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I am the original owner of a '78 Silver Anniversary Corvette. It has about 1200 miles on it. Original tires are Goodyear GT Radials and are on the car. How safe would it be to drive short distances on these tires? There are no cracks and hold air just fine. I'd like to get new tires, but not sure which tires to get.
Unsafe at any speed. Frankly, not even safe parked.
Tires this old have been known to blow out violently just sitting there and cause damage to fibreglass cars.
Several different tires to choose from.
I would highly recommend you make up your mind and get these changed ASAP
As others have said, its a risk. Pic is of an old tire I had used as a roller inside my shop that blew out just sitting there.... can't imagine the damage that would have occurred had the car been driving.
The most commonly bought tires for the original 15” wheels on these cars are either Cooper Cobras or BF Goodrich Radial T/As in either 225/70r15 or 255/60r15. Both are available at most tire shops as well as Costco.
A ‘76 I bought last year had tires from the late 80’s on it. It was sketchy driving it the 15 minutes home, especially due to the flat spots. If you have the option to I would 100% change the tires as soon as possible.
Last edited by Piersonpie; Aug 5, 2025 at 08:28 PM.
I am the original owner of a '78 Silver Anniversary Corvette. It has about 1200 miles on it. Original tires are Goodyear GT Radials and are on the car. How safe would it be to drive short distances on these tires? There are no cracks and hold air just fine. I'd like to get new tires, but not sure which tires to get.
They're incredibly expensive, but the only tires I'd put on a 1200 mile 78 Silver Anniversary Edition would be the reissue Goodyear Radial GT's from Kelsey Tires.
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Originally Posted by ACfarmerNH
As others have said, its a risk. Pic is of an old tire I had used as a roller inside my shop that blew out just sitting there.... can't imagine the damage that would have occurred had the car been driving.
Bad example, this tire looks extremely dry rotted & clearly SHOT. None the less, you deserve what you get if you were driving on a tire in this condition. I'm not there, but I can see the cracks & it looks like it's as hard as a rock.
I'm not one to give opinion but I've had a few very low mile original tire cars... first I wouldn't drive more than around the block on originals but if they hold air and look good... for the price of replacements I would pick up another set of rims and put BFGs or something and keep the original rims and tires intact for shows.
once they are dismounted its gonna be hard to find a tire shop to re-mount them not to mention the possibility of damage when dismounting.
Vette-JK
I've been using these V-rated 15's from Performance Plus Tire for 7 or 8 years. I used 235s but you probably want 255s. I was looking because it's time for new ones even though they look dang near new:
Buy a spare set of wheels (you can get YJ8s, non Pace Car version, for $400- all day long on Facebook Marketplace), and get a new set of tires. Then drive around all you like!
Tires
