tire help with c2

[Rgrigs]

I have to replace some old tires on my 66 roadster. The old tires ride like rocks. I have direct bolt on knock offs. I want to go to modern radials as I plan to do some cruising and have been told to go with the Michelin p215-70R15s. Have you any suggestions as to tire size and brand. I sure would apreciate any suggestions.
Bob:cool

 

[396 RAT]

I like Mich MXV4 in 215-65-15

Costco is where I get mine........

 

[Allanb63]

I went with BFG Radial T/A 215/70 R15 and they are a good fit for width as well as diameter on a 15 by 6 wheel with 4 inch back spacing. However, they only have a speed rating of 'S'.

Here's a link to a thread on tires from August:
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34437

Another very good recommendation that I didn't read until after I bought my tires is to go for a speed rating of 'H' or above, to get a tire with a more sound radial construction.

Following that advice, others have said that a good tire to use is the Pirelli P4000, it has a 'W' speed rating and can be purchased for about $80 from the Tire Rack, and it does come in the 215/r70 by 15 size.

I wanted to be sure to come close to the diameter of the OE size tire, which was 27.4 for 63 and 64. It was 27.0 for 65 to 67.

hope that helps

 

[myonnone]

I am in the middle of doing the same for my 66 big block. I went with 215/70/15 Michelin Symetry radials with a white line for $89 each from Tire Rack.

The tires look and handle great on the car only problem is the white line. So far Tire Rack has sent me 12 (yes that's right, a dozen) of these tires so far. Out of the dozen, I have been able to find 4 that have a white line that is of uniform thickness all the way around the tire. The problem that they have is that on one part of the tire the 1/2" wide white line "necks down" to about 3/8" for about a one inch patch. Initially Tire Rack told me that's just the way it is. I refused to pay them for the tires and called Michelin to help straighten out the mess. The folks at Michelin were great about it and have assured me that this is a defect. So as much as I hate to buy anything french, these tires are great and Michelin has straightened out the mess.

One further note to be cautious of, the 215/70's will likely rub the frame (just ever so slightly) on a hard left hand turn. You will have to have the wheel locked left to have this happen.

 

[Allanb63]

So as much as I hate to buy anything french, these tires are great and Michelin has straightened out the mess.

Until just now, I hadn't considered that they were from France, but my BFG Radial T/As are actually made by Michelin as well.

BFG sold the rights to make the tire and use the name to Michelin several years ago.

-

 

[JP1522]

I have 205/70R15 Goodyear Integrity tires on my 64 with knock offs. I also have the Integrity's on my 56 vette and my Buick LeSabre. They are "S" rated tires and like tens of millions of other drivers, have had no problems with driving with "S" rated tires. My life and any passenger's life's are not any more valuable when I'm driving a Corvette then when I'm driving a Buick, in fact, I drive the Buick faster with higher loads( I can carry 4 additional passengers and more junk in the trunk in the Buick) on the interstate for longer periods of time then either of my Vintage Vettes. I purchased my tires from Wal-mart( they will special order any Goodyear tire for you). I checked the speedometer on the 64, with 205/70's against the speedometer on my C5 and at 60 MPH it was within 1 MPH of the C5's. There is plenty of room to run the 215/70's on the KO's and it won't affect the speedo that much. Unless you are planning to be a major law breaker on our public steets and highways, don't worry about having to have "performance" tires.