Road Tires

[Don B.]

I have a 62 Corvette which has been NCRS restored. As I want to drive it daily, I am looking for an alternative to the currently installed 6.70x15 bias ply tires which would be more road friendly. Also, want to keep the stock hubcaps and white wall tires. Am thinking a good solution would be to install Chevy rims and some white wall radials. Any thoughts on rim width and tire size?

[Donald H.]

Re: Road Tires

I think the closest fit radials will be the P205/75R15. If you want a reasonably priced tire with whitewall there aren't many in that size. Cooper and Hankook are two that have a thin whitewall in the p205/75R15. I have Cooper's on my 66 and they seem fine to me. If you do a search for tires on this forum you will find a number of related threads.

If you want a radial tire P205/75R15 with the whitewall width closer to what the bias ply tires are, the you should look at Diamondback. However, their tires are $200+ per tire and the Coopers are $80 or less per tire.

I don't know much about wheels, but ZIP sells a set of reproduction 15"x5" wheels that has all the nubs for retaining the hubcaps. Probably other of the corvette vendors sell these wheels also.

[Duke W.]

Re: Road Tires

Search the Web and all the online retailers for 205/75R15 and P205/75R15. If you buy new wheels I suggest the '67 15 x 6", +0.03 offset Rally wheels. Later wheel covers can be installed, but I'm not sure about '62. If you go with wider wheels search 215/70R15 and P215/70R15.

Duke

[Edward J.]

Re: Road Tires

Don, just another option for you I have installed P20575r15 Uniroyal tiger paws II on a few cars, great tire and 1" white wall.

[Tom P.]

Re: Road Tires

ANY, I mean, ANY part which is used on a Corvette and is also common to a Chevy pass car (ie wheels, carb, exhaust manifolds, rearend, etc, etc), will be AT LEAST 10 times higher in price if you say that you want it for a Corvette!!!
SOOOOOOOOOOOO, here is where I'm going with this. the 15x5 wheels common to a 55-62 Corvette are ESSENTIALLY the same as used on 55-56 pass cars. Therefore, if you search the swap meets, Ebay, etc, etc, you can often locate 1-2-3 55-56 pass car wheels for a LOT LESS money than looking for 55-62 Corvette wheels (remember they are TOTALLY FUNCTIONALLY identical). For 55-62 Vettes, you need wheels that have the 4 nubs to retain the full wheel cover------------55-56 pass car wheels have these nubs!!!
Provided you are good at searching and scrounging, you very well might round up 4 usable wheels for less than $100. They can be painted to match, mount radial tires for street driving and save the original wheels/bias tires for show/judging.
And yes, I have 2 sets of 55-56 wheels, and no, none are for sale. I picked them up at swap meets for $10-20ea.

[Paul B.]

Re: Road Tires

Hi,
The Wheel Vintiques series 65 is a 15X5 designed for C1 corvettes, I've had them on my '62 with my driver radials for several years. They have the nubs to hold the stock full hubcaps, brand new and true with no rust, about $105 a rim at Summit with free shipping.

https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/wvi-65-5534032/overview/

Paul

[Patrick C.]

Re: Road Tires

Don, just another option for you I have installed P20575r15 Uniroyal tiger paws II on a few cars, great tire and 1" white wall.

I have the Uniroyal tiger paws on my 64’ also and like them. Smooth and quiet.

[John F.]

Re: Road Tires

I had the 205/75/15 Michelins on both of my 62's. Great tire from Discount Tire. Go with blackwalls and a good used set of dog dish hubcaps. It is a fantastic look.

[Bob S.]

Re: Road Tires

Don, I am now on my second set of P205-75R-15 from Diamondback (1st set was 7 years old-no problems). They take production tires and vulcanize 2.5" white walls on them so you are getting fresh tires. The current tires on my '59 are Toyo, the first set was Michelin. For 99.9% of us we will never wear out a set of tires. The important factor is age and both sets I received from Diamonback were dated within 2 months of when I received them.
I purchased the first set directly from Diamondback and had a local shop install them. The second set I purchased through Discount Tire. They cost the same going through Discount but if I were to have any problems I can just go to my local Discount shop to get it resolved.

[Bob W.]

Re: Road Tires

Tom What is the difference in the 55-56 and the 57 wheels width ? If so will they hold the stock hub caps?

[Tom P.]

Re: Road Tires

Tom What is the difference in the 55-56 and the 57 wheels width ? If so will they hold the stock hub caps?

Bob,
ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL 55-62 Corvette wheels (EXCEPT optional 5.5 wheels) and the 55-56 pass car wheels are 15x5. The differences are EXTREMELY minor, and once a full wheel cover is installed on the wheel, NOTHING can be distinguished between them.
Below is a comparison of 55 pass car and 56 pass car/Vette wheels. The most notable difference is the additional ring in the center hub of 56-later wheels. Some wheels are riveted, some are welded, some have dogbones, some don't--------------------but they ALL are still dimensionally and functionally 100% interchangeable.
As I mentioned earlier, if a part is common between Corvettes and pass cars----------------------YOU ARE GOING TO PAY A SUPER PREMIUM PRICE WHEN YOU SAY THAT IT IS FOR A CORVETTE, as opposed to buying it for a pass car!

[Jimmy G.]

Re: Road Tires

205-75 x 15 Goodyear from Walmart black wall cheap as you will have dry rotted tires long before they are used up

[Don B.]

Re: Road Tires

Thanks to everyone for their advice. After several phone calls I decided to buy the 15 x 5" rims from Summit. As they have free shipping and arrive powder coated it makes my job easier. Will go with the 205-75 x 15 tires but have not decided on a brand. As I probably won't drive more than 2500 miles per year, the brand really won't matter to much. I do like the blackwall with small hubcap look but think I will go with the 1" whitewall and full stock hubcap look. Only NCRS folks will be able to tell it is not stock.

[Darryl D.]

Re: Road Tires

Thanks to everyone for their advice. After several phone calls I decided to buy the 15 x 5" rims from Summit. As they have free shipping and arrive powder coated it makes my job easier. Will go with the 205-75 x 15 tires but have not decided on a brand. As I probably won't drive more than 2500 miles per year, the brand really won't matter to much. I do like the blackwall with small hubcap look but think I will go with the 1" whitewall and full stock hubcap look. Only NCRS folks will be able to tell it is not stock.

I bought the 15 x 6 wheels from Summit. They don't have the nubs on the wheels to hold my full 57 wheel covers so we had to weld and work the welds with a Dremel to create them. Used the original wheels with nubs for position and size. It takes some time for good fitment. Good luck.

[Tom P.]

Re: Road Tires

I bought the 15 x 6 wheels from Summit. They don't have the nubs on the wheels to hold my full 57 wheel covers so we had to weld and work the welds with a Dremel to create them. Used the original wheels with nubs for position and size. It takes some time for good fitment. Good luck.

I drive the 56 whenever there is a good opportunity. I have a full set of correct wheels and full wheel covers under the workbench. The wheels I have on now for daily driving are mid-70s GM A-body 15x6 front and 15x7 rear with 56 dogdish caps and 225/75 blackwall tires. I've built/modified the 56 to immulate a 57 Airbox car with an all stock appearing exterior and interior, but with an upgraded driveline which at first glance looks like an Airbox car, but flies like an Apache arrow.