69ttop502

May have already seen by many of you but I thought I would throw it out there for the rest of you, who like me, have been searching for a good handling tire since I really want to keep 15's on the car but am tired of the poor choices we have. I have been reading on the Cobra site and the Avon tire on the link has been getting terrific feedback for handling, racing and decent street longevity. They are super expensive but with 15's today, I guess you gotta pay to play. The sizes are good for us Corvette guys too. I am thinking this tire with a nice stencil, would look as good as those Goodyear "billboards". I may give it a try. D.O.T. legal and a V speed rating.

http://www.rogerkrausracing.com/Cobra/

DZRick

panic

You have also the Michelin TB5R and TB5F, professional rubber for client racers in the 60's and 70's and now back to production for a restraint number of customers, expensive but maybe the best rubber for vintage racers



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then you have also the Hoosiers dot tires, good rubber, lasts relatively long, holds well around bends and is pretty accessible to all pockets...

gkull

I really don't believe that there is a logical reason to use 15 inch tires.

The handling gains of going with 17 inch fronts and 18 rears make a C-3 fun to drive. When you get into the quality tires with AA A Z-rated. They have traction above what a few heat cycles will do to DOT race tires

flood

Money. I'd like better handling tires, but that will require the purchase of rims too. For the rims that I would buy, it gets expensive. Thats pretty logical.

GrandSportC3

It all depends on what you want to do with the car.. For handling, there's no doubt that bigger wheels will improve handling. However, for Drag Racing, more sidewall = better traction. Another factor is cost.. You can pick up tires for 15" wheels for 1/2 the cost of tires for 17" wheels..

gkull

Rims are not getting cheaper, and look at the bright side. Everybody needs to get out there and spend those free rebate checks to boost our economy

I just bought two front 17X10 wheels and two 295/35/17 tires for the front just to do my part

The Money Pit

In my neck of the woods,the roads are horrible. I have a hard time swallowing a set of tires every year or two as it is,and I buy the $90. Kelly Chargers(15 inch rims). Of course if I had deeper pockets,$250 a tire would open up plenty of other options.

blckslvr79

Personal preferance?
Want to keep the appearance relatively stock?
Cost?
You just love the look of Corvette Aluminum Mags?
60's/70's vettes just look better with some meaty "muscle car" sidewalls?
16"/17"/18"/20"/24" = "BLING"
There are some nice looking C3's on this site that are set up nicely with 16 or larger rims, but a lot of the cars just don't look right.

IMO, unless your competing regularly, I really don't believe that there is a logical reason to use anything but 15 inch tires.

Since bigger is obviously better to some, should we pull the new wheels off the current C6's and install some 24's?

I guess it's personal preferance.

69ttop502

The purpose of the post was really not to get into another debate on the merits of bigger wheels. It was just to say, hey there is another option out there of a speed rated, D.O.T. approved tire. I just really prefer the look of the 15 inch wheels and tires on these cars.

Bill

Vette80regon

Thanks Bill,

Great thread!

84rzv500r

I'm with ya here. I wonder if they are available wider, like in the 325 335 range.

These are in the correct overall diameter too (unlike the TB15's).

blunblk68

I like the firehawk indy 500`s but i dont race my 68 on or off road so?
reasonable price ,handles well enough,looks good with the RWL.etc...

gkull

years ago when I had 15 X 8.5 wheels with 4.5 B.S. I tried 275/60/15 BFG T/A's on the rear. Really tall tire, but they had pretty good straight line traction. I used BFG comp T/A's or Euro T/A's that were 265/55/15 and 255/50/15 on the front. I don't even know if they are made anymore.

I'd do a search on the www.tirerack.com by size and see what they come up with. You can also choose a vendor and then look at specs to compare all sizes in a product line.

69ttop502

It is very interesting that amongst the Cobra owners, far more of them are running these race type compound tires than we Vette people are. They really complain about our old standby TA's and such. Many of them re running the bias ply Goodyears and actually really like them, even in wet traction depending on the specific tire. The downside seems to be that they pick up alot of rocks, the treadlife is shorter and the bias ply tires flat spot even overnight, although in a mile or so are back to normal. These tires really look great though. The Vintage racing pics thread really got me going here, along with the horrible feel of my tires.

Panic, I am interested to hear what you have to say on these issues as I gather you have been running these tires for awhile. I checked out the Michelin's you posted about but it seemed like they don't have anything wide enough or tall enough.

Bill

panic

Yes, Bill, they pick small stones, they get flatspots after a week (not overnight...), they could become your shortcut to the graveyard on a wet tarmac BUT they still stick to the tarmac when warmed up, they spit back small stones if you have a run out, their flatspots disappear after a few miles, they look good too and weight half of a street radial...I love Hoosiers, I've been street racing and hillclimbing with them and they're great! Of course IF you dont use your vette as a 'compulsory daily driver' otherwise that rainy day you better get the bus...

The Michelin TB5 F(ront) and R(ear) are just out, they cost a real fortune (about 500 usd each) and they'd need some extra care on suspension set up, they're wide allright but they're not tall enough on a 15' rim...i dont have personal experience with them.

JACKAL0PE

For the same reason someone drives a 60/70 Corvette in the first place. What's the "logical" reason to drive a C2 or C3 at all? After all, most C5's are faster and handle better, certainly all C6's and C7's. Using your "logic", there's no reason to ever buy any Corvette older than you can possibly buy.

MelWff

and why post to a 2008 thread?

JACKAL0PE

Ah well...why not. Obviously people still read it...as you did. I was looking for the same information as the O/P and ran across it. Do you perhaps have any information that might actually be of benefit?

LT1M21Vette

Noobs do that all the time.