Judging tires

[William M.]

My 1973 should have GR70-15 Goodyear or Firestone radials. Since it appears no repros are made in this size for either of these brands in radials, which would lose more points in judging?
Goodyear Eagle GT II 245's (correct brand, modern radial tire, wrong size)
Firestone G70-15's from Coker Tire (correct brand, repro bias tire, correct size)

[Harmon C.]

Re: Judging tires

I have not seen that tire on the judging field but it would cause the judges to look to the Reference Manual on tire deductions. It could be as low as 30% to 100% if the decision is they must be radials but I'm not sure as I never seen that tire. The Team Leader would be ask what to do so all were treated the same who use this reproduction tire. I would call the team leader for a decision before buying the tires.

[Lyndon S.]

Re: Judging tires

I would go with a radial tire in a Goodyear or a firestone tire. I would almost say for sure that you would receive a 100% deduct on using a non radial tire for a car that came originally equipped with a radial tire.

[Duke W.]

Re: Judging tires

The metric equivalent to the GR70-15 is a 225/70R-15, and both GY and Firestone offer a V-rated "police pursuit tire" in this size.

You definitely do not want to install a bias ply G70-15 for either driving or judging.

Duke

[William M.]

Re: Judging tires

So will my existing Goodyear Eagle GT II radials in the wrong size (245) be a 100% deduction? Or does the fact that they're Goodyears (an OEM supplier for '73) and radials (vs. bias ply) get me anything?

[Harmon C.]

Re: Judging tires

What you have will be 100%. If you do not have the Judging Reference Manual from the NCRS store you need to buy it. It tells standard deductions for tires and you can pick the spot on the chart where they fit and know what the deduction is. Tires should be judged the same by all judges or owners for originalty if they agree on where the tire in question fits the chart.
Also in the manual is batteries judging and lots of information needed to get the best score you can at a meet.

[William M.]

Re: Judging tires

So I guess the only solution is to find used 35 year old tires to put on the car just for judging, since no company I've found makes a proper GR70-15 radial. I think I'll just take my lumps from the judges and continue to drive my baby on safe modern tires!

[Duke W.]

Re: Judging tires

You're being rather childish. Virtually everybody loses points on tires. Rather than pouting, follow the good advise you've been given. Get the Judging Reference Manual - and like everyone else - read it to determine what brand/size modern tires will result in the lowest deduction - then select the safest, highest performance tire available in the appropriate brand/size.

Duke

[William M.]

Re: Judging tires

select the safest, highest performance tire available in the appropriate brand/size.

Duke

Uh, isn't that what I said? Sorry if that came off as "childish". Thanks for your help.