Hello again all,

The original tires that came on my '75 Coupe were Goodyear Steelguard radials. I even found one of the originals in the spare tire well! I would really like to get these for my car instead of BFG T/As or another RWL tire. They are not cheap but I've heard they will outperform just about every other tire I could put on the car. Honestly the aesthetic alone and my desire to get the car back as close to stock as possible is enough to push me over the edge, but depending on budget may have to go down market.

I welcome your thoughts and recommendations.

CV

 

I know that Coker makes sought-after tires that mimic the bias plys that came on older cars, they might make the older radials as well....

 

Thanks Kansas 123.

My major question is, how do those tires perform? Part of the reason I want them is because I know cars suspensions are designed to perform a certain way with a certain tire.

Will they be worth the extra $$ in performance? And by performance, I mean all around. Braking, cornering, ride quality, comfort, noise, etc. I'm not going to be racing this thing, just want it to perform at it's peak.

 

I think the Kelsey Goodyear Steelgards are great looking tires, probably perform very good and are the perfect factory original match for your car. I feel they are meant for the car owner who Needs it to look 100% original. $400. per tire is a lot to pay and if you are going to do a lot of driving and want good performance just buy the BFGs or another good tire at 1/4 the money.

 

Outperform? I doubt that. The cost is usually justified for a period correct look, not for superior performance.

 

I doubt there would be any performance advantage to justify the cost of those tires. You pay that price for the original look.

 

x2 todays tech is much better than it was back then. Steelguard was just a basic tire back then.

 

For performance, you want bigger wheels first. For performance 15 inch "tyres", you might want to look at the Avon CR6ZZ

 

Watch out.....soon to come are the postings that tell you need 17 or 18 inch wheels and modern tires, and all else is junk. Disregard those comments if you are planning to drive responsibly on the streets and especially if you are concerned about appearance versus winning a race on a track. Those old tire brands and sidewall letters are pure classic, and I love the look; however, I have no information about the Coker reproduction tires. I do know that Goodrich Radial TA's are more than adequate to drive a car safely on the streets. I also think it is very important that you define your needs in terms of performance. How are you driving the car? The constant push for large wheels and modern tires is all about guys who want to be junior race boys on the streets, and you have to figure out where you fit in that. I drive my 77 with Goodrich Radial TA's on the curves of Pennsylvania roads and I have not yet approached any limitation of the tires with the driving I do....so, they are good enough for me. Anything more is just fluff, and how the wheels and tires look to me is as important as the appearance of the rest of the car. There are few 17 inch wheels I like, and almost none of the 18 inch wheels with their rubber band tires. But, that's me.

 

What's a "junior race boy"????

I find every aspect of driving my Impala with the 17"/18" wheel combination has GREATLY improved compared to the 15" BFG combo I had before. I DON"T race the car, I just cruise around in it. It's definitely quieter and smoother on the highway, has less cowl shake over bumps and a more positive steering feel. The car will handle an emergency avoidance maneuver better if I call on it to do so.

By today's standards, BFG tires are a basic all season tire that still sells for a bit of a premium price due to the name and look. New cars are all coming from the factories with bigger wheels, so there are MANY choices in those tire sizes that BOTH cost less and are better tires. It's not great for the people that want to keep running 15" wheels on their classic cars, but it is a FACT. Replacing the BFG rubber would have cost me over $200 more compared to the NITTO tires I bought, so I put that towards new wheels instead and came out with a whole new wheel package for about $300 extra. No-one has told me they liked the old wheels better yet.

The post c3fng made did mention performance. He did post "They are not cheap but I've heard they will outperform just about every other tire I could put on the car." This comment leaves it open to anyone pointing out that there are MANY, MANY tires in the 17+ wheel sizes that will EASILY outperform that tire. However, I suspect he meant tires to fit the 15" wheels. Still, the fact is that those repro look tires aren't performance tires and BFG tires may be better, but they aren't performance tires either.

So, the repro tires are for the look, the BFG will be cheaper and work just as well as factory tires on the car. However, don't kid yourself believing either are actual high performance tires.

 

Ok, so let me be clear. The factory wheels are 15" and I won't be changing them. stock stock stock. And when I say performance, I mean how does the tire perform. Not, can mod the suspension and try to pull a full G in a corner. I mean, will the car perform as closely as possible to the way the engineers designed it. Ride, cornering, noise, stopping power, wet performance (which I hope to avoid), preserving the factory suspension, etc.

Of course I know tires have come incredibly far in the last 40 years.

I'm attaching a link to an article I found that addresses my concerns, albeit on a Trans Am. As the article states, while the Goodyear's are a repro tire, they still need to meet modern DOT requirements so the rubber compound, and many other parts of the tire had to be upgraded to modern standards and it looks like they were able to achieve better ride characteristics, there was no noticeable downgrade over the TAs. And I also agree with your point about the T/As, it seems like you're paying a premium for the look for a tire that 1) isn't period correct and 2) isn't nearly as advanced as many other modern tires.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/inst...reincarnation/

Thanks Lionel.

 

The 15" Avon CR6ZZs will outperform anything else you can put on the car on your stock steel rims. If you are willing to pay for appearance over performance, repro wheels are available. I can't imagine they will be better than the BFG Radial T/As, or even the Cooper Cobras. There are limitations in sidewall strength due to the construction method required to support raised white letter tires. This effectively imposes a max speed rating more appropriate to a Camry than America's sports car.

If you don't drive fast, no problem! The RWL tire choices are fine for street-driven cars. But don't expect the Goodyear replicas to be better than the other common choices, just more expensive.

 

I think the Steelguard reproductions would meet your goals if you're OK with the price. To me, they'd be much better then seeing yet another set of BFG's on an old classic.

I recall the BFG's being heavily marketed through the 90's as the tires your classic car must have. I remember the big full page magazine ads running for them all the time back then. Because of that, I just don't consider them as an original look tire at all.

 

The 15 inch tires available are ALL just fine for driving on the streets responsibly. Ignore anyone who tells you otherwise. Its a fact.

 

BFG had the letter browning problem back then too.

 

Shrug. It's also a fact that better high performance tires will brake better during panic stops and grip better during emergency maneuvers. You can go on about how that doesn't matter, and it doesn't unless something happens where you need a little more tire.

I had a dumbass cut me off shortly after I switched to the better tires, and I'm damn glad I had them on my car. I barely avoided that accident by pushing those better tires to their limits. It was the first time I've been cut-off and had to do something like that in 10 years of driving that car. I looked away from the other car to where I wanted to go as I braked and swerved but I was still sure there was going to be a crunch by how close the other car was in my peripheral vision.

I tested the BFG grip during braking when I did some brake upgrades, so I had a pretty good idea of their ability. At the level I hit the brakes, the car would have been in a brake induced slide before I even started swerving if the BFG tires has still been on it.

 

When they came out in the 70's they were THE performance radial. Everyone ditched their Goodyears for them. They were reasonably priced and clearly improved stability and handling of just about whatever you put them on. Thats why the ad's you speak of touted them so!

 

If your car can fit them, the Goodyear Eagle GT's 255x60x15 are a great tire for a stock type look and perform well. They didn't come on a 75, but they did come on the 78-82 as an optional tire. Also, the are a bit spendy today since only one tire manufacture sells them, but they are still made by Goodyear in the original Goodyear molds.

 

This poster/banner sold a lot BFG Radials back in the day. Everyone back then wanted the banner for their garage, heck I'd still like to have one!
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My personal favorite back then however was the Goodyear GT Radial. It's major selling point was it was made with Aramid fiber belts as opposed to the normal poly or steel belts. I thought it was an excellent tire and I could get 40k miles out of them routinely. Kelsey now sells them for $435, still cheaper than Michelin PSS tires for the new Z06... just sayin'.


GUSTO

 

I'm too young to remember BFG tire ads from the 70's or the early to mid 80's either for that matter. I mostly recall seeing big full page ads during late 80's through the 90's in the car magazines I was buying back then. So, in my mind they really aren't period correct when used on a 60's or 70's car. Even if they are period correct, I also think they are over-done.