I'm looking for a 'performance' tire for our '50 Mordor. This is going to be our daily driver. (Future plans call for modern ('59 352 cid) power and suspension upgrades.) I want to keep the 'theme' to pre '60. I can't find anything on when 'Wide Oval' 70 series tires came on the scene. I remember them in the early '60s, but my feeble mind doesn't recall anything before then though. The old girl is currently wearing 15 inch steel wheels with 'modern' radials (Ugh!!!). Original tires were 6.00x16's (???). Any help on the matter is greatly appreciated.
Wide ovals were introduced in 1967 If you are going to drive the car everyday then I know you won't want to hear this but keep the radial tires IMHO!
A lot of us old farts lived through the bias-ply tire era. They ****ed then, but at least you had major corporations producing them so you were ***ured of getting a decent product. Reading through various HAMB threads, it seems like nowadays it's a real ****shoot to even get bias-plies that are straight or not seriously out of balance. My 2 cents, they still ****, but worse. Correct era be damned!
I sure didn't expect these answers. Will take them for what they are worth. Was really looking for something that was correct for the late 50's/early 60's. Thanks.
Remember, Michelin was making and selling radials at that time so they are traditional by availability.
When a person wants to buid a car to a specific era thats great! That's all well and good, but today you are competeing for your spot on the road with cars that are light years ahead of the era you are embracing. The key to using your as a daily driver is to make it safe......Handle well, Brake well, and be ready when the looney in front of you does something that tightens the svinktor(sp.) at the end of your poopy chute you know the feeling! Make the car as safe as you can for you and yours! You do want to be doing this for a long time don't you!
It really depends on your budget. There's a bunch of good, hi-performance 70 series tires, many with a nice vintage look to them but some can be quite pricey. What size ya looking for?
I don't care if it gets me kicked off this board or any others, When it comes to tires. My wife's life and my own are worth more than being period correct on Bias ply pieces of ****! I drove a 63 Z06 tanker to Bowling Green KY on its original BP's, When I got there I bought a set of BFGs and had my BP's shipped home.
Dunlop Roadspeed RS5s come in 6.70H15 They are far from pieces of ****, they're actually very good performance tires for a vintage car and probably have limits that are higher than what 95% of vintage Corvette owners can use.
Agreed. We had a few kicking around at my dads farm, and they're just awful. A buddy had bias plies on his old motorcycle that he just bought, and they were every bit as bad.
The vintage Michelins sound like a workable solution for now. I was looking for something like the old F70X15's. Guess they were later than I thought. Eventually I'll change out the engine, trans, rear axle to the '59 PI items. Want to do something with the front suspension, but haven't figured out just what yet. There aren't a lot of 'freeways' up here in the Northwoods. LOL!! Thanks everyone for your input.
You have a handful of options... 1) Bias Ply: Dunlop Roadspeed RS5, these are what Jaguars ran until they switched to radials. These are more performance oriented than any other bias ply tire you can buy (Not as in drag-racing performance oriented, I mean go around corners performance oriented). These are very expensive, 8.00-15s are $400+ each. 2) Radial: Michelin XWX V rated. These are also very expensive. Original equipment on 60s to early 70s Ferraris, Lamborghini Miuras, Mercedes 300SEL 6.3s, etc. They're not as grippy as a modern tire, but they do look kinda period correct. I know that Avon makes a 205HR15 which is like a 205-80R15, Dunlop makes an ER70HR15 SP Sport "Aquajet" which is, again, a 60s era radial. Vredestein also makes a 205-70VR15 which looks 60s correct. All of the above tires are probably $400 each or damn near it, the XWXs are real expensive and, IMO, not really worth it unless you need a size that ONLY the XWX comes in (Like a 205VR14).
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