1966 tires help please

[rickrman]

Greetings, I am a newbie with my first Corvette and will tell you a story later. Right now I need help with a tire question. I have been able to determine that my 1966 silver air-coupe came from the factory with only whitewalls, goldlines or blackwalls. Odds are they were whitewalls and I need to find the best quality set of 3/8" whitewalls (NOT COKER) for the best price. I want whatever brand Chevrolet used in 1966. I am hoping perhaps some of the forum members have persued this shopping exercise and can offer advice. BTW, I'm not sure but my car may qualify as a "survivor" and I want to put it back to factory original. Thanks for the help! Rick

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

Keep in mind that any tire you buy today will be a radial type tire(other than the Coker type repos that you have rejected) so right off the bat the appearance from even 20' away will be different.

I think if you want an OEM brand tire AND a 3/8" whitewall you might be SOL. Most guys go for a Pmetric radial Michelin from what I've seen.

If you think your car is really a survivor, stop restoring it. That will automatically exclude you from that category! Best thing to do is learn, learn learn before you start any sort of projects. Take your time in deciding exactly what you intend to do with the car. A car is original only once. After that it's just another restoration.

 

[65TripleBlack]

Original tire manufacturers and brands

Whitewall and Blackwall:

Firestone Deluxe Champion
BF Goodrich Silvertown
Uniroyal (Tiger Paw??)
Goodyear Power Cushion

Goldline:

Firestone Super Sports
Goodyear Power Cushion

All the above tires are 7.75-15.Firestone Super Sports are not reproduced.Coker does not sell Goodyears, which, IMHO are the best repros. Kelsey Tire sells them. They are more expensive than the rest.

If you don't plan on having your car NCRS judged, then I would ABSOLUTELY use a modern radial tire. I believe that P205/65- R15 will fit with minor rubbing on the inside of the fronts with wheels in full lock. P215/70-R15 will fit with no clearance issues.

 

[Sweet66]

tires..

I think you could find a 215 / 75 15" radial that would work and have close to the same profile as the original bias ply tire .. I have not looked at what goodyear sells but they probably have that size with a white wall .. .. since there are far fewer tire companys now than 30 years ago [ michelin ate up BFG / Uniroyal ] firestone is owned by the japanese .. Goodyear is at least a tire that was OEM in 66.. if you have not ordered a catalogue from Corvette Central do so ASAP .. they sell bias ply correct rubber for your car [ and just about everything alse you'll ever need ].. but go for a radial tire unless it has to be a show car..