bias ply tires

[Douglas L.]

So its time for new set of tires for the 68. It has the f70-15 Firestone wide ovals(sup-r-belt) on it now and I've been happy with them. The car is going in for judging in Nov for the first time and I'm concerned on how well these tires judge. I know they aren't right(7 as opposed to 9 ribs, etc) and the Goodyears from Kelsey tire are about as correct as you're gonna get. Question is, points wise, how much will I lose with the Firestones as opposed to the Goodyears? Reason I ask is, not only are the Firestones cheaper(can get a set of 4 shipped for less than 1k as opposed to 300+ ea. plus shipping for the Goodyears), I already have a firestone for the spare and I've heard since the Goodyears arent belted they don't drive as well. I'm trying to decide if the additional points I'll get for the Goodyears are worth the extra expense.

Thanks, Doug

[Doug J.]

Re: bias ply tires

I have the same situation as you....Had the original 9 rib Firestone Wide Oval for the spare, no deduction. Had 4 repo 7 rib Firestone's on car, lost 7 points on originality. 0 on condition. Judging was at a Regional.

[Terry M.]

Re: bias ply tires

There is a Standard Deduction for tires. Standard deductions are spelled out in the NCRS Judging Reference Manual available from the NCRS Store in Cincinnati. See the back pages f the most recent Driveline you can find.

[Douglas L.]

Re: bias ply tires

I have the same situation as you....Had the original 9 rib Firestone Wide Oval for the spare, no deduction. Had 4 repo 7 rib Firestone's on car, lost 7 points on originality. 0 on condition. Judging was at a Regional.

Just the kind of info I was looking for, I think I'll take the 7 point hit and save $500.00. Thanks Doug.

[Joe L.]

Re: bias ply tires

Just the kind of info I was looking for, I think I'll take the 7 point hit and save $500.00. Thanks Doug.

Doug------


You will find the belted Firestones to be a better driving and longer lasting tire than the non-belted Goodyear tires. However, Kelsey Tire also offers reproduction Goodyear bias ply tires which are belted. These will not, of course, be original for Corvettes. One of these tires is the Polyglas GT. I used these tires for years on my 1969 after the original tires wore out. After the Polyglas GT's were discontinued and I switched to radials, I never used a tire on my car that handled better than the Polyglas GT. It was a somewhat hard riding tire, though.

[Douglas L.]

Re: bias ply tires

Joe, thanks for the reply and for confirming the poor driving characteristics of the Goodyears. I'd like nothing more than to have the most correct tire as possible for the car but after getting used to the Firestones I don't think I'd want to put up with something that drives worse. I'll look into the Polyglas GTs but I would suspect although they would drive better than the Firestones they would probably judge worse. Also forgot to mention that the car is real tuxedo black car with red interior so Id like to stick with a red stripe tire. Thanks for the input, Doug

[Joe L.]

Re: bias ply tires

Joe, thanks for the reply and for confirming the poor driving characteristics of the Goodyears. I'd like nothing more than to have the most correct tire as possible for the car but after getting used to the Firestones I don't think I'd want to put up with something that drives worse. I'll look into the Polyglas GTs but I would suspect although they would drive better than the Firestones they would probably judge worse. Also forgot to mention that the car is real tuxedo black car with red interior so Id like to stick with a red stripe tire. Thanks for the input, Doug

Doug------


Actually, Kelsey Tire has available a Goodyear tire which is pretty much competitive with the Firestone Wide Oval. This is the Goodyear Custom Wide Tread Polyglas. This is a fiberglass belted, bias ply tire. It's available in the F-70-15 tire size and available in red line. This tire appears as close to the original Speedway Wide Tread as the Firestone Wide Oval available from Coker appears compared to the original Firestone Wide Oval used on 68-72 Corvettes. So, I would guess that it would receive about the same deduction, This tire sells for just about the same price as the Firestone from Coker.

If I were interested in using a bias ply tire, this is the one I would use.