tires

well i think it might be time for some new rubber the tread is like new and has very few miles on them but they have  a lot of little cracks to bad they were not real cheap my question is where to get a good tire without spending a ton of money i dont put many miles on it a year and if they are just going to get dry rot i want to keep the cost down. thanks

you may want to try tirerack.com. when i got my escalade needed a spare to match the other tires as gm puts in a 16in and a crummy rim for a spare. went there and got the tire for about half of what it would have cost me around me. shipped it and had it the next day.

I wound up at "Discount Tires" when I put new shoes on the '85. Kumho Ecstas, and the four, mounted/balanced, etc, was around $800. Not exactly cheap, by any stretch of the imagination, but I couldn't spend the $$$ for similar Goodyears like it originally had. Good/affordable tires are getting hard to find in the 16" rim size that will work on Corvettes...

I put a set of BF Goodrich gForceSport tires on my 86' a few years ago.  They are a good tire, but not as responsive as the Goodyear Gatorbacks that were original equipment for this car.  Your going to find that there aren't a lot of choices in the 255/50 ZR16 original equipment tire size available any more.  Tire Rack only has 2 streetable tires avilable on their website right now, it seems that this size tire is being phased out, hopefully the restoration tire manufacturers will step up soon now that the c4's are beginning to be recognized by the NCRS and are becoming more of a collectors item than before.

BF Goodrich G-sports are pretty much your only choice in a 255/50-16 tire, now.  You can drop down to a 245/50 and there are many other choices. If you have 9-1/2" wheels, the 245 will look dumb, but with the 8-1/2 it would be fine. 

I'm sure others will roll their eyes at this suggestion, but I mention it in context of your wanting to save money, and you don't drive it that frequently. I doubt anyone would ever notice, and you could save 30-40 bucks per tire over the g-sports.

One last thing. If you find another brand in 255 size, be sure to inspect the date codes.  Last thing you want to do is pay for, and put 3,4,5 year old tires on your car. They've already been rotting.  Nitrogen inflation also helps with deterioration.  And keep them at 50psi when in storage, so they don't flat spot.

Refering to the Nitrogen fill - is there any way to do this your self.  Does it really preserve the tires?  I don't drive my 86' very much and have already replaced a set of tires because of cracking.  They still had a lot of tread left. 

thanks all

[QUOTE=The Car Whisperer]Refering to the Nitrogen fill - is there any way to do this your self.  Does it really preserve the tires?  I don't drive my 86' very much and have already replaced a set of tires because of cracking.  They still had a lot of tread left. [/QUOTE]

Yes--you can do it yourself.

No--it doesnt preserve tires....cracking comes from the outside mostly, which is subjected to the elements...think about it...how is nitrogen on the inside gonna protect the outside?


What it does is basically take your money..its just a new deal thats being spoken of lately...it was done back in the 70's.
It also stops you from having to air up the tire during long periods of non driving.
It also is important in high speeds...it doesnt expand like regular air from a compressor....not worth the $$$ IMHO.

Parking on plastic and covering your tires from the sun and elements helps.
rolling the car a little every week (at minimum) helps stop flat spots developing in radial tires.


Jim

[QUOTE=takoda]well i think it might be time for some new rubber the tread is like new and has very few miles on them but they have  a lot of little cracks to bad they were not real cheap my question is where to get a good tire without spending a ton of money i dont put many miles on it a year and if they are just going to get dry rot i want to keep the cost down. thanks [/QUOTE]

Check Summit Racing online...they still have a decent selection of 16" tires...and other sizes.


G/L


Jim

I kinda thought the Nitrogen wasn't worth the trouble.  If it was that good everyone would have started using it a long time ago.  Does anyone have any thoughts on how to preserve the tire from the outside.  I only drive mine about a 1000 miles a year, it's kept in the garage otherwise.  My tires still begin to crack between the treads after about 5 years.  Has anybody here had any success with tire dressings etc?  I armorall my tires at shows, this may actually hurt the rubber than help.