Does anyone manufacture them? or is the "ribbed" part exactly why they are not dot approved? They look cool. The are not too tall. The fit my rims. but...The ones I am finding in my searches are not approved.
Hey, Real implement (tractor) tyres are made of a much harder rubber compound than automotive tyres, that and they usually have more plys than truck tyres. These two reasons alone make them a poor choice for the street. Great to look at, but only for use on flat, hard ground, with no ruts or grooves! S****ey Devils C.C.
I'm guessin' you ain't spent much time "down on the farm"? Lots of obvious reasons they wouldn't be D.O.T. approved. Custom cut retreads maybe? Tim D.
The particular ones I dig are actually offered as "nostalgia" front tires ( Firestone has 'em listed as "dirt track", I believe. ) It is a 500/15 ribbed front, according to their description. They are marketing 'em for hot rods, not tractors, though I understand that is the origin of the tread design. The only thing is, they are "for display purpose only" ...damnit...I am sure they are not made of the original compounds that the tractor tires were, I guess? but...either way: No D.O.T approval. They meet all my dimensional requirements, and look cool, too... too bad.
they say that to protect themselves, if you run one and have a failure, you were not supposed to drive on em.... but how many hotrods have you seen on them? Tons of parts are "NOT DOT approved". It is an expensive and pain in the *** for small volume parts to get them approved. Run them, but remember they dont handle like a radial.
I've ran across two guy's in the last two weeks using them with nothing but troubles. Apparently they were way out of round, enough to cause some nasty bouncing while at freeway speed. One guy did have his shaved round but even that still didn't fix the problem. Bummer, cause I really like the look too. Pat
Firestone made them for racing in the old days. I'm sure plenty of old racing roadsters and early jalopies and sprints ran tractor tires though. I have Cokers on my rpu and now I can't drive it on the freeway until I get rid of the high spots. I think when I ordered them 3 sets came in with bad splits in the ribs before a pair showed up that I accepted. Coker is great and I'll order more stuff in the future but they might work on the quality control a little.
While the non DOT approved ribbed tires may look good going down the highway, one thing you have to keep in mind is, in case of an accident, whether your fault or not, once your vehicle gets the once over by the " MAN" and he finds those NON DOT approved tires, your insurance for not only your vehicle, but also for any damage caused to someone elses property, may just be " NULL AND VOID". This is the type of bad news that could really ruin your day and enjoyment of our hobby. How many cases have " YOU" won when arguing with your insurance company?? I'll bet not many. CHEERSSS !!!! ZIMM
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