Some topics never die and this is one of them

I’ve seen threads from others who have recently made purchases or taken a car out of long term storage, or both. I’m new to C3s and have been getting my ’69 dialed in after a long hibernation and just wanted to throw my two cents in.

Mine came with a set of Dunlop GT Qualifiers vintage 2000. The spare still had the protective blue stuff over the letters and the little nubbins sticking up. Never on the road. No visible dry rot anywhere, car drove OK, tires looked great so I figured I’d give them this season. I felt that until the big orange and chrome thing in the front was doing its job then the black round things were less important.

Well, now I have it running nicely. The more I use it the more predictable and consistent it’s become. It has needed more tweaking as its ‘broken in’ again but now I have been driving it locally much more.

The 245/60R15 spare came out of the carrier but wouldn’t hold air. After I got it fixed I couldn’t jam that thing back in to save my life even with the hanger bolts adjusted all the way down. So, my big backup plan was a tire plug repair kit and a bicycle pump and a list of local towing companies. As silly as it sounds, a decent $15 floor bike pump can air up a car tire very nicely in an emergency. Doesn’t need electricity to operate, just an idiot to operate the handle.

Last week about three miles from home I hit what looked like a chunk of concrete in the road and developed a nasty wobble. When I got home and looked around I saw a chunk the size of a half dollar out of the right front tire.



I could have rotated the rear tires up front and used the spare in the back. Instead I decided to get a new set of tires and a proper spare.



There are several good choices that cost less but have always run BFG Radial TAs and that’s what I got. I was surprised that I couldn’t source them locally. I never ordered tires online before but after holding my breath I used Tirerack.com. Absolutely no problem. Excellent prices, tires showed up the next day, all current manufacture. A local tire shop had no problem mounting and balancing them – worked out to $180 per tire installed. By comparison, a local shop I always use was offering the same for $188 but could only come up with two tires. Another local Corvette specialist wanted $1100 and about a week to do it. Jeez.

For the spare, I used this calculator: https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc...0r15-215-70r15 to match the diameter to what I have. I got a noname 215/70R15 from the local tire shop that popped right into the carrier with no effort at all – no surprise as that’s the equivalent to the F70 the car probably came with. It was about $73 mounted & balanced.

So right there are the topics of several threads I’ve seen: what size tires, where do you get them, do you carry a spare and of so what size? Well, an online order worked out OK for me. As for the spare – the tire plug kit was $5 and might actually be useful sometime, but last week within walking distance of my house I would’ve been hating not having a spare tire with me. Personal preference.

As for the original tires – yet another thread topic. Had it not been for the sidewall damage I bet I could have run them as long as I wanted to. There are those who probably just sat bolt upright in their chairs after reading that; they’ll blow out, tear off a fender, increase global warming and allow ISIS to win immediately. Maybe so. I took a good look after they were removed and they appeared absolutely perfect. As a kid I used to crawl through junkyards looking for ‘good’ tires and have burnt or blown up more than my share and had seen (and used) far worse. Had those Dunlops been on my old beater truck for around town I would have just used them. Have in the past. But they weren’t.

If you own a C3 the tires are a stupid place to go cheap. I had intended to use the car locally this year and get it’s ‘out of storage’ teething problems straightened out. Had it not been for the sidewall damage I would have. That said, the new tires are like night and day – the car drives and handles so much better it’s amazing. The old tires got hard and their handling & wet weather traction were compromised; I think that would probably put them on par with repro bias ply F70s.

So, getting rid of the old tires improved the ride much more than I was expecting and now I have a good spare. As for using old tires – go ahead if you want to but ask yourself what the compelling reason is to do so. Again, on my old beater truck no problem, on this thing I’m glad I saw the light and made the change.

Took it for about a 100 mile ride on the new meat. If the car had tailpipes it would be wagging them.

 

 

When I bought my C3 it had tires that were about 17 years old. The one on the right rear blew out the 2nd time I drove it. I hit a small bump and the sidewall came apart. It looked like a rip across the side of the tire. There was no damage to the car because I was only going about 20 MPH. The tires looked new because the previous owner seldom drove the car. I did not check the date on the tires.

No global warning or any that other stuff, just my experience with old tires. .

 

When I purchased the '77 in 1993 it had Firestone 721's on it, vintage 1978. 20K miles, tires appeared perfect, clean & shiny, no sidewall distress of any kind. Drove on them for two months until a rear tire decided to shed a 6" section of tread at highway speed. Tire did not go flat but that section of liberated tread smashed into the fender shattering fiberglass. Don't be sorry, don't drive on old tires.

 

What a beautiful vette you have, last year I bought a new set of BFG T/A's to replace the set that had been on for 12 years. Even though they only had less than 4000 miles on them and still looked good, I felt I was pushing the envelope with them. Like you, I was amazed at how the ride was improved, and I can only attribute it to the fact that I had gotten used to the harsh ride I was getting from tires that had hardened with age.
I had paid $750.00 installed, and felt like I got away cheap, and the piece of mind was well worth it.
Love the look of your convertible Green vette with sidepipes, best of luck with it.
Regards
Roy

 

I had each tire off the car before use while inspecting the brakes. Washed them down and gave each a very careful look-see while wet. Absolutely zero rot or indication of wear or air loss. I doubt these things were used much if at all. Deciding to use them was a risk but one taken after some thought, examination and past experience

Ran old tires on my '98 Jeep and the '87 jeep pickup before that. Secondary vehicles that sat a lot and mostly used locally. I owned those vehicles a combined 26 years and probably 300K. Actually checked & rotated them regularly. Hauled all sorts of stuff around too. No tire issues.

As for these old cars - my point was - why take the risk ? If for no other reason the handling and ride were greatly improved. Since there is a risk involved leave the old tires to vehicles that matter less. If you're in the C3 market then the cost of a set of tires shouldn't be a problem.

 

Test drove a truck with 8 yr old tires, didnt make it 100 yards before one of the treads unwound from the tire

Im amazed at people that spend tons of $ on a car then risk their lives or a quarter panel cause they are too cheap to buy tires then cry about it
Doesnt matter what they look like on the outside

Looks good op bet it rides night and day different.

 

I don't neccessarily think it is because people are cheap, they just may not think about checking the date. For me, I intended on checking to see how old the tires were, but I simply forgot to follow through. That is why I bring it up whenever appropriate.

 

Maybe I missed it? You then got 245/60R15's? Looks good.