[SCG] Good news about 1966-9 concours tires

Tue Jul 8 19:46:58 EDT 2008

Personally, I'd like to see the Early U.S. Royal Safety 800s that Coker 
reproduces now made with the word 'Dominion' in place of  'U.S.'  That would 
make a factory-stock restored correct tire for Canadian cars up to '65.
yea, Vairily ... Shaun

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Duanne" <daluckow at aol.com>
To: <sgeast at interlog.com>; <kentsu at corvairkid.com>; <airvair at earthlink.net>; 
<scg-list at tiger.skiblack.com>; <bwschug at charter.net>
Cc: <corsarob at charter.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 11:51 AM
Subject: Re: [SCG] Good news about 1966-9 concours tires

> Guys,
>
> The more I look into this tire situation the more I am convinced Coker 
> should reproduced the correct tire.  Here is what I know so far.  Coker 
> has obtained the original Firestone drawings for the 700X13 tire.  A mold 
> would have to be made which is a good thing speaking with other tire 
> companies.  Six months out.  Using old molds is not a wise decision to 
> save money.  The reason tire manufacturers destroyed or got rid of their 
> molds were they were used up after making 1000's of tires.  It it our 
> individual safety and the safety of the Corvair.  With having the correct 
> tire specs for the Corvair 25.3 inch diameter and the right whitewall 
> width should all be safe now with new rubber, new mold being made.  I also 
> found out that the Dodge Dart used the same tire from 1963-1966 
> exclusively on their wagons and two years on their V-8's.  We need to 
> investigate the avenues to see if they are interested in helping out with 
> tire purchases.   If someone has ideas for this please respond.
>   250 tires will be manufactured in one batch.  That is selling 50 sets of 
> tires to individuals assuming they buy a spare to match.  Spending $625.00 
> on tires with shipping, mounting and balancing still needed before the car 
> is ready to go.  I am not finding any alternatives in the marketplace. 
> NOT interested in overseas production or their (foreign) time frame to 
> save $.  Comments?
>
> One other comment on pricing.  Coker tells me pricing should be the same 
> as the 6.50-13 ($125.00)  which is less than producing a radial look 
> alike.  Projecting a $175.00 radial seems too expensive to me, if a 
> cheaper radial substitute is still available for $45.00 like the Kumho or 
> Firestone FR 380.  P185/80 R13 which has a diameter of 24.65 and really is 
> an substitute for the 6.50 X 13 tire.
>
> Does anyone know tire brands by years used on the Corvairs or percentages? 
> US Royal, Firestone, Goodyear seem to be the big three used during the 
> Corvair era.  If Firestones were manufactured with their name by Coker, 
> would you guys be satisfied?  Comments?
>
> Duanne Luckow
> Corsa Concours chairman
>
>
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
> On 7/7/2008 at 11:54 PM Stan East wrote:
>
>>For purposes of the information to others on 66 to 69 Corvair tires I'll
>>relate my story and experiences. In 2005 I purchased 5 "new" 185-13R
>>Michelin XAS true 82 cross section tires from Coker through my friendly
>>local tire dealer It was the best price possible when importing into 
>>Canada
>>with an 80 cent dollar. Yes Mark much closer to your original 7.00-13 size
>>due to the non cross section sizing.
>>
>>I installed these tires on my 66 Corsa for Buffalo in 2006 and put the car
>>in the car display and the first ASCE. When the Michelins arrived the tire
>>store called me and asked if I wanted them as the manufacturing date was
>>several years old. Well I went ahead anyway and by 2007 the sidewalls have
>>enough cracks in them that I'd loose points on concours and in a safety
>>inspection get rejected. There's probably less than 2000 miles on the
>>tires.
>>
>>For those that don't know my car the only thing restored on the car are
>>the:
>>-wheels $1200 worth of sandblasting, cleaning, epoxy primer, filler primer
>>and sanding and then the correct shades of black paint to concours
>>standards,
>>-Michelins $1500 landed in Canada with taxes and duty
>>-and 4 NOS mag style wheel covers (a lucky $450 investment) everything 
>>else
>>has a 40 plus year patina. Total investment $3150 or more than the factory
>>air conditioned coupe cost me to buy more than 10 years ago!
>>
>>So we need a source of fresh rubber with good properties to resist
>>cracking.
>>As further information my 95 Safari van had Michelin summer tires all its
>>life and they never wore out the tread, I had to replace them each time 
>>due
>>to the extent of the sidewall cracking causing safety concerns. I did use
>>winter tires for 4 months each year when the summers were in dry dark cold
>>storage. After 12 years I finally traded in the Safari last October and
>>bought a new van which has come with...Michelins! Given my experiences 
>>with
>>Michelins of late I would ask questions about rubber compounds regarding
>>sidewall and tread cracking resistance. I have 16 year old Goodyear Eagle
>>winters for the Saturn which have not cracked the sidewalls but now have 
>>no
>>tread.
>>
>>I used to be a fan of Michelins but have lost interest in recommending 
>>them
>>or buying them given the experiences.
>>
>>Stan East
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: scg-list-bounces at tiger.skiblack.com
>>[mailto:scg-list-bounces at tiger.skiblack.com] On Behalf Of Kent Sullivan
>>Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 12:21 PM
>>To: airvair at earthlink.net; scg-list at tiger.skiblack.com; 'Duanne Luckow';
>>'Bruce Schug'
>>Cc: 'Robert Landers'
>>Subject: Re: [SCG] Good news about 1966-9 concours tires
>>
>>Mark--don't make assumptions! Nothing has been committed to at this point.
>>And your feedback is similar to other feedback Duanne received after I 
>>sent
>>this email. Seems like there are different considerations to balance and
>>that may take some time to sort out.
>>
>>For example, the VCCA, an organization that some people would like to show
>>their cars in, does not allow anything but factory stock type tires. So,
>>that would mandate bias ply construction... But I know too little about
>>tires to say whether a radial tire can be made to look like a bias ply.
>>
>>And yes, I have a car too that I like to keep as stock as possible (my
>>yellow convertible) but drive it regularly, so I want radial tires for 
>>that
>>car. But it's not clear whether we have to go to Coker for them... For
>>example, Larry Claypool has apparently found a source again for 185/80 13s
>>with a 5/8" whitewall, which is just after we had almost concluded they
>>weren't available anywhere now.
>>
>>--Kent
>
>
> This message was sent by the SCG-list mailing list, all copyrights are the 
> property
> of the writer, please attribute properly. For help, 
> mailto:scg-list-help at corvair.org
> This list sponsored by the Corvair Society of America, 
> http://www.corvair.org/
> Post messages to: SCG-list at tiger.skiblack.com
> Change your options: http://www.vv.corvair.org/mailman/options/scg-list
> Get further information about SCG at 
> http://members.cox.net/stock_corvair_group/ 