1970 spare tire

[D S.]

I know this must have been discussed here dozens of times but the archives weren't that specific. What was the original spare tire in 1970 Corvettes? A friend recently (and finally) dropped his tire tub on his 1970 Corvette and there is a Firestone GR70-15 Steel Radial 500 in there. Is that one original?

Thanks,
Scott Sims
Texas Chapter

[Tom H.]

Re: 1970 spare tire

Hi Scott. No radials in 1970. I think 70's used an F70x15

[D S.]

Re: 1970 spare tire

Hi Scott. No radials in 1970. I think 70's used an F70x15

Thanks, Tom. I kinda thought they were originally those nice riding bias ply tires (joke) but the guy says he owned the car for about 20 years when it was restored at that time and he assumed the spare tire had never been on the ground. He asked about cleaning it up and repainting the rim as he is prepping it for Flight judging and I said not to until I found out for sure.

[Edward J.]

Re: 1970 spare tire

Hi Scott, I think that the firestone 500 radial is the one that was recalled in 73 on the corvettes, There known to have blow out while driving, and I recall that one of the posters here had one of those tires blow out in the spare tire tub and broke it to pieces.

[D S.]

Re: 1970 spare tire

Wow! Thanks, Ed (or Edward?). I will alert the guy to get a spare that matches his road tires---if they are new. He said the spare looked old.

[Chris H.]

Re: 1970 spare tire

Scott, here are some photos of my '70s spare. It's never been mounted. It's the optional raised white letter tire. You can see the red line on the tread and the colored wax spots that determine the size and location of the wheel weights.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1970 spare tire

I know this must have been discussed here dozens of times but the archives weren't that specific. What was the original spare tire in 1970 Corvettes? A friend recently (and finally) dropped his tire tub on his 1970 Corvette and there is a Firestone GR70-15 Steel Radial 500 in there. Is that one original?

Thanks,
Scott Sims
Texas Chapter

Scott-----


I think I can safely say that not a single 1970 Corvette ever originally received a Firestone GR-70 Steel Radial 500 tire as a spare (or, road tire, for that matter).

[Terry M.]

Re: 1970 spare tire

I know this must have been discussed here dozens of times but the archives weren't that specific. What was the original spare tire in 1970 Corvettes? A friend recently (and finally) dropped his tire tub on his 1970 Corvette and there is a Firestone GR70-15 Steel Radial 500 in there. Is that one original?

Thanks,
Scott Sims
Texas Chapter

Scott,

Tell your friend to buy a 1970-72 TIM&JG. The reason that the question is not on the tech board is that we did a good job describing available tires int he 1970-72 TIM&JG -- therefore no need for discussions -- Yea right.

BTW: The date code for newer than 1971 tires IS in the TIM&JG -- at least for last century. The code is the last three numbers of the stamped code ae the date code. The first two of those numbers are the month of the year and the last number is the last digit of the year. So you will see something like 363 for the 36th week of 1973.