71 Tires

[Frank B.]

I am in the process of restoring a 71 454 for judging. My questions are about Wheels and Tires. My car currently has mixed matched wheels and I have also purchased a number of wheels off ebay only with little success. I currently have two wheels that I beleive to be correctwith the correct dates and also the BB on the high spot. I beleive that judging only requires the spare to be correct, is that true? So that I start with 4 good true wheels on the car I am thinking of purchasing 4 new wheels from Coker Tire. I just would like some input. In addition Coker has what appears to be the correct Firestone F-70-15, white letter tires and I was thinking of purchasing 5 of them. These are Polyester Fiberglass, not Nylon Cord which I assume are classified as the correct radial replacement tires. If so, what would the deduction for these tires be? I am attempting to use a judging manual as a guide and have little no previous Corvette judging experience. I need some good feedback from people with judging experience.

[Lyndon S.]

Re: 71 Tires

[Terry M.]

Re: 71 Tires

WHEELS:
You are correct -- the date and other wheel markings are only judged on the spare. That assumes you show the car with trim rings or wheel covers installed -- which I highly recommend.

TIRES:
The Coker Firestones, unless they have changed them recently, will receive a deduction due to their being different construction, material, sidewall marking (SUP-R-BELT) and tread pattern. I don't have my reference material at hand, but this situation comes up regularly and someone who judges exterior will know the points deduction right off hand.

Your best tire option is Kelsey GoodYear tires. I believe the black walls and white stripe will receive a deduction for out of spec date (probably only a couple of points) if any of the dates can be seen -- and surely the spare will be visible. There is some sidewall configuration questions regarding this model in RWL (Raised White Letters), and I am not sure if they have been resolved yet. If anything they would result is only a minor (perhaps a point or two) deduct, and they may be resolved to be no deduction.

[Lyndon S.]

Re: 71 Tires

Terry
If your talking about the letter E on the RWL tires? The center part was not even? Then John has redone that and it is dead on now. I just bought one for my spare and that issue has been fixed. Unless there is something else?
______
Kelly


One other thing, I always get a kick out the guys face when I would bring my wheels to get the reproduction tires on. They would see that wheel and say no way is that tire designed to go on it. I would always say sure lets try anyway for laughs. They would be scratching their heads.

[Terry M.]

Re: 71 Tires

Nope. I know the E was fixed. Another question has been raised (bad pun), but I don't want to go into it until it is determined to be real or a false alarm.

FWIW: It took us over a year to identify the short-leg E (and F). If this other variation proves out it will be well into 10 to 15 years since they were introduced. At some point we should probably give up and say "close enough, is good enough." But that does raise a whole lot of other issues that are best left for another thread.

[Lyndon S.]

Re: 71 Tires

Send me a private email please about this I want to take a look at my new spare
Kelly

[Frank B.]

Re: 71 Tires

I appreciate the response receive thus far on the tire and wheel questions. These reponses have brought up another questions. Where can I get the Kelsey Goodyear reproduction tires.

[Lyndon S.]

Re: 71 Tires

www.kelseytire.com (573) 346-2506Local or International(573) 346-3022Fax - Local or International(800) 325-0091Toll Free in US & Canada(800) 845-7581Fax - Toll Free in US & CanadaAddressEmailKelsey Tire, Inc.P.O. Box 5641190 East Highway 54 Camdenton, MO 65020Hours:
8 am - 5 pm Central Time
Monday - Friday
kelsey@kelseytire.com

[Terry M.]

Re: 71 Tires

I appreciate the response receive thus far on the tire and wheel questions. These reponses have brought up another questions. Where can I get the Kelsey Goodyear reproduction tires.

Kelsey Goodyear tires are actually available from your local Goodyear store, but they may not know it -- and of course they will have to order them.

If you talk to John Kelsey tell him I said Hello. He was most kind and understanding when working with NCRS when I was Team Leader to get his tires perfect. He is an NCRS member, and advertises in The Driveline.

[Gerard Q.]

Re: 71 Tires

I purchased a set from Kelsey this year...

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: 71 Tires

Frank:
The deduction for tires as Terry described- F70-15, Goodyear, "Super Belts" with 9 treadlines not 11, is 10% on originality or 3 points. I had these tires on my '69 at the Novi regional and that was the deduction. I had a choice of spending upwards of $1000 for Kelsy tires or losing 3 points and took the 3 points.
Jeff

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: 71 Tires

Sorry, I meant 7 treads not 9.
Jeff

[Lyndon S.]

Re: 71 Tires

[Kenneth T.]

Re: 71 Tires

Kelsey makes a nice repro. I have posted pics of an original RWL Goodyear
so you can compare it with Gerard's tire. Looks good, no?

[Lyndon S.]

Re: 71 Tires

Gerard
You know that one tire you have in your post? It is mounted wrong, the winged foot is supposed to be next to the valve steam, lol only kidding. But a lot of people do mount tires like that.

________
Kelly