Firestone steel radial 500 Corvette tires 1973 -77

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by TimG

My word, what a disaster.

Yeah, that's not fabric showing, that is steel cord with really sharp ends. Imagine several hundred hypodermic needles flailing around, formerly under tension, at supersonic speed.

Pretty much the automotive equivalent of a Claymore Antipersonnel Mine.

There are several stories of mid 70's Corvettes having the spare tire F500 inside the well explode and take out the fuel tank and rear quarters while parked in the owners' garage.

[tom406]

I’m an original tire and wheel nerd but I’d have to draw the line at ticking time bombs.

[Ralph Spears]

I drove my new 1973 Corvette Boston MA to North Carolina and back without a problem

[Ralph Spears]

I have 9 of them in my garage for 45 years a few of them are mounted .

[SBR]

I had a 75 Corvette L82 4 speed convertible with 900 original miles that had these tires. I mounted them on the car to take some pictures and parked it overnight since I did not have time to change them out. The next morning I could see that one of them was letting loose. Thankfully there was no damage done. I don't think that I have ever changed out 4 tires faster than I did that morning.

[Ralph Spears]

These tires have been in my garage for 47 years as soon as i junk them someone will want them

[SBR]

Originally Posted by Ralph Spears

These tires have been in my garage for 47 years as soon as i junk them someone will want them

You can count on it. That's how it usually goes.

That said, I love original tires as much as anyone but there comes a point when it's simply not worth it. I personally would never sell or even give one these tires to anyone. The potential risk of future litigation if God forbid something happens to that person or their property is too great in my opinion.

[BCreekDave]

I guess you could always do this:
https://carlisletyrfil.com/products/...-flatproofing/
and just put them on for the shows.

Seems like it would take the explosion risk out of the picture. Maybe even drive short distance (slowly).

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by BCreekDave

I guess you could always do this:
https://carlisletyrfil.com/products/...-flatproofing/
and just put them on for the shows.

Seems like it would take the explosion risk out of the picture. Maybe even drive short distance (slowly).

No it wouldn't because the "explosion" is from the steel cords snapping while under extreme tension. I have had two of these tires catastrophically self destruct without even being mounted on a rim!

I think the only real way would be to get those reproduction white letter stickers custom made and put them on a new tire. :-)

https://www.tirestickers.com/product...caAolkEALw_wcB

[Pro Stock John]

Wikipedia has an article about these tires, it's pretty interesting.