C4 tires purchase

[Jim T.]

Appreciate any comments on buying new tires for my 1985 Corvette. I have never used Falken or BF Goodrich tires. Tires for the 1985 in the factory delivered size are limited today.

Found 255/50-16 tires manufactured by Falken ZIEX ZE-512 and BF Goodrich g-Force Sport Comp-2. Both are Z rated.

My 1985 Corvette use is occasional trips on the highway and my wife's trips to the grocery, Target, and Wal-Mart.

[Edward J.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

Jim I would pick the BFG.S they are a great tire for all around driving and for thread life, The falken tires are a soft compond and don't wear very good. and not crazy about the thread patterns if the alignement is off the will wear funny and get noisey. I know the BFG.S are more money. In my auto repair shop we generally like BFG, G.Y. Continenials tires,and Mich.( way to much money)

[Keith B.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

I have been running the BFGs on my 94 for the last 6 years and logged over 45K miles on two sets. I drive my car year round in all weather. they are great tires for the money

[Joe L.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

I have been running the BFGs on my 94 for the last 6 years and logged over 45K miles on two sets. I drive my car year round in all weather. they are great tires for the money

Keith-----


Do you mean 45,000 miles on EACH of the two sets or 45,000 miles COMBINED on both sets?

[Joe L.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

Appreciate any comments on buying new tires for my 1985 Corvette. I have never used Falken or BF Goodrich tires. Tires for the 1985 in the factory delivered size are limited today.

Found 255/50-16 tires manufactured by Falken ZIEX ZE-512 and BF Goodrich g-Force Sport Comp-2. Both are Z rated.

My 1985 Corvette use is occasional trips on the highway and my wife's trips to the grocery, Target, and Wal-Mart.

Jim-----


I'd definitely go with the BFG tire. While both are Z-rated, the BFG tire has much more robust construction than the Falken. The BFG tire is a bit more expensive but, for me, it would be worth it.

The one caveat is that in my opinion the Falken tire has a tread design more similar to the original tires than the BFG but I wouldn't let that influence me too much.

[Mel H.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

Installed four BFG Comp IIs in August on my 86 and am very satisfied. In fact, it drives like a totally different car. Much more quiet, and a better ride. Like I said, very satisfied so far and its fun to drive a 'new car'. No experience with Faulken so cant help there.

[Keith B.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

Joe I got 40k on my first set. I just put a new set on this spring

[Tom H.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

BFG's would be my choice.

[Jim T.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

Thanks for all the postings on my request. I will purchase the B F Goodrich tires.

[Keith B.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

Tire Rack.com has great prices on those tires. And every so often they have $50 gift cards if you buy four tires.

[Walter G.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

I bought a set of BFG's for my '84 prior to participating in the NCM/GM Motorama II in '08 as my original GY's were too old to be considered safe for a trip. It seemed odd to me that the OEM would no longer have available the size tires for which it supplied over 150,000 Corvettes from '84-'88.

[Joe L.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

I bought a set of BFG's for my '84 prior to participating in the NCM/GM Motorama II in '08 as my original GY's were too old to be considered safe for a trip. It seemed odd to me that the OEM would no longer have available the size tires for which it supplied over 150,000 Corvettes from '84-'88.

Walter------


With any of the major tire manufacturers, when a tire model and size sales volume drops below a certain level set by each company's internal policy, that tire model and size is discontinued.

[Walter G.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

I understand that, but am just surprised that not enough owners opted to go back to Goodyear for replacement tires to justify keeping the size in production. I don't recall the 'Gatorbacks' receiving as bad a rap as the current F1 Runflats as on my '05-lots of people are switching brands when replacement time comes.

[Joe L.]

Re: C4 tires purchase

I understand that, but am just surprised that not enough owners opted to go back to Goodyear for replacement tires to justify keeping the size in production. I don't recall the 'Gatorbacks' receiving as bad a rap as the current F1 Runflats as on my '05-lots of people are switching brands when replacement time comes.

Walter-----

It may be that the original tire model and size was used only on Corvettes. In that case, the replacement tire market this far out in time might not be enough to keep the tire in production. Some Corvette aficionados might be willing to spend the bucks for the original tire but a lot of others might just be looking for the most economical thing they can find.

As a matter of fact, the Goodyear GS-C tires used for all 1991-96 Corvettes are no longer being manufactured.