I need to put new tires on my 81' For the time being Im am going to stay with the stock wheels and the 255-60-15. I tried out a set of Goodyear Eagle II from a friends 78' and I was preety impressed. I had been thinking of BFGoodrich TAs. Which is the best? or is there some other one I should be checking out. I would like something around $90.00 ea. mounted and balanced. I got a price of $85.00 ea. m&b from Costco for the TAs. ( Cheap! we don't have a sales tax up here in Montana. )

 

I put new tires on my '79 this year. I went with the BF Goodrich radial T/A's (245/60/15) and have been happy with the ride. My other tires were crappy so anything was an improvement! The ride is good when the air pressure is set at 28 psi.

 

I've got Yokohama Avid S/Ts on both vettes. Great ride and price.

Check out the reivews on tirerack.

Mike

 

Here's what I bought. I like them so far. 255 60 15.

 

I am happy with the BFG 255-60-15 on my 81.

 

I have been tickled with the Firestone Indy 500 Firehawks I purchased about 6 months ago...255 60 R15. They ride smoother that Goodyear Eagle II (had those on before)....and I like the way they look.....see for yourself

 

I am not going to say any one tire is the best. I have BFGoodrich Radial T/A 255/60/15 and really enjoy them. There are lots of good tires out there. I wish Goodyear still made the OWL Eagle GT's.

One thing I have read over and over here at the CorvetteForum, is how bad the Dunlop tire in 255/60/15 is. Apparently they are absolutely horrid in any kind of moist or wet weather. You can always say "I never drive in rain" but you never know when you will get stormed on during a cruise.

 

I've had BF Goodrich T/As and Goodyear GT IIs. Liked them both.

 

People that talk down the Dunlops today dont really know what the story is.

There is an old version and a new version.

Old
Dunlop Radial GT Qualifiers text on sidewall, mfg by Dunlop before they were bought by Goodyear.

New
Dunlop GT Qualifiers text on sidewall, mfg by Goodyear/Dunlop with redesigned tread compounds and sidewall contruction.

I have these and have driven in HARSH rains while going to corvette show 50 miles away at our Treasure Island casino at the end of July. I had to use my wipers in fast mode and that wasnt really fast enough to keep the vision clear. Needless to say, the Dunlops performed excellent in this major wet condition.

Also 255/60/R15s, so stay clear of the old ones as they are probably dry rotting by now anyway.

The tread of the Dunlops look much nicer also than BFG TAs or Indy500s or GTIIs, which all look more like 1976 Ford LTD sedan tires IMHO.

Brent...

 

An '81 owner here has replaced his BFG T/As with a set of Pirelli Scorpion Zeros. They don't look anywhere near as good as the BFG's but, although the sidewalls are much stiffer, he described the ride as if somebody had wrapped velvet around his old tires. They also allow him to take corners much faster before they start losing their grip.
He was full of praise for them & I'll certainly consider fitting a set on mine when I wear out my (new!) BFG's. The way I figure it is that if I'm spending lots of cash on handling improvements (springs, shocks, sway bars, etc) then I'd be stupid if I scrimped on the most important things ie the bits that keep you stuck to the road. My 255/60-15 BFG's are pretty good but their limitations were exposed when I was following an Elise around some fast twisty bits. The Vette cornered flat, steered well, coped with the rough surface well, but those darn tires were on the limit of their grip and were loudly complaining. Sure, I took the Elise on the straights but the point of a sports car is to be good on the bends, so it's more grippy tires for me in the future

 

Yeah - I put Firehawks on my '79 and they were quiet, handled well in wet and dry and cornering was 'Vette worthy.

 

I will be pulling off my original 24 year old Polysteel Radials and getting a set of Firestone Indy 500's soon. At $61 they look realy good and they get lots of great ratings from customers at the Tire Rack. What else would I want. (except maybe reasonably priced set of NOS Polysteel Radials, yea-right )

Edit: I would like to add that when I asked the most experienced tire guys in town the question: "Who makes the best tires? The answer was "Michelin". They said they do not have defect problems with them, they seldom need to add much lead to them to get them to balance and they last a long time. They also said they were not worth the extra $$$ in their opinion so take that for what it is worth.

Now if they would just make them with the solid white letters in my size, maybe I would think about it.

-Mark.

 

I've got a friend in the know. Among other things, he's a manufacturer of specialized parts for NHRA top-fuel teams and close friend of John Lingenfelter (r.i.p.) and John Force.

He says to trust Michelin, Bridgestone, and BF Goodrich.
He says to avoid Pirrelli and Continental like the Plague...
You don't want to know what he says about some of the discount import brands.

That said, I've heard great things about the Michelin Pilot Sports. I'll be running Potenzas since they make them in the size I need (255/50-17)

 

I've had Continental fitted to my daily driver in place of some worn out cheap imports & can honestly say that I didn't notice any difference between them & the cheapo (worn) imports.
Michelin have always been up to the job, the best "S" rated tire I ever had was a Michelin.
Bridgestone have a good name these days, but I can remember when the only people using them weren't afraid of death!
Don't trust Pirelli? Does he say why not? My only personal experiences with Pirelli were in the early 80's (didn't use them often as they were so darn expensive). Around that time they were one of the best tires that you could fit to a m/cycle (Pirelli Phantoms). Stuck to the road like glue, even from cold, whether the roads were wet or dry. But they wore out real quick. I once had them on a car I bought & after I replaced them with a quality alternative (cheaper, but not import cheap!) that car became a liability on bends in the wet. I would have thought a manufacturer who could produce tyres that were superior to most of the competition for bikes would have also made good ones for cars? My sisters friend recently owned a place in London that specialised in tuning the hell out of Porsches. He got a lot of his specialist parts from the US & developed his own engine management chips. He must have been good as the rich & famous were his customers & he would do a "basic" upgrade that gave 600hp at the wheels (Dyno proven). More expensive upgrades unleashed a lot more Not bad for a tuned VW Beetle (you wouldn't believe how embarassing it was when he asked what the net power o/p of my L81 was ). One of the brands of tires he specified was Pirelli. With that much power produced I wouldn't have thought he'd spec cruddy tyres (esp knowing how 911's handle in the wet!).
My Dad bought one of the 1st Saab 900 Turbos in this country & later had a factory approved water injection system added, with close factory involvement. The factory specified Pirelli tires.
The L81 owner on this forum is very interested in handling improvements & has done the sort of things to his Vette that are regularly recommended here. He admitted to being very dubious about the Pirellis at first (didn't look right on the Vette compared to the BFG's, ugly tread, 2 extra plys) but doing some test drives around his "test track bend" let him take the bend significantly faster than he had done before. He's never mentioned any problems with them since (like "Holy cow, I took them out in the rain & slid off the road"!), so I guess he's still happy with them.
I don't own shares in Pirelli or have any loyalty to them, but I've never heard anything bad said about Pirellis apart from the cost of them & the life expectancy being shorter than that of a Hamster in a blender! I haven't had any conversations about tires for quite a long time, so maybe I've missed something?! Has Pirelli tire technology got stuck in the 80's/90's, or was your mate refering to them from a Drag racing perspective? I'm genuinely confused here as Pirelli tires used to be fitted by people who were interested in getting around corners as fast as possible. Have they gone "downhill" over the last few years??
I can guess He wouldn't be alone.

 

I liked the Yokohamas very much. They were quiet and handled great. I have a set on my daily driver now. Personally, on my Corvette, I think I will stick to American brand tires just to keep the look more original. I don't have anything against the others, however, and even have a German car with French tires.

 

Here's a few quotes from my friend:

And because I'm there...here is a good quote from a ride/handling Engineer from a Major domestic brand (yes, I know his name and where he works, but I'm protecting him by keeping this anonymous)

 

Gonna hijack this thread. Need new tires. Want 27-27.5". Stock for my '76 was 225-70-15. I have read on this forum that 255-60 cause the rear end to become squirrely as compared to 225-70. Something about the narrower tires being better on grooved, less than perfect roads.

Need to know what size I should run before looking at brands. HELP.

BTW, stock rebuilt rear suspension.

 

I just put 17s on my Vette and went with Fusion 255/50/17 W rated tires. I pd about $97 each for them and of all the tires I have had in my life these are the best I've had. I think Fusion is made by Bridgestone.

Don't know if you'd be interested but here is a link to all the sizes they carry. Click on produce facts to see sizes.
Fusion Zone Tires

 

I have the BF Goodrich TA's 255-60-15 on my 82. Like em a lot.

 

I just put on about a month ago -

Yokahama AVS-db S2 - 255/45/17s and really really like them!!! Not too noisey and the ride is not to harsh. With wheels the price was $1595 from Discount tire - shipped!!!

Mark