Why Duke recommends high speed rated tires

[R N.]

http://rumors.automobilemag.com/6680...age/index.html

[Joe R.]

Re: Why Duke recommends high speed rated tires

Kurt,

Ouch! Thanks for sharing.

Joe

[Clem Z.]

Re: Why Duke recommends high speed rated tires

some states that have annual safety inspection are now failing your car if the tires are more 6/7 years old no matter how much tread they have. just wait till some one with a low mileage newer corvette is told he needs $1500 worth of tires to get a sticker.

[Wayne P.]

Re: Why Duke recommends high speed rated tires

Side note I had great looking tread. Tires were old when I bought the car. I noticed steel showing between the treads. 4 new ones . This is the cheapest and best buy to keep you and any passenger safe, Any damage to a tire should be fixed.

[Ronald L.]

Re: Why Duke recommends high speed rated tires

1st this I did when I got mine, it had 20 year old - new looking - gold lines that rode horrible.

Be safe, not sorry.

[Duke W.]

Re: Why Duke recommends high speed rated tires

It bears repeating again. The life of the tire and its inherent safety starts with the quality of materials and manufacturing processes, and then is affected by environmental factors during its service life.

Early US built radials were not speed rated and many models had high rates of tread separations, and some modern low speed rated tires have also had similar quality issues.

H and above speed-rated tires, have a spiral wrapped nylon cap belt above the steel belts. In the event of an internal failure, the nylon cap belt will usually keep the tire from disintegrating. Of the several tread separations I've experienced - all on race tracks - the nylon cap belt kept the tire from disintegrating despite a large bulge in the tread area, which caused a signficiant vibration.

Catastrophic tread separations on nylon cap belted tires are extremely rare, and they will last a lot longer in terms of years because they are built with better materials and processes. And if they are protected from damaging environmental factors like UV radiation and ozone, they will last for decades on a vintage car that spends most of its life in a dark garage.

Most vintage Corvette owners seem more interested in tire cosmetic features than safety and end up with low speed rated tires that lack the nylon cap belt. Such a tire is inherently less safe and becomes suspect due to age long before a high speed rated, nylon cap belted tire and is much more prone to catastrophic failure and catastophic consequences.

Unfortunately, there are fewer high speed rated tires in sizes suitable for vintage Corvettes as the years pass, but they are still out there.

Duke

[Joe C.]

Re: Why Duke recommends high speed rated tires

It bears repeating again. The life of the tire and its inherent safety starts with the quality of materials and manufacturing processes, and then is affected by environmental factors during its service life.

Early US built radials were not speed rated and many models had high rates of tread separations, and some modern low speed rated tires have also had similar quality issues.

H and above speed-rated tires, have a spiral wrapped nylon cap belt above the steel belts. In the event of an internal failure, the nylon cap belt will usually keep the tire from disintegrating. Of the several tread separations I've experienced - all on race tracks - the nylon cap belt kept the tire from disintegrating despite a large bulge in the tread area, which caused a signficiant vibration.

Catastrophic tread separations on nylon cap belted tires are extremely rare, and they will last a lot longer in terms of years because they are built with better materials and processes. And if they are protected from damaging environmental factors like UV radiation and ozone, they will last for decades on a vintage car that spends most of its life in a dark garage.

Most vintage Corvette owners seem more interested in tire cosmetic features than safety and end up with low speed rated tires that lack the nylon cap belt. Such a tire is inherently less safe and becomes suspect due to age long before a high speed rated, nylon cap belted tire and is much more prone to catastrophic failure and catastophic consequences.

Unfortunately, there are fewer high speed rated tires in sizes suitable for vintage Corvettes as the years pass, but they are still out there.

Duke

Very true, and it's a shame that the Pirelli P4000 are BO, or apparently out of production for the foreseeable future.

For now, there are still plenty of "H" rated all season tires available in 215/70R-15. I would not use anything with a rating lower than "H" (130 MPH).