I'm sure this is a regular question but I'm going to ask it again. I have completed the judging process on my 59 at the national and I'm going to convert from trailer transport to drive to the meets. I have the correct 670x15's on the car but they follow every groove in the road. I want a second set of rims with wide white wall radial tires for the car. My main source has been the Cooper book and I have about decided on the BF goodrich wide white (silvertown pattern) in 215x70R15 on the 5 inch rims. If someone with experience has additional information I would appreciate it. I understand the coker classic wide whites aren't as good as the BF Goodrich but from only one source. I'm particularly interested in the rim selection and if wider is better and a source for wider rims. I'm also going to use stock hubcaps. Thanks for the help guys, after 6 years of work and judging on this car I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to driving it.
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Re: C1 Radial Tires
The recommended wheel width for 215/70s is 5.5" to 7.5".
My recommendation would be to mount 215/70s on a set of repro '67 six inch Rally wheels. Your wheel covers should fit, but I'm not sure.
My '63 wheel covers fit on the over the counter '68 7" Rally wheels that I bought in 1968.
If you want to consder black walls, 215/70s are also available in W and V-rated models from Pirelli and Michelin respectively.
215/70s are marginally shorter than the OEM 6.70-15 (775 versus 760 revs per mile); 225/70s are speced at 760 and there are three V-rated "police pursuit tires" in this size, one each from Goodyear, Firestone, and General, and the GY version is available in a narrow whitewall. Six inch is the minimum width for a 225/70, but I'm not sufficiently familiar with the clearance limitations of C1s to know if they will fit.
Duke -
Re: C1 Radial Tires
Jeff,
I am running the Coker radials 205-75 on stock rims and have no complaints.
From all the other info I have had from other C-1 owners I believe that you will have to weld on the wheel cover "nubs" if planning to use the stock wheel covers on other rims.
I know of a 62 owner that gave up on the stock wheel covers after having lost or damaged a stack of them whilst using non stock rims.
By the way, I think that you will start to REALLY enjoy your car now that you are driving it.
Good Luck, Mark.
My Vette PageComment
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How will you be driving?
If you're going to be driving on public roads at legal speeds, I don't imagine you would notice any difference between having 5" or 6" wheels on your car. You would, however, notice the difference between the Coker "Mexican 500" tires and a good quality radial.
If I were you, I'd have Diamond Back Classics make some 205-75 wide white radials out of new Firestones.
P.S. If you feel you must have speed rated tires so you can drive a 40 year old car at 100 mph for sustained periods, please let me know when you intend to be in my area.Comment
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Re: C1 Radial Tires
Jeff,
You will need to weld on or silver solder the "nubs" as were found on the original wheels. Their cross section and location on the wheel are important as they coincide with recesses in the wheel cover. You would use the valve stem hole as your reference point. I found that 1/4" thin wall steel tubing had the cross section I needed when cut length wise using a hack saw. These nubs are critical when mounting C-1 wheel covers. Hope this helps.
Rick PelotteComment
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Re: C1 Radial Tires
> BF goodrich wide white (silvertown pattern) in 215x70R15 on the 5 inch rims.Comment
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Re: C1 Radial Tires
B.F. Goodrich 205/75 on 6" chrome "Smoothies"Comment
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Re: How will you be driving?
I have seen several negative comments about Coker radials posted. I have them on my car and they seem fine to me but I am curious as to their origins. Does Coker not manufacture these tires?
I always thought the primary difference between a good quality and lesser quality tire was longevity - how long it will last. Is the difference between a Coker tire and a name brand radial that significant? Is ride and handling better? I would like to know for when I replace the Cokers.
For me, longevity is not an issue as I only drive the car about 1,000 miles a year. For the amount of miles I drive, the tires will dry rot before they wear out.Comment
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Quality control?
The problems my customers have encountered with Coker redline and goldline radials are out-of-round and highly off-balance tires. I believe these problems happened because the tires were made with poor quality control. They were made in Mexico in the past, and may still be for all I know.
I am not pleased with suppliers of anything who designate me to be their test monkey for fit, function, or appearance. Regardless of how quickly they respond under the warranty, you have to wonder why they don't test their own product until they're certain it's ready for use.
I've still got a $500 set of Kelsey wide brownwalls that I bought for my own '57. Kelsey's warranty response: "You must have exposed the tires to contaminated air in your garage". Really. Guess how many tires I've bought from Kelsey since this response?Comment
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Re: Quality control?
You can get a good idea of tire quality via the Uniform Tire Quality Grading ratings. This consists of a number field and two letter fields. The first indicates a tires wet braking traction and the ratings are AA, A, B, or C. The second field is the tires' resistance to temperature related failure and the ratings are A, B, and C.
The minimum ratings are C C, but I would consider C C to be marginal for ANY automotive application. Tires with an "H" speed rating are usually rated A A, and the newest high performance radials are AA A.
I was looking at some repro whitewalls recently that were rated B C. These do not meet my own personal quality standards for any car that I would drive in the real world. A A is my minumum. Even if you don't plan on driving your car at triple digit speeds, higher speed rated tires rated A A will provide lots of margin for normal driving. They are build to higher quality standards and they will be rounder and better balanced out of the mold. The reason why SUV tires disintegrate is because they are built to minimum quality standards, then people load them up and drive them at freeway speeds and rarely check tire pressure. Take a marginal quality tire, drive it at high speed with a high load and insufficient pressure and you have a recipe for failure.
The letter fields are preceded by a field of digits, which is a wear rating Modern high performance tires are usually in the range of 150 to 300 and high mileage tires are over 300. maybe as high as 600. For a collector car that is driven a few hundred to a few thousand miles a year you don't need a high mileage tire that will take 30 to 50 years to wear out.
For my vintage cars I prefer DOT legal racing tires because of their prodigious grip, but such tires aren't available in sizes suitable to our vintage Corvettes.
I have a set of V-rated Toyo DOT legal racing tires on my Cosworth Vega. The UTQG rating is 40 A A. I have about 6K miles on them and they are half worn, so I will probably have to replace them in another six years at which point they will be 12 years old, and I will have certainly gotten my money's worth. I had a real memorable drive down Highway 1 returning from the convention in Monterey last month.
Duke
P.S. Coker is a distributor and their brand tires are made by a third party. Kelsey is owned by Goodyear.Comment
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Re: C1 Radial Tires- Jeff
Jeff,
I have experience with 215 X 75 radials on original 5" rims and (presently) 6" modified Chevy station wagon rims. IMO opinion the 5" rim is way too narrow for a 215 tire and tire/rim size charts confirm this. I could tell the difference between the two rims. On back road turns, the 5" rim allowed the tire to "roll over" the rim. With radials, original rims may allow one or more of the hubcaps to "walk" around the rim (until it is meets the valve stem). Rims made for radial tires don't seem to have cap walking problem. To modify a late model wider rim requires grinding slightly larger the center hole in the spyder and soldering "lugs" on the rim to accept the spinner hubcap, as Rick stated. 215's on 6" rims look aggressive! RegardsComment
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Best Ride and Performance
I've ever found is with Yokohama AVS Intermediates on seven inch steel police rims. (18 lbs). Makes a C1 into a totally different car! You'll have to use small hubcaps however.
Dale PearmanComment
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You better stock up.
The AVS is out of production and is replaced by the ES 100. The 225/60ZR-15 is priced as a closeout special at The Tire Rack.
DukeComment
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I've got 16 of Them
on my rack. All bought at close-out prices plus a discount!
Dale.Comment
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Re: Best Ride and Performance
Dale,
What size Yokos? Fit on a C2?
Thanks
JimVComment
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