[C4] Gatorbacks, Part II
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 7,839
Likes: 22
From: San Diego, Ca
At the Goodyear site:
http://www.goodyeartires.com/goodyea...ea=Performance
Didn't check for your year, but aren't these OEM?
http://www.goodyeartires.com/goodyea...ea=Performance
Didn't check for your year, but aren't these OEM?
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8,175
Likes: 237
From: Philadelphia Burbs
Cruise-In V Veteran
St. Jude Donor '06
Originally Posted by SunCr
At the Goodyear site:
http://www.goodyeartires.com/goodyea...ea=Performance
Didn't check for your year, but aren't these OEM?
http://www.goodyeartires.com/goodyea...ea=Performance
Didn't check for your year, but aren't these OEM?
Racer
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 345
Likes: 0
From: SELDEN NY
Originally Posted by j3studio
I found some gatorbacks in decent shape (good tread depth, no visible dry rot) at Contemporary Corvette in Bristol, PA. Does anybody have any suggestions for some kind of compound that would help them a) last as long as possible and b) look as good as possible? Does such a thing even exist?
Best Regards
SteveZ
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 16,795
Likes: 62
From: Lake Havasu City, AZ
Why do you want them? For shows? If that is the case any of the popular tire dressings Griots, Eagle 1 , Meguiars etc
The problem with tires is not just ozone cracking and dry rot but also hardening. Five years is now the accepted shelf life of a tire. After that the rubber hardens drastically reducing traction and become more prone to catastrophic failure . I'd be very leery of driving on them regularly especially at highway speeds where the heat buids up.
I had a set of orginals on my '88 that i changed out. They looked great, not sidewall cracks, lots of tread left, but they were so hard that if I stepped on it they immediately broke loose. No smoke, no scream just a zzzzzzzzzzzzz....
The problem with tires is not just ozone cracking and dry rot but also hardening. Five years is now the accepted shelf life of a tire. After that the rubber hardens drastically reducing traction and become more prone to catastrophic failure . I'd be very leery of driving on them regularly especially at highway speeds where the heat buids up.
I had a set of orginals on my '88 that i changed out. They looked great, not sidewall cracks, lots of tread left, but they were so hard that if I stepped on it they immediately broke loose. No smoke, no scream just a zzzzzzzzzzzzz....
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8,175
Likes: 237
From: Philadelphia Burbs
Cruise-In V Veteran
St. Jude Donor '06
Relax everybody 
- this is an old post (August 2004) and I'm just using them for NCRS judging, where they took far less in condition deductions than I was taking in originality deductions for the service replacement Goodyear Eagle HP Ultra Plus tires, which are the best you can do (as far as NCRS judging) in new tires right now.
I took the Gatorbacks to the local Goodyear shop, who made sure they were balanced and that (in one case) a patch was replaced. With the application of some of (a lot!) Griot's Garage Vinyl & Rubber dressing, they looked pretty darn good.
I will state that driving on the Gatorbacks is an adventure - it feels kind of like skating because they are so hard. I drive about 5 to 10 miles under the speed limit and take turns really slowly.
The long-term hope is that somebody will start making reproduction Gatorbacks at which point I would immediately switch to them (I prefer not to swap out tires everytime I have the Corvette judged).
This is just one more component of the adventure that attempting an NCRS restoration of a C4 while actually driving the car (I put a little over 2,100 miles on 'Lauren' last year) gets you into...
- this is an old post (August 2004) and I'm just using them for NCRS judging, where they took far less in condition deductions than I was taking in originality deductions for the service replacement Goodyear Eagle HP Ultra Plus tires, which are the best you can do (as far as NCRS judging) in new tires right now.I took the Gatorbacks to the local Goodyear shop, who made sure they were balanced and that (in one case) a patch was replaced. With the application of some of (a lot!) Griot's Garage Vinyl & Rubber dressing, they looked pretty darn good.
I will state that driving on the Gatorbacks is an adventure - it feels kind of like skating because they are so hard. I drive about 5 to 10 miles under the speed limit and take turns really slowly.
The long-term hope is that somebody will start making reproduction Gatorbacks at which point I would immediately switch to them (I prefer not to swap out tires everytime I have the Corvette judged).
This is just one more component of the adventure that attempting an NCRS restoration of a C4 while actually driving the car (I put a little over 2,100 miles on 'Lauren' last year) gets you into...
