Anyone have any, or any leads to someone who may? I am constantly checking ebay and not really scoring anything right now.

Also might be interested in GSCs.

Interested in both 245s and 255s.

Thanks
Mark
RPM

 

Why would you want GSC's? Ugh. I can understand the ZR's if you're doing a restoration but I'd pass on the GSC for multiple reasons. They dont even look anything similar. That route you could choose a lot better avenues like last time I looked Goodyear made a Eagle tire of some sort that was different but directional and not skewed to one side like the GSC's are.

Trying to find a useable set of original tires these days is very difficult. I came across some at a used tire place a couple years ago that were ok, had some tread left, and werent dry rotted out but no mistake they were old.

 

The only reason for the GSCs is bc quite frankly I like the way they look! Plus they are as close to era correct as possible w/o being ZR50s. I have seen many low mileage cars lately that are running the F1 D3s bc the ZRs dry rotted and they look ok but I think that GSC would look better IMO.

But the GSCs would be a last resort anyway. I am trying to find some low mileage ZRs. Still pissed at myself for missing a set of Formula wheels with ZRs with 6K miles on them on ebay about a year back.

I have 2 ZRs in 245 and one in 255 that have plenty of tread and no rot but are very hard from being stored outside for a few years and just being old.

 

Unfortunately thats how most are these days, hard as rocks.
If I happen to stumble across any... I'll let you know.

 

The tire manufacturers recommend replacing tires after 5 - 7 years. The rubber compound has a life span and deteriorates from UV after some time. I wouldn't spend good money on junk tires.

 

I have a single 245 ZR50 that has excellent tread, but even though it's been kept inside for several years it seems to be on the hard side. The Eagle HP has a similar tread design, but I think it has been out of production for a while now.

 

Thanks Madmax!

Yeah unfortunately the HP and the the similar sidewall design GTII have been out of production for a while now.

I remember in 1998 I got a quote from a GY dealer for $1250 for a set of ZRs. I thought it was too much and went and got a cheaper set for my Formula. Damn do I wish I had bought that set right now...

 

I have the newer Eagle GT HR tires on my red GTA; I don't drive the car regularly or at speed so the tire speed ratings aren't really important to me. But the tread somewhat resembles the directional VR/ZR50 design from a distance. I could not find anything else that looked even close when I was tire-shopping. The GT HRs don't have the big, broad-shouldered look of the Gatorbacks, though.

My Notchback has 245/50 Eagle GT+4s on it and they have "the look" of the original Gatorback tires.... but I don't think those are available anymore, either.

 

The GT+4 has been out of production about as long as the gatorback. It's a shame because I was very fond of those tires.

 

When I got my set of GT+4s, they were sitting in a local distributor's warehouse. The store asked me three times to be sure I knew what I was getting.... they had no stock at the time on anything 245/50-16. But I was glad to get them and they have been excellent tires.

 

I know what you mean about "the look" of the ZRs,GTIIs and GT+4s.
There is just something to that look that screams " this is what this car was meant to look like!"

 

I kind'a feel the same way. I'm pretty possessed with maintaining my ride as close to 100% original as possible. My ride (after 18 years) is only on it's second set of tires, ever. When the original RPO-QLC Goodyear Eagle GS-C 245/50-16 needed replacing back in 2001 (with 74,000kms / 44,600miles at the time), I was still able to go down to the local Chevy dealer for a brand new set. The original tires were still in reasonable shape, no cracks, even wear, and the car has never been in the sun except when being driven. But it was time.

 

When i bought my Z28 in the summer of 06 it had the original Goodyears on it. The tread was fine (28k miles) but they were dryrotted to hell. I would assume anything past 10-12 years is extremely unsafe just because of dryrotting.

 

Man, that's great mileage on those OEM tires.... the VR50s that came on my '88 GTA didn't last 15,000 miles. I've gone through 4 sets of tires in 20 years.... the OEM ones, two sets of Firestones, and then the Eagle GT HRs that I have on there now. But in truth, only the original tires were replaced because they actually wore out. The others were due to storage over the years.

 

I have a word of advice for you all that think any tire that has tread on it is ok

THEY ARE NOT

do yourself a favor and replace any old tires before you kill yourself or worse, someone else

those aged tires should be used for SHOW ONLY and NOT be driven on the street

We buy tires every two years and that is 12 months too long IMHO

I can tell the difference in ~ 10-11 months of heat cycling (driving them every day)

old tires are that, OLD

regardless of how stored

the manufacturers are going to put "expiration dates" on tires and that is LONG overdue IMHO

fresh tires give you GRIP, especially important if you "play" with your car ...

accelerating grip, cornering grip and braking grip

do NOT try to drive your tires to the cords, you are only playing with fire

</rant>

 

Maybe some factual backup rather than personal opinion would make more sense.

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=138

 

Yes, seen those arguments. Notice the number of factors and inability to categorize. Fact is they dont know. I have a set on a car thats rarely if ever driven that were worn out around the time they were put on, they were pretty much bad from day 1. I have a pair of tires I bought over 15 years ago that havent seen much sun or load and they're fine, cant even really tell they're old.

I do agree that old tires are dangerous though... gotta know what kind of condition they're in and I wouldnt go autocrossing in them.

 

denial does not make it go away

the tires even get flat spotted from sitting

they lose all their "moistness" (freshness) (not sure what words I need to use to get through to you) simply through time & evaporation, regardless of where or how they are stored

My wife and I have owned Camaros and Corvettes for nearly 20 years and I have owned Camaros since 1973. I have also autocrossed & road raced Camaros since 1973 using tires specifically compounded (ok back in 73 the BFG Radial T/A was THE tire to have) for that use. An "old" set of autox tires is usually worse than a new set of OEM tires. An old set or OEM tires is worse than driving on ice, trust me I KNOW about tires and their grip/age consequences.

if you don't believe the Tire Rack blurb, why do you think legislation is in place to place "Use before" dates on tires? An Al Gore conspiracy theory? whatever, don't believe us ...

have you ever seen "film" on the inside of a windshield of a new car in a holding lot? what do you think that "film" is? It is all the chemicals being released from the plastics and rubber inside the car.

 

Again, no factual evidence just personal opinion.

I have owned Firebirds for over 20 years, does that make me smarter than you? Kind of a pointless argument to make.

The government is way more involved than just tire age. How about people that dont even monitor their tire pressure and roll over their... say... Ford Explorer? Even if the government puts a 5 year age limit on tires, it doesnt say a single thing about the serviceability of that tire. It may be fine, it may not. It may have been bad out of the gate, or it might last 10 years. And racing or autocrossing is far from the gauge of serviceability. So is flat spotting. I guess you werent around when bias ply tires were, those flat spot after a very short time. Even the Michelin Pilot Sports flat spot after just a few days of sitting, are they junk now? No. Just because the tire has lost some of its grip does not make it bad. Maybe you dont drive on the streets, but you should take a look at the vehicles on the road. I got into the same type of silly argument elsewhere on this board about front sway bars and apparently some people think that the ultimate capability of a vehicle is the only gauge of what should be driven on the road. When I transport my family I drive a big poor handling minivan, there's not much choice in the matter. I drive it accordingly. When choosing an old tire and when deciding what sort of use to place it under, how can the government determine if its ok or not? Fact is they have no clue and neither does anyone else. Is there a risk? Sure. Can you gauge that or accurately determine that tire will fail? No. This is far from denial, its reality. Some guy in DC cant tell me if my tires are good or not and you can be assured I wont rely on his opinion to tell me either.

For the original poster, the original VR tires were hard to begin with, so dont use that as judgment. They had a tendency to chunk up the blocks a bit, so thats not a good determining factor either. As they get old they tend to discolor to a more grayish tone and the blocks where they connect to the tire will have large radiuses and/or cracks as the rubber contracts. In my opinion the VR's were like driving on ice BRAND NEW, compared to some other offerings of the day at the time... so there's just more bad advice from the poster above taking about old OEM tires being worse than driving on ice, hell they were like that new. But... they lasted 36k miles under my driving habits and the Dunlop D40's that replaced them lasted all of 12k miles. That should give you a good idea of the hardness of the tire and the treadwear rating, not to mention capabilities like suck in the rain and terrible in the snow. But they did ok hot on dry ground.

 

Tire Rack still sells GS-C tires. But they're more expensive than the GS-D3 tires.

I know what you mean about the Gatorback tires though. Here is a picture of my original Gatorback ZR tires on the car. Pic taken in the summer of 2006. They just have that nice smooth wide look to them. Not too aggressive. But not too tame either.



I kept those on the car from when it was new to 2007. Back tires still had 5/32nd of tread left on them. I wound up buying a set of GS-D3's for the car as I was planning on driving across the country and wanted something guaranteed to be safe. The Gatorbacks were fine in the dry but a little sensitive in the rain. Murphey's Law would dictate that I would have a blow out on the GS-D3 when they were a couple months old. No road hazard on them because Tire Rack doesn't sell Road Hazard to Canadians. So I wound up buying a 5th tire to replace my blown tire which had *cringes* 10/32nds of tread left on it. All in all, it wound up costing me $1300 for all five tires. You can see why I don't like buying new tires.

 

I gotta disagree about buying new tires every 2 years. I can't imagine going through 9 sets of tires on my 1989 GTA. Especially when it's been a summer only car since day one. Stored out of the sunlight in a cool garage. The cold winters (garage gets down to 5°C) keeps the humidity high even though the dew point is low. It's the Florida cars that are parked outside in the direct sunlight and parked on hot pavement all day that get the UV damage.

Like I said above, the Gatorbacks were bad in the rain. But still had great grip on sunny days. When I can take a sweeping right hand turn and be pressing my left foot on the floor trying to keep my body from leaning against the door and still not squeal a tire, that's grip.


Tires coming apart due to age is a pretty rare condition. It's tires that don't have any depth left to them that don't stop in time and get in accidents (in the rain). People who drive summer tires in the snow. My Gatorbacks still stopped on a dime the same way they did when new. Having a car with a bad alignment will go through tires and distort their shape way worse than driving a perfectly aligned car for multiple years will.

The only reason I had the blow out on the GS-D3 was that I ran over a piece of metal on the highway at 4:30AM. That deflated the tire enough that it caught on a piece of the inner wheel well that was pointy. That sliced the inside wall of the tire like a can opener. That could have happened to any tire.

 

Nice discussion but no need to get heated over anything here. If you have a bad experience with tires then you can tell us about it but don't force your opinion onto others. There is simply no reason for that. I am well aware of tire age and quality, I am not looking for ZR50s for a daily driver. I am specifically looking for them for "the look" nothing else. So state your point and get on with your life. Please. That is not what this thread is for, this can be a civilized mature discussion that people that appreciate originality can partake in and understand.

Reid Fleming, how many miles are on the ones in the picture? Is it a low mileage car?

 

Got a link for a set of 245 50 16s? Last i checked the tire rack had only 17s.
I first fell in love with the GSCs when i replaced the original vr Gatorbacks on my 88 sometime around late '90. The ride quality improvement was like going from bias ply to radials. Those Gatorbacks were torture. Ive bought nothing but GSCs over the years.

 

I like them too. I know they are now "old" technology by today's standards, but my driving habits never come close to even approach pushing the envelope. I'm a pretty tame driver just going for a cruise. That's probably how I squeeze fairly decent mileage out of such a soft tire compound.
If I were an aggresive driver or one that just enjoys pushing the handling closer to the limits, I would then definitly shod my ride with newer tech tires.
For myself, I like the look and the originality. But that's just me. It's also surprising how many looks they get at car shows. I've seen people on their knees getting a closer look (probably thinking, "Holy crap these can't be original! He better get rid of them!").
My car's storage is similar to Reid Fleming's. The amount of total time my ride is now outside of the garage a summer can be counted in just a few days a year. UV and hydrocarbon (which can promote decay of rubber and plastic) exposure is very limited and they are never exposed to harsh elements such as road salt or off highway use.

There are so many different factors effecting tire life that you will also get almost as many differing opinions and experiences.
Safety however is incredibly important. I'd say if you have any doubt, throw them out.

 

I got your PM but I might as well answer it here. Those tires of mine had aprox 50,000 kms on them (30,000 miles).... possibly a thousand kms less, when I took them off for the GS-D3's.

I'm afraid I don't have them anymore. Gave them to the tire shop when I had my new tires installed. I would have given them to you for free (+ shipping).

 

Wow, those look good for 30K miles! Thankd Reid!