1978 replacement tires

[Bill Wilkins]

What tire gives me the least point deduction for my 78 Silver Anniversary car? The only Goodyear tire I found so far with solid white letters in a 225/70-15 is the Eagle GTII.

Tonight I was screaming down the highway and remembered that I don't have anti-lock brakes right after my car went sideways in the road while trying to avoing a guy without headlights on. Now there are four designer style flat spots on each of my tires.

Bill

[Joe L.]

Re: 1978 replacement tires

Bill----

In my opinion, the Goodyear Eagle GT II are just about the closest tire currently available with respect to the original Goodyear tires used for 1978. I don't know how well they "judge", but unless you find a set of NOS originals, I don't think you can come any closer. There may still be some of these original tires around, though.

Also, if the tires that you flat-spotted were originals or replacements that were the same as originals, you may still be able to use them for judging only. Of course, if they flat-spotted down into cord, that may not be possible but, otherwise, I think they'd be fine for judging. Just leave them on the original wheels for judging purposes. Obtain another set of reproduction alloy wheels and use the Eagle GT IIs for driving. Eventually, the original tires will wear out, anyway, if you drive the car.

[Tom R.]

Re: 1978 replacement tires

Hey Bill:

I've just gone through this exercise this past spring after putting less than 15,000 on Good Year GTs over a fifteen year period and which became no longer road worthy. I planned two major road trips this summer and so it was to time to replace if my intent was to do interstate travel.

If your original RPO was the QGR...then the correct replacement for the P225/70R15 are the solid letters. The next best you can do are the originals which obviously are long gone. AS JL indicates, they judge well and judges don't judge the flat spots unless they are obvious.

As point of information, the outline letters for P225/70R15 are not the most correct replacement because the the 70 series were solid letters. In 79, Good Year introduced the GT series that replaced the 70 series. However if you have QBS...white outline letters are correct.

To finish the story...I drove the 78 to both Hershey and Nashville as a Bowtie car, receiving the fifth star in Hershey. To preserve its Bowtie integrity but be road worthy, I went with the Good Year GTIIs with the solid letters and was quite pleased. They performed well on 220 between Rockingham and Cumberland Maryland performing Gymkhana type driving while on the return trip, cruised well on Interstate 95.