheel. Here's an example:

This style wheel on your car would be the cats ***. As much as I love 15s, and really want to keep mine, a 17" or 18" diameter wheel is MUCH easier to find tires for nowadays. Eventually I will be forced to switch.

P.S. I hope you don't take this wrong, just my opinion, and I kinda get the feeling you have been asking for different opinions/viewpoints. That is a beautiful 'Vette you have, and the right wheel/tire combo will make or break the look of an otherwise killer car.

 

Richard, you are correct I am asking for opinions /viewpoints from those with more experience studying these cars. I appreciate you taking to time to make suggestions. I can see your point about the look of the REDLINES with the flares. I did confirm that it is not going to happen in this size anyway . The Pireillis will be here tomorrow, installed on Friday so happy to be back on the road. You are correct next is probably different wheels someday. While we love the look we have now, it is also not the most practical . Dan took it to a local tire shop we do business with and they were going to put it up so he could check the drip that he thinks is the tranny and they were afraid to try it because their rack has a incline. I called to make an appt with the corvette mechanic that has worked on it previously and he said that he only has one rack for it because it is too low for the others. We have to be very careful about the incline on driveways especially. For now we will deal with it but while we were both convinced that we really liked the look and thought it would not look right with larger wheels. I take that back,... love the wheels on the black one in the photos, actually that size wheels with the flares and the side pipes look great! And it looks like it could probably handle a slight incline on a driveway approach. I can't tell for sure but it does not look like yours has side pipes? So far the low profile & the side pipes on ours (love the look) but they seem to be a PIA to me..not so user friendly. I though maybe we could get pipes that were not so big in diameter but haven't found much on that either. Also the pipes are ugly IMO lol...I checked on "getting chrome ones and learned that to replace the hooker headers & pipes with chrome ones is only $2200.00 I am pretty sure I love the ones I have. And it does sound great. Long term we may put a rack in our shop so he can get under it . He really would like to work on it his self but unless he is going to do that between almost dark and 5 am...no time for that at the moment. Thankfully we are so very busy with work, and that is a good thing He had several that he "took apart & put back together" (not corvette but big block Chevy) when he was in high school and early 20's, late 1970's...so he is excited about "playing around with it " someday but for now we will take it to "the guy" Thanks for taking the time to share!

 

Great! We do not plan to park it for months, we have cold weather but not months at a time. So that should work out fine for us. Thanks!

 

Ya'll are going to have so much fun with that car. She's a beautiful machine, much more so than a new $70,000 Z Whatever. Class only comes with time, the '68-'72 'Vette is the best looking car ever produced in my opinion. The well done flairs, nice paint, I'd never kick her outta my garage!

 

That black car isn't mine, it belongs to another forum member, Neil B. Mine is in my avatar picture, it is in the process of getting painted red.

If you do decide to replace the side pipes, I have been looking at a company called "Billy Boat". I don't know how they came up with the name, but I spoke to him on the phone. His are polished stainless, not chrome plated steel, which can rust. They are also double walled, to prevent burns when you get in and out. They are two grand just like everyone else, but custom made to order here in the U.S.A. Maybe Santa will bring me some.