1970 tires

[Donn M.]

Need to replace Goodyear F70/15 RWL radial tires and only Goodyear RWL tires I can find available are Kelsey nylon, non belted. They claim belted tires at the time were poor handling but, the nylon tires were much better. 5 tires = $2400. Car is a Top Flite 1970 LT1 , that enjoys a spirited drive occasionally. Read a lot in archives and am aware about non radials in general.
Anyone have experience with Kelsey F70/i5 RWL Speedway Wide Tread, Code 316 tires ?

[Terry M.]

Need to replace Goodyear F70/15 RWL radial tires and only Goodyear RWL tires I can find available are Kelsey nylon, non belted. They claim belted tires at the time were poor handling but, the nylon tires were much better. 5 tires = $2400. Car is a Top Flite 1970 LT1 , that enjoys a spirited drive occasionally. Read a lot in archives and am aware about non radials in general.
Anyone have experience with Kelsey F70/i5 RWL Speedway Wide Tread, Code 316 tires ?

Kelsey Goodyear reproduction tires used to be Nylon Belted tires. Perhaps something has recently changed in their production.

[Donn M.]

Terry, The link below will show the tire specs.. I've been running Goodyear Eagle GT 2 Radials. I would like any Goodyear RWL (even radial) but no longer available. Your thoughts and support are always appreciated.
Anyone familiar with anyone trying these tires, please contact me.

https://kelseytire.com/product/goodyear-f70-15-speedway-wide-tread/

[Terry M.]

Their specifications do say "non-belted" Thank you for the up-date Donn.

[Tim S.]

[QUOTE=Donn Massett (42039)Anyone have experience with Kelsey F70/i5 RWL Speedway Wide Tread, Code 316 tires ? [/QUOTE]

It's a good tire Donn. I had a set on my recently sold 70. Yeah, they flat spot a little, and can grab a crack in the road. Nothing out of the ordinary. They balanced up reasonably well too. I've also used the radial FR70-15 Firestone Wide Oval's and been happy with them. The Wide Oval are a reasonable facsimile of the originals, with the advantage of a radial construction. Obviously, those won't judge well.

I'm sure there are plenty that have a lesser opinion of both tires I spoke of. Hopefully this thread won't turn into a bash fest.

Tim

[Patrick B.]

The original 1970 Goodyear Speedway Wide Tread RWL used on Corvettes was not a belted tire.

[Donn M.]

Tim, Thanks for the response/information. I'm really leaning towards this tire and you're helping me along. They are 3 times as much as a nice set of Goodyear radials or Goodrich RWL's radials but, they look very original I am told they are not poor handling like 70's belted tires. I'm going to miss the meaty look of 225 Goodyear Eagle G2 radials I have now but, they are 19 years old a 2 have belts separating.
Thanks again, Donn

[Duke W.]

If you are done judging, why bother with any kind of GY tire? And if you enjoy spirited driving why not mount the best performance tires available? A '70 LT-1 deserves the best high performance tires available.

The radial revs/mile equivalent of the OE F70-15 (775) is the 215/70R-15. You should look at Vredestein Sprint Classic and Avon CR6ZZ, and also check out the Avon in the 225/65R-15 and 245/60R-15 sizes.

The tire landscape is constantly changing, and I don't know what is currently available in the 225/70R-15 size (760 revs/mi), so you'll have to do some Web searching, but look for at least an H or better speed rating, which should include a spiral wound nylon cap belt that will keep the tire from disintegrating in the event of a tread separation... a "must have" safety feature IMO. Anything less I consider a "van tire". (But I wouldn't install such a low quality tire on a van even if I owned one.)

The lower the UTQG wear rating the softer the compound and the better the grip, and on an occasionally driven vintage car you don't need a wear rating of over 500 and a claimed 40-70K miles durability.

The Avon CR6ZZ wear rating is 80 and IIRC the Vredestein Sprint Classic is 220.

Duke

[Donn M.]

Duke, Thanks for the info.. I'm looking these up. Doesn't appear Vredestein has tire that fits or looks right. Been searching Avon. They have @ $500 +. Other "H" tires available. Going to think about it and continue searching. No big rush.
Thanks again, Donn

[Duke W.]

The W-rated Vredestein Sprint Classic 215/70R15 has about the same dimensions and revs/mile as the OE F70-15, so I don't understand how you can say it doesn't fit or "look right". There are many sources including www.tirerack.com.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Vredestein&tireModel=Sprint+Cla ssic&partnum=17WR5SC&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompa re1=yes

Yes, the Avons are expensive, so if you don't need 1g lateral cornering the Vredestein Sprint Classic is the best choice as long as you don't demand some kind of cosmetic sidewall treatment, and the clean, relatively unadorned back sidewall does not draw negative attention with gaudy lettering or "artwork".

Duke

[Joe L.]

The original 1970 Goodyear Speedway Wide Tread RWL used on Corvettes was not a belted tire.

Patrick-----


Yes, none of the 1968-72 Corvette tires were belted tires, whether branded Goodyear, Firestone or Uniroyal.

One of the things that confuses the issue is this: the original Firestone tires were denoted as "Wide Oval". However, the Firestone Wide Oval tires were made in both belted and non-belted versions. The Corvette version was NON-BELTED. But, the version used on other performance cars of the period was BELTED. Coker manufactured a reproduction of the belted version of the Firestone Wide Oval tire and these were often used on Corvettes but were not actually the original tires used on Corvettes.

There was an interesting story about the early C3 tires in an old edition of Corvette News sometime during the 68-72 period.

[Patrick B.]

Joe —- I believe that the bias ply non-belted wide oval type tires for Corvettes of that era also used nylon cord while similar tires for other cars used polyester cord. Road racing tires up until at least the 80’s were bias ply nylon cord tires, so that construction was probably considered best for high speed prior to speed rated radials.

[Duke W.]

I don't recall the Corvette News article, but I recall that Terry McManmon wrote an article about early seventies Corvette tires for The Corvette Restorer, and I recall him saying it was the first time the tires/wheels were "match marked" at the plant, i. e. the tire high spot, marked with a "red dot" was aligned the wheel low spot marked with a "white dot" during the mounting process. (Or was it the other way around?) This yielded a final assembly with the least possible runout to minimize any vibration due to out of round.

Some modern cars continue to use this system. Look for a faint "white dot" maybe up to a half in diameter on the outer edge of the wheel and match it to a "red dot" on the tire.

I recall that Duntov was not a fan of radial tires and recommended against mounting them on early Corvettes when Michelin, Pirelli, and Dunlop began marketing radials in the USA back in the sixties, but I never understood why he didn't like radials. I mounted a set of 6.70-15 Michelin X radials on my SWC in 1964 when the OE General JetAires "chunked" at the first Kent hot lap day, then replaced them in June 1968 with a set of fabric belted 205HR-15 PIrelli Cinturato CN-72. A week later I "speed tested" them at 150 MPH over the I5 ship canal bridge north of downtown Seattle on the empty northbound express lanes on the lower deck a little after 2 AM.

I replaced the CN-72 in 1975 with the 225/70VR-15 CN-73.

Many of you probably remember that the first OE use of radials on a Corvette was 1973, and those early US-made radials were poor quality. They were not speed-rated, lacked the safety of a spiral round nylon cap belt, and tread separations were common. The first use of genuine high performance speed-rated tires as OE on a Corvette was on the new C4 in 1984.

Duke

[Mark E.]

Consider two sets- reproduction tires on original wheels for show, and a modern set of tires on 17" or 18" wheels for driving.

For street driving, I mounted Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 235/55-17 on 17x8 wheels for my '70. Y speed rating; 540 AA A DOT.

Absolutely transformed the ride of the car.