1969 Corvette Tires

[Vincent McGrath]

Hello from Tasmania, Australia

I am restoring a 1969 Corvette and want to put good looking tyres on the car that fill out the wheel wells. Therefore I would appreciate suggestions on tire size and appropriate brands with white letter descriptors on walls eg Firestone, Goodyear. I have seen Goodyear Eagle STs on 1969 Corvettes in photographs from books but do not know if they are still available and, if so, where I might search for them in the USA.

Many thanks in advance

Vincent

[Joe L.]

Re: 1969 Corvette Tires

Vincent-----

This is an often discussed subject here on the board----you will find much in the archives.

As far as size goes, there are really only 4 sizes that are more-or-less "appropriate" for a 1969. The size which most closely approximates OVERALL the size of the original F-70-15 tires is 215-70-R15. The 225-70-R15 is also very close and, with respect to section width, closer to the original tires. Many folks prefer the 225-70-R15 for C3 applications and, if your intent is to "fill out the wheel wells" this is probably the best tire for you. Also, the 215-70-15 is difficult to find in a tire model and speed rating that you might be looking for.

The other potential sizes are 245-60-15 and 255-60-15. The 245-60-15 will fit a 1969 perfectly. I love this size on a 1969----I've used them for years. Perfect fit, no interference, at all, and fills out the wheel well just the way I like it. However, this size is VERY difficult to find anymore and even more difficult to find in any tire that even resembles a performance tire. For all practical purposes, you can forget about this one. In the future, I'll have to, also.

The 255-60-15 can be found much more easily than the 245-60-15. However, this size may interfere with the wheel wells on a 1969. It's "touch-and-go". I don't recommend using this size unless you're prepared to slightly modify the wheel wells. I'm not, so I would not even consider trying a 255-60-15 on my car. Even if it does not interfere on INITIAL installation, one might find that it interferes under some road/suspension conditions encountered later. I say forget it---not worth the trouble.

So, when you get right down to it, considering ALL the factors I described above, the 225-70-15 is probably your best bet.

The Eagle ST is no longer available from Goodyear. It's been discontinued for quite some time. It's "sort of" replacement is the Eagle #1 Nascar and the Eagle GT II. The only size that the Eagle #1 Nascar tire comes in that is appropriate for a 1969 is the 255-60-15. I've described above why I would not use that tire size.

The Eagle GT II is available in the 225-70-15 tire size and is available in raised white letter sidewall configuration. So, if you want a Goodyear tire (which is always my first choice for a Corvette), you want a tire which "fills out the wheel wells", and you want a raised white letter sidewall configuration, this is your tire. It's actually a better tire than the old Eagle ST and it's fairly economical, too.

However, there is 1 potential problem with this tire and this problem was exactly the same for the old Eagle ST-----all Eagle ST and most sizes of the Eagle GT II, including the 225-70-15, are only "S" rated tires. Basically, this is a passenger car tire and it's only speed rated to 112 mph maximum speed. However, if you're going to drive your car in a normal fashion and not "push it", an "S" rating is fine. As I say, I've used "S" rated Eagle ST's on my car for years and I've been quite happy with them. Never had a single problem and never suffered any "performance restrictions" or deficiencies within my driving profile. As far as I'm concerned, a higher performance-rated tire would have done absolutely nothing for me.

If you want a more speed-capable tire and you can live without the RWL sidewall, then I'd recommend the Eagle RS-A. This tire is available in 225-70-15 and is "V" rated (130 mph maximum). It is a much higher performance tire than the GT-II.

Keep one thing in mind, though: what you need in a tire as far as performance capabilities go depends upon how you drive the car. You will pay more for higher performance rated tires. If you don't use the tires performance capabilities, at all, then you are wearing out expensive rubber to no real advantage----you could just as well be wearing out much less expensive rubber and meet all of YOUR requirements. When it's "all-said-and-done" and the tires are worn out, you'll be at the same place. Plus, it's even worse because most higher performance-rated tires have much lower tread life than lesser performance-rated tires. So, you're wearing out more expensive tires quicker than you would lesser expensive tires in most cases.

[Mark #28455]

also fits but not "correct"

I am using the 235 60 15 size on my 1969 cars with F41 suspension, fits fine but the more recent tires seem a little smaller than the ones I originally bought 20 years ago. The later C3's used a 255 tire, but when we tried those on my F41 cars, they rubbed.
Mark

[Duke W.]

Re: 1969 Corvette Tires

The best are the three available V-rated "police pursuit tires" in size 225/70R-15 102V.

Goodyear Eagle RS-A
Firestone Firehawk PV41
General XP-2000V

Even if you do not drive at high speed "H" or above rated tires carry a spiral wound nylon cap belt that makes the tire much more resistant to tread separation, so high speed tires offer an inherent safety advantage in addition to construction and rubber compounding that offers better braking and cornering grip than lower speed rated tires.

Purely for the safety benefits, I will not install anything lower than an H-rated tire on any car I own to gain the saftey advantage of the spiral wrapped nylon cap belt.

Tire wear and traction are diametrically opposed, so a very high tread wear rating usually means a low grip tire which limits braking and cornering acceleration.

The above three tires are considered "all season high performance" and carry US DOT wear ratings of about 300, and they should provide at least 40,000 miles of normal driving assuming there are no alignment problems.

DOT legal competition tires carry wear ratings of less than 100. Modern large diameter summer high performance tires are usually in the range of 150-300, all season high performance 200-400, and cheap rock hard non-belted tires are usually 400 or more, but they lack grip.

Duke

[Duke W.]

Re: 1969 Corvette Tires PS

Tires sold in the US also carry a "temperature rating" - A, B, or C. H-rated and above are almost invariably A. Lower temperature ratings means the tire is less resistant to temperature induced failure, which can be caused by one time overheating due to low pressure or temperature-time accumulation, and IMO because their construction and materials are inherently weaker, low speed rated tires have a lower time service life than high speed rated tires. This is an issue with collector cars that do not see high mileage accumulation with time, which can create worries about "tire age" long before the tread wears out.

The other DOT rating is "traction", which is based on wet braking. The grades are AA, A, B, and C. Again, high speed rated tires are almost exclusively AA or A, and I will not install a tire with traction and temperature ratings any less than A A.

About five years ago there was a spate of tread separations on Ford Explorer SUVs, which resulted in a number of deaths and serious injuries. As is typical of this class of vehicles, the OE tires were built to minimum DOT standards, which have not been upgraded for over 30 years. Contributing to the problem was a very low OE recommended tire pressure and poor manufacturing quality, which probably meant that many tires did not even meet the low bar of minimum DOT performance standards. And added to all this was typical owner neglect of tire pressure maintenance.

If minimum tire performance standards had been high enough to require a spiral wrapped nylon cap belt, this unfortunate episode probably would have never happened.

As is typical of mindless government bureaucracies, the "fix" for this problem is mandating tire pressure monitoring systems rather than upgrading basic tire performance standards, so we will end up having to pay for another expensive vehicle electronic system, while we get the same junky, low quality tires.

Duke