Technical Firestone farm use vs regular tires.

My 2,840lb studebaker champion came with Firestone 6.00-16 bias ply tires which at second glance are actually “farm use 25 mph limit” my question is, If and what the difference may be between these and standard p***enger car bias-ply tires may be and if I need to panic buy $1000+ modern repro bias plys or if I’m most likely good to keep on keepin on with the ol Firestones that came with the the car.

 

Wellllll..... don't be surprised to get a ticket if you have a blowout and wreck it. No express NEED to spend $1000 for decent tires.

 

I’d guess the Farm Use tires don’t have a DOT thing on them.

 

Back in 1982, I owned a little gas station. I ordered some 600x16 firestones from my tire supplier, they came with the farm use only brand on the side. The guy said, same tire, just that Ralph Nader was trying to get tube type tires off the road. That was 44 years ago, never seen another. Thats my story and I'm stickin to it

 

Are you hoping a bunch of strangers on the internet tell you its OK to put 25 mph farm tires on your car in 2026?

The 25 mph tires vs. $1000 tires sounds like a false dilemma. Are there really no other options?

 

It’s a no brainer if you’re not planning to leave the farm doing no more than 25 mph.

 

Maybe they're the same, maybe they're not. Is the $1,000 still going to matter to you if you have a blowout on a front tire at highway speeds?

 

They’re not rated for the wheel speeds a car sees, a manufacturer would be brain damaged to open themselves up to litigation by putting false info on a part that other vehicle systems depend on to control a vehicle.

 

Ya, take a trip and never leave the farm

 

Good for rollers driving at highway speeds um NO!
I actually just bought a couple tires today for 250 mounted and balanced not bias ply s but good tires with an A rating on traction and heat and 118 mph rating.
Dan

 

Getting a ticket might be the least of his worries. If a tire failure causes an injury or death on a public road, he could find himself in a whole world of bad that will make $1000 look like it was the deal of the century.

 

There are plenty of inexpensive tires out there. You don't have to spend $1,000 for black wall tires. I would not drive any of my cars with those tires on them. Whatever it ends up costing it would be worth it for the peace of mind.

 

Death injuries ticket no worries just can’t f’k up the bodywork!

 

Go ahead ........no big deal .............get an in car camera for that viral video footage as you are cartwheeling down some hill

 

Bodywork is fixable..... if you can afford to do it after the law suits.

 

Your signature line in green at the bottom of your posts pretty much says it all.

 

There are “implement” tires available from TheMillertire.com that have 3 groves and are a little less squirrelly on pavement.

 

Sell the firestones to a farmer, and buy some real tires for the road…

 

I don’t get the tire thing , tractor tires and dirt track rears . They look bad Azz , but to dry highway speed and get caught in a down pour has to spell a crack up . I see people putting square car tires on rear of a motorcycle these days also . All I can say is I guess they have never had to recover from gravel and road rash ever or in a long while and have forgotten the hidden fun in recover .

 

Just lookin for fentanyl patch

 

I remember the old joke about "mile-a-more maypop" tires... tires and brakes are the first priority for a driver. Never cut corners with those two.

 

It's peculiar how nowadays a flat tire or blowout invariably results in death or serious injury, or at least the car flipping end over end and bursting into flames.

I must be lucky in surviving several blowouts over the years, both front and back tires, with no drama.

 

^^^x2

There are many riding up down interstate with tire not rated for 80 plus
Mph for long period of time,
I seem to recall tire speed ratings where based on 60 or 120 mint @ certain speed?
BF training in early 80's


Curious to know what the difference
Farm use , or when did DOT was started

 

I worked at a Firestone company store in Waco Tx (the old down store) in the early 70's and we sold hundreds of those Farm use only branded tires to the Cotton farmers who farmed up North of Waco around the town of West. At the time = 1973 we got 7 dollars each for them retail. The farmers would come in and buy a pickup load of them before harvest to use on their cotton trailers.
The Dot number was ground off and the tires did have some defect on them that caused them to be rejected by the inspectors for street use. It was a way for Firestone to recover the cost of making the tire and at the same time give farmers who went though a lot of tires on those trailers cheap tires.
Now I am wondering when Firestone actually still made 16 inch Bias tires. as those tires are probably over 40 years old.

 

I agree that most blow outs and flats don’t result in a catastrophe however occasionally a blow does cause major damage to the vehicle the tire whipping and beating a body panel or tearing a brake line off. Also a blow out does cause some loss of control most of us know not to do any quick reaction on brakes or steering. Every once in awhile a blow out causes a wreck.
I personally don’t want a blow out while driving in traffic, actually I don’t want a blow out at all.
Driving at speeds above the tires ratings isn’t smart IMO
Dan

 

I've only seen those types of tires at one store in 70 or 71. Also Firestone with all the DOT stuff ground off and in my case all radials. Lots of rejects in the early radial production, crooked belts etc. This store sold a lot of them. They would mount and attempt to balance and if they wouldn't balance or had visible runout they'd just try another.
and sell that one at a real farm use tire.

I actually bought a set for my little '65 Dart 273/4spd. They were miles better than the OEM belted bias.
In this case the tires seemed to be ok if they were balanced and true.

Would I do the same today? Not on my life, or yours either!

 

>My 2,840lb studebaker champion came with Firestone 6.00-16 bias ply tires which at second glance are actually “farm use 25 mph limit”
> It’s a no brainer if you’re not planning to leave the farm doing no more than 25 mph.

Can a 2840lb studebaker even do more than 25mph unless going down a steep hill?

 

I just looked at the OPs images. What I noticed is the “Farm tire” was made into the mold, not stamped in later.
Leads me to think the tires weren’t blems, etc, but not made for highway use.

 

Man I thought I was cheap

 

They must be good!
Look where they're made.