New Shoes For The Corvette

[Keith Tedford]

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a mint set of 2008 chromed wheels. I decided on the Firestone runflats. They had a fairly high wear rating and those with them seem to be happy. A little cheaper than Michelins and I don't plan on any track time. After a 10 mile run this morning, I realized that I have a radio. The road noise from the tires is gone. Then again the hard old Goodyears are nine years old and counting. One front has recently developed a slow leak so the time had come. The ride does seem to be a little smoother too. We'll see. I'll have a better opinion about the tires after a few years.

 

[Black 03 Z06]

Keith, looks really nice. Welcome home by the way.

 

[Riley P]

Hooray for new tires! Glad to "hear" they are working out for you.

 

[Keith Tedford]

Dale agreed that there was a lot less road noise in the cabin. We were on a 40 mile run after lunch and so far, so good.

 

[Bucks]

Congrats On The New Shoes Keith ....

Give Us Break Down Report As You Put Kms On Them ....

 

[Keith Tedford]

The Uxbridge Cruise Night is now in Elgin Park in Uxbridge. On grass is so much nicer. Unfortunately, the roadway in is gravel and everyone was busy dusting their cars off once they got parked.
On the trip over and back I found myself speeding several times. The Firestones are so much quieter and the ride smoother than the old Goodyears, not feeling every pebble and line in the road, that it's all too easy to be going faster than you think. I had the Alignment Centre in Peterborough take out all of the front end camber last year in an effort to get rid of the front inside tire wear. I'll report back in about 20K miles. We're more than pleased so far in the short time we have had on the tires. Traction seems to be reasonably decent too.

 

[Elf]

I understand a lot of folks like Firestone and I'm glad for you and your car

One thing I do is keep my old ones as emergency spares.I found from past experience that Corvette tires are not a shelf item .

 

[Keith Tedford]

In trying to get tires, I found that with certain brands, the warehouses might have the fronts but not the backs or vice versa. Some brands weren't available at all and you would have to wait until the next production run. Corvettes have never had high production numbers. Add to that the fact that a lot of Corvettes don't get a lot of miles put on them and it quickly becomes obvious that there are not a lot of tires sold for Corvettes. No one is going to stock many of these tires if at all. With our tire guy, he found us a set during the two weeks that we were away so everything went smoothly. Something to keep in mind if you are soon going to need new tires. It might take a little time getting them. I now have two sets of tires on old rims. I'll probably sell the polished set and keep the old original painted ones for emergency sake. They do take up a lot of space.

 

[Marge]

Currently, I have a set of Dunlop G/T Qualifiers. They have been great tires and I like the look of the white lettering more than a white wall. I am probably going to move to a set of BF Goodrich Radial T/A

 

[Keith Tedford]

We've put a couple of thousand miles on the Firestone runflat tires and are happy with them so far. Much quieter than the original Goodyears and ride a little smoother too. The price was good too, for Canada at least. $1640 and change tax included. Four tires, four new TPMS sensors, mounted and balanced. Not a mark on the tires either, unlike some other experiences.
A little update on Elgin Park. The road way has been paved so I am told.

 

[vt65]

Currently, I have a set of Dunlop G/T Qualifiers. They have been great tires and I like the look of the white lettering more than a white wall. I am probably going to move to a set of BF Goodrich Radial T/A’s. However, I am open to some suggestions. My current tires are 215/70R/15′s and I want to stay with that size because they are a bit beefier and as such, put more rubber on the road. Also, at that size there is no clearance issues with the fiberglass. So here is the deal. First, sign up for the email newsletter. Then comment here on what kind of tire (make and model) you would recommend. If I like your suggestion, I will send you a free Corvette Price Guide – a $15 dollar value. I am really open to some suggestions and would love some recommendations.

Marge you don't state what year your car is but i'm running 215-65-15 Michelin HydroEdge tires on 15x7" American wheels, no clearance issues on my '65 and they ride and perform well, sorry Keith for camping on your thread

 

[Keith Tedford]

That's OK we're still talking tires. On our old Chevelles I ran BFG T/As for years with zero problems. The white letter sizing was close to that of the original Uniroyal white lettered tires that came on our Chevelle when new.

 

[vt65]

That's OK we're still talking tires. On our old Chevelles I ran BFG T/As for years with zero problems. The white letter sizing was close to that of the original Uniroyal white lettered tires that came on our Chevelle when new.

same here I ran T/A's on my 70 SS, they handled much better than the stock Uniroyals