1980 Oiginal Tires?

[Gregory Smith]

Looking for info on the origigal Tire(Name,Model,Size,Type if it had Raised White Letters etc.)for 1980 L-82.Thank You

[Joe L.]

Re: 1980 Oiginal Tires?

Gregory------

For 1980, the standard tires for Corvettes, regardless of engine, were blackwall Goodyear Eagle GT Radial of size P225/70R-15. Optionally available were the same tire with raised white letters (RPO QGB) or Goodyear Eagle GT Radial of size P255/60R-15 (RPO QXH).

[Gregory Smith]

Re: 1980 Oiginal Tires?

Joe, Thank You for your quick responce and the info ... Do you know a vendor or dealer that might sell this type of tire. Thanks again

[Joe L.]

Re: 1980 Oiginal Tires?

Gregory------

The Eagle GT is a Goodyear-discontinued tire. Even when it was last available, I don't think that the sidewall configuration (lettering, etc.) was the same as that used for 1980. No reproduction that I am aware of for this tire is currently available in any size.

The Eagle GT-II is still available from Goodyear dealers and I believe that it's still available in both of the sizes used for 1980. I think that this is about as close as you're going to get in a current production tire. Otherwise, you'll have to look for an NOS set. There are probably some out there, but heaven knows what the owners will want for them.

I'd go with the Eagle GT-II and let it go at that.

[Patrick H.]

Re: 1980 Oiginal Tires?

Joe,

One of our Chapter members picked up what might have been the last NOS set of Eagle GTs about 3 years ago. He paid dearly for them, and had them mounted.

Once the tread peeled away from the tire on one of his first drives he decided that 20 year old tires, no matter how unused they may have been, were not a very good idea.

Patrick

[Joe L.]

Re: 1980 Oiginal Tires?

Patrick------

Personally, I would NEVER use old tires like this. You might get lucky sometimes, but it's not worth the chance. One BIG problem is that if you have one fail (like your chapter member experienced) and you can't find another single tire to match the other three, then what are you going to do with the other three? Plus, there is no warranty on sales like this. But, even if you could get the manufacturer to honor a warranty, there's no way that they could replace the tire with an exact duplicate.

This is true for ANY obsolete tire and regardless of whether a tire fails for "age" reasons or other "road hazard" reasons----one is stuck with 3 tires that really can't be used for lack of a 4th. If one keeps a set of such tires around for "show" purposes only, I suppose that's ok. But, if one wants to DRIVE on tires for any significant amount of miles, then one needs NEW tires, quality reproduction or current production models.

[Tom R.]

Re: 1980 Oiginal Tires?

Greg:

I picked up a set of Goodyear's a few years ago for my 78. They are now up to GT Eagle IVs and you can order blackwall, solid white letters or the white outline letters to match what was installed originally.