Based on a clue from another thread (Tiring Topic) I did a quick search over at Bridgestone-Firestone.com. Sure enough it's there - taking a lesson from Ford's success w/ retro nostalgia - they are dusting off and re-introducing the old 'Wide Oval' nameplate. Rest assured it is in name only - Obviously they will NOT be bias-ply F70 tires.
I had to chuckle at parts like their mention of 'carrying on the tradition...' - what tradition would that be? Gussied up sidewalls on non-performance tires? Except for the PV41 police tire - they long long ago abandoned the C3 segment like most other tire makers.
When reading tire manufacturer literature - one has to always take the word 'performance' with a grain of sale. They are always happy to overuse the term and just about anything is potentially a performance tire in thier marketing speak. So for the higher end tires they then have to resort to lots of adjectives like 'ultra' performance and 'high' performance and so on and so forth - it's a game of how many adjectives they can string out in front of the word performance to convey how much performance a tire is. (My private vision of a tire marketeers private 'hades' would be a world in which the word 'performance' doesn't exist in the lexicon - but if it didn't they would just invent it I suppose - oh well)
Anyhoo... As I read on I was elated to hear things like uni-directional tread and a UTQG of 320_AA_A! But my guarded hopes, not surprisingly, were not realized when I got down to the part about "initial" tire sizes. It's 16" tire sizes and above I'm afraid.
Disappointing but I can't say I'm surprised. I hate to say it but in the 15" (performance) tire size for C3s - there is simply little demand or market for it from what I can see. Despite the fact that a handful of potentially good all-season performance tires are avail in OE sizes for C3s (courtesy of Police Dept demand) - most C3 tire buyers overwhelmingly prefer less expensive, entry level non-performance tires w/ little more than sidewall cosmetics despite other legitimate options.
As for the 'new' Wide Ovals and the sizes they ARE offered in? I'm not quite sure what they are going after as far as market...?
Personally I don't think they are aesthetically apropriate for a modern car such as a C4, C5 or C6 or other modern American, Japanese or German performance car - but that's just me. They might look OK on a newer Corvette perhaps - dunno for sure. Maybe Firestone knows somethign I don't.
Where they would work nicely I think is in a C3 or a nostalgic 60s or 70s performance car which is also making use of a set of modern aftermarket upsize rims. Personally I would consider these new tires for one of several 17X8" rims I'm considering on a C3. But this is not necessarily a huge market and it's a market already wide open to just about every performance tire around. PLENTY of C3s and other vintage American performance oriented owners run OE rims.
Bottom line: As far as the original 15X8s (or 15X7s) they don't seem to offer us anything.
I plan on dropping a letter to Mark Emke, President/CEO of B-F USA. I'll be pointing out several things:
A) The namesake for their 'new' tire was originally for C3 Corvettes w/ 15X7 or 15X8 rims.
B) Their 'new' tire completely ignores this size and cannot be fitted on a C3 w/ factory rims.
C) No manufacturer to date offers a performance tire with a period 'look' for 60s or 70s performance cars.
I'm not holding my breath - there's a lot more to engineering a tire than waving a magic wand and taking a high perf tire like this and making it work in a 15", 70 series size. 70 series is relatively tall and that alone may post a serious technical hurdle. And like I said, the market may simply not support such a tire - A 15" 225/70R15 'new' Wide Oval may languish in wharehouses while C3ers continue to purchase cheap non-performance cosmetic tires.
The news release can be found here: Bridgestone Firestone Gets Nostalgic With New Firestone® Wide Oval™ Ultra-High Performance Tire Line
Bridgestone-Firestone can be contacted at:
http://www.bridgestone-firestone.com/parent/index.asp?id=contactus#
or...
Consumer Affairs - U.S. Retail Operations
Consumer Affairs Dept.
P. O. Box 7988
Chicago, IL 60680-9534
800-367-3872
Fax 800-760-7859 Email: firestone_consumer_affairs@faneuil.com
or
Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.
535 Marriott Dr.
Nashville, Tennessee 37214
Fax (615) 937-1414
(Likely the home office of the President/CEO?)
I had to chuckle at parts like their mention of 'carrying on the tradition...' - what tradition would that be? Gussied up sidewalls on non-performance tires? Except for the PV41 police tire - they long long ago abandoned the C3 segment like most other tire makers.
When reading tire manufacturer literature - one has to always take the word 'performance' with a grain of sale. They are always happy to overuse the term and just about anything is potentially a performance tire in thier marketing speak. So for the higher end tires they then have to resort to lots of adjectives like 'ultra' performance and 'high' performance and so on and so forth - it's a game of how many adjectives they can string out in front of the word performance to convey how much performance a tire is. (My private vision of a tire marketeers private 'hades' would be a world in which the word 'performance' doesn't exist in the lexicon - but if it didn't they would just invent it I suppose - oh well)
Anyhoo... As I read on I was elated to hear things like uni-directional tread and a UTQG of 320_AA_A! But my guarded hopes, not surprisingly, were not realized when I got down to the part about "initial" tire sizes. It's 16" tire sizes and above I'm afraid.
Disappointing but I can't say I'm surprised. I hate to say it but in the 15" (performance) tire size for C3s - there is simply little demand or market for it from what I can see. Despite the fact that a handful of potentially good all-season performance tires are avail in OE sizes for C3s (courtesy of Police Dept demand) - most C3 tire buyers overwhelmingly prefer less expensive, entry level non-performance tires w/ little more than sidewall cosmetics despite other legitimate options.
As for the 'new' Wide Ovals and the sizes they ARE offered in? I'm not quite sure what they are going after as far as market...?
Personally I don't think they are aesthetically apropriate for a modern car such as a C4, C5 or C6 or other modern American, Japanese or German performance car - but that's just me. They might look OK on a newer Corvette perhaps - dunno for sure. Maybe Firestone knows somethign I don't.
Where they would work nicely I think is in a C3 or a nostalgic 60s or 70s performance car which is also making use of a set of modern aftermarket upsize rims. Personally I would consider these new tires for one of several 17X8" rims I'm considering on a C3. But this is not necessarily a huge market and it's a market already wide open to just about every performance tire around. PLENTY of C3s and other vintage American performance oriented owners run OE rims.
Bottom line: As far as the original 15X8s (or 15X7s) they don't seem to offer us anything.
I plan on dropping a letter to Mark Emke, President/CEO of B-F USA. I'll be pointing out several things:
A) The namesake for their 'new' tire was originally for C3 Corvettes w/ 15X7 or 15X8 rims.
B) Their 'new' tire completely ignores this size and cannot be fitted on a C3 w/ factory rims.
C) No manufacturer to date offers a performance tire with a period 'look' for 60s or 70s performance cars.
I'm not holding my breath - there's a lot more to engineering a tire than waving a magic wand and taking a high perf tire like this and making it work in a 15", 70 series size. 70 series is relatively tall and that alone may post a serious technical hurdle. And like I said, the market may simply not support such a tire - A 15" 225/70R15 'new' Wide Oval may languish in wharehouses while C3ers continue to purchase cheap non-performance cosmetic tires.
The news release can be found here: Bridgestone Firestone Gets Nostalgic With New Firestone® Wide Oval™ Ultra-High Performance Tire Line
Bridgestone-Firestone can be contacted at:
http://www.bridgestone-firestone.com/parent/index.asp?id=contactus#
or...
Consumer Affairs - U.S. Retail Operations
Consumer Affairs Dept.
P. O. Box 7988
Chicago, IL 60680-9534
800-367-3872
Fax 800-760-7859 Email: firestone_consumer_affairs@faneuil.com
or
Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.
535 Marriott Dr.
Nashville, Tennessee 37214
Fax (615) 937-1414
(Likely the home office of the President/CEO?)
As bad as it may be in performance, this is very possibly one of the most popular C3 tires of all time. Likely a major profit source as is just resting on it's name and cosmetics alone.
