Radial T/A's

[Terry D.]

Not really a Corvette tech question but who is making Goodrich radial T/A's. And has anyone who bought some recently had any problems?
Thanks
Terry

[Jim D.]

Re: Radial T/A's

They are made by Michelin. Great looking tire but their performance is terrible on anything other than low powered cars and dry pavement.

[Gary R.]

Re: Radial T/A's

I bought (4) 225 70 3 years ago and have about 6k miles on them, no problem. This is on my 72 with about 325hp but it's just a driver no hard use and the car is only out on dry days.

[Gene M.]

Re: Radial T/A's

The set on my 65 were purchased close to 3 years ago. I don't know who made them for BF Goodrich. But they seem no different from the set I replaced.

Are people having issues with the current offering?

[Jim D.]

Re: Radial T/A's

No issues other than they are about as far from a performance tire that you can get. They are very hard and have very little traction if you have enough power. Everyone on the Cobra forums think they should be outlawed and describe them as "driving on ice". I didn't believe them and because I liked their look, I put them on mine. They were 100% correct. Zero traction and they're so hard that they hardly leave black marks no matter how hard you do a burn out. Another issue is the availability of certain sizes. Michelin only makes a batch of any certain size when they get enough orders. I had to wait almost a year for them to make the 295/50/15's I put on my Cobra.

[Jim T.]

Re: Radial T/A's

If Michelin is making the Radial T/A's wonder why it is not a good tire to use and being hard and zero traction?

[Jim D.]

Re: Radial T/A's

If Michelin is making the Radial T/A's wonder why it is not a good tire to use and being hard and zero traction?

They most likely use different compounds. Not all Michelin are created equal either. The C-5 & C-6 guys seem to really like Michelin Pilot Sports. Soft,sticky with great traction but only get 20K-30K miles out of them. The OEM Michelins on my wife's Acura MDX still had legal tread with 65K miles on them.

[Terry D.]

Re: Radial T/A's

So what are people buying instead? I like the raised white letter look to go with rally wheels on my 62. The set I have on now have about 35,000 miles and they are not hard and I have driven in some pretty good rain storms with no problems. When did Michelin start making them?

[Joe L.]

Re: Radial T/A's

All-------


In certain sizes, especially 15" sizes, the Goodrich Radial T/A is just about the "only game in town". So, like them or not, for many sizes be thankful you can even get these. I don't think that there is currently a 15" T/A Radial that's above an "S" speed rating. "S" speed rated tires are NOT performance tires; they're "grocery-getter" type tires (although they may have performance-APPEARING attributes).

Michelin bought out the B. F. Goodrich tire brand many years ago. Michelin and B.F. Goodrich make many different tire models, from the near-economy end of the spectrum to the ultra high performance end. One cannot judge a performance tire soley by its brand. In general, ultra high performance tires don't have long-lived tread ratings.

[Joe L.]

Re: Radial T/A's

By the way, if anyone thinks that 15" tire size availability is limited now, wait until you see what it's like in a few years. Remember, all 1953-82 Corvettes used 15" tires.

[Gene M.]

Re: Radial T/A's

Our tire guy in our area, Wayne has had a hard time trying to find 15" tires for performance cars. The selection seems to be ever decreasing for 15" tires. It seems the demand is there now for them but the market is ever shrinking availability. BF Goodrich has been the one with the most available 15" tires both black wall and white letter in the recent past. But seems that is shriveling up too.

[Jim D.]

Re: Radial T/A's

Avon has several 15"/60 series tires with a V rating. Far superior in every way to the BF goodrich tire but in blackwall only.

[Terry D.]

Re: Radial T/A's

Jim,
I don't think a 60 series will work on the front of a C1. And do I really need a performance tire on a car that is driven at highway speeds (60-75) at about 5-7 thousand miles a year?