RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

[Tony H.]

I need a set of RWL Goodyear Speedway bias-ply tires (like original). Can anyone tell me the best source for these? Ideally, I'd like exact repros with new rubber.

Also, from my tank sticker, I found that these type of tires were original for my 70 Corvette but the spare that I have appears to be an original bisa-ply Goodyear Speedway with white stripe. How likely is it that my Corvettes would have left the factory with this configuration (4 RWL and 1 WS as spare Goodyear Speedways)? The judging manual says not to deduct an additional 20% for a non-matching spare.

Thanks for any information!

[Joe L.]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

Tony-----

The most correct new tire available for your car is distributed by Kelsey Tire Company of Camdenton, MO (www.kelseytire.com). This company specializes in reproduction Goodyear Tires and their Goodyear Speedway Wide Tread Tires are a near-perfect reproduction of the tires originally supplied on your 70. These tires are manufactured in the USA using the original molds and in Goodyear subsidiary factories. Although of original nylon cord, 2 ply-4 ply rated bias construction, these tires are manufactured with contemporary rubber compounds so they represent some improvement over the original compounds and are undetectably different in this regard.

You must keep in mind, though, that these tires are, basically, 1960s technology. They are produced and sold primarily for authenticity purposes and WILL NOT PERFORM like the modern-day radials that most folks are used to. An alternative to the Speedway Wide Tread is the Polyglass Custom Wide Tread. This tire, also reproduced by Kelsey, is of configuration somewhat similar to the Speedway Wide Tread, but with fiberglass-belted construction. This represents a significant improvement in performance and tread life, but at the cost of exact original configuration. Although offerring improved performance, these tires are considerably less expensive than the Speedway Wide Tread.

The Speedway Wide Tread Tires, and all Kelsey reproductions, are available from Goodyear Dealers, Corvette Central, or direct from Kelsey for about $175 each regardless of where you get them. Corvette Central offers free shipping if you buy a set of 4. However, then you have to take them someplace and have them mounted and balanced. If you buy them from a Goodyear dealer they will most likely charge you for the freight, but they will mount them for free.

As far as your white-stripe spare goes, I consider it unlikely that your car came from the factory with RWL tires on the road and a WS spare, although anything is possible. More likely, the tires were swapped when the car was new. Keep in mind that during the 60s and 70s many dealers had several Corvettes in stock. If a customer came in and liked a particular car, but didn't like the raised white letter tires, the dealer would, most likely, simply swap the tires, including spare(particularly if the customer mentioned it), from another Corvette. That way, no re-mounting and balancing would be involved and the swap could be completed in minutes while the customer was signing the papers. This was a VERY common practice for easily swapped components like tires. If a customer fell in love with a particular car and their only problem was the tire configuration, no dealer would risk losing the sale while trying to find another identical car with different tires. Especially if the customer was otherwise so thrilled with the car that they were willing to pay full price.

[Joe L.]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

Tony-----

The most correct new tire available for your car is distributed by Kelsey Tire Company of Camdenton, MO (www.kelseytire.com). This company specializes in reproduction Goodyear Tires and their Goodyear Speedway Wide Tread Tires are a near-perfect reproduction of the tires originally supplied on your 70. These tires are manufactured in the USA using the original molds and in Goodyear subsidiary factories. Although of original nylon cord, 2 ply-4 ply rated bias construction, these tires are manufactured with contemporary rubber compounds so they represent some improvement over the original compounds and are undetectably different in this regard.

You must keep in mind, though, that these tires are, basically, 1960s technology. They are produced and sold primarily for authenticity purposes and WILL NOT PERFORM like the modern-day radials that most folks are used to. An alternative to the Speedway Wide Tread is the Polyglass Custom Wide Tread. This tire, also reproduced by Kelsey, is of configuration somewhat similar to the Speedway Wide Tread, but with fiberglass-belted construction. This represents a significant improvement in performance and tread life, but at the cost of exact original configuration. Although offerring improved performance, these tires are considerably less expensive than the Speedway Wide Tread.

The Speedway Wide Tread Tires, and all Kelsey reproductions, are available from Goodyear Dealers, Corvette Central, or direct from Kelsey for about $175 each regardless of where you get them. Corvette Central offers free shipping if you buy a set of 4. However, then you have to take them someplace and have them mounted and balanced. If you buy them from a Goodyear dealer they will most likely charge you for the freight, but they will mount them for free.

As far as your white-stripe spare goes, I consider it unlikely that your car came from the factory with RWL tires on the road and a WS spare, although anything is possible. More likely, the tires were swapped when the car was new. Keep in mind that during the 60s and 70s many dealers had several Corvettes in stock. If a customer came in and liked a particular car, but didn't like the raised white letter tires, the dealer would, most likely, simply swap the tires, including spare(particularly if the customer mentioned it), from another Corvette. That way, no re-mounting and balancing would be involved and the swap could be completed in minutes while the customer was signing the papers. This was a VERY common practice for easily swapped components like tires. If a customer fell in love with a particular car and their only problem was the tire configuration, no dealer would risk losing the sale while trying to find another identical car with different tires. Especially if the customer was otherwise so thrilled with the car that they were willing to pay full price.

[Rolf Krueger]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

1. The secret to "correct" reproduction tires for 1968 to 1972 Corvettes is to remember that these cars were OEM equipped with a NYLON cord, bias ply F70-15 tire that was unique to Corvette. Most of the Corvette OEM tires were made by Goodyear (Speedway Wide Tread) or Firestone (Super Sport Wide Oval), but a few were made by US Royal.

2. There is no one that reproduces the Nylon cord F70-15 Firestone or US Royal tire originally used on Corvette. The Nylon cord F70-15 Goodyear Speedway Wide Tread is reproduced by Kelsey Tire Company in Camdenton, MO under license from Goodyear. All of the various sidewall options are available. They can be obtained directly from Kelsey or from Goodyear Dealers (special order) or various other outlets. These tires are made in the original Goodyear molds, and with perhaps one exception noted below, are very high fidelity reproductions of the original tire.

3. There has been an "originality" Judging issue that has arisen with the RWL version of the Kelsey F70-15 Nylon cord reproduction tire. The raised white letter "E" has a shorter center leg than the top and bottom leg. There are some NCRS Judges that believe that originally installed RWL Goodyear tires have the RWL "E" with all three legs the same length and will make a small deduction for the reproduction tire because of that. I personally do not have sufficient knowledge to know what the facts in 1968-1972 installed tires really were. I spoke with John Kelsey (owner of Kelsey Tire) late in 1998 and he told me that he had taken that same hit from NCRS members and that the tire mold was recently modified to make all three legs of the RWL "E" the same. That means that future production runs of that RWL reproduction tire will avoid this Judging issue. But, you must be sure when these tires will become available and clearly specify what you want if you want to avoid this Judging issue.

4. It is my belief and experience that the cars left the St. Louis assembly plant with five identical tires. If the car did not get delivered that way, the change happened after the car left the factory. The Judging Guide does allow the spare to be different than the road tires, but it must still be a Nylon Cord F70-15 tire to receive full credit.

5. One final point. If you have been driving your 68-72 Corvette with modern P-Metric radial tires and then put on these nylon cord F70-15 reproductions, you will not be happy with the ride and the handling. It is not that the Kelsey reproduction tire is bad or poorly built, it is just old technology and we have all been "Spoiled" with modern radial tire technology. That is why on my cars that get NCRS judged I have two sets of wheels and tires; one set with the correct reproduction tire and the other set with a modern P-Metric performance tire. I personally don't suggest using a non nylon cord bias ply tire on the 68-72 Corvettes because there is no real advantage. The bias ply tire performance is not much different than the nylon cord tire and is far inferior to modern radials; whereas the Judging point deduction for the wrong bias ply tire is almost as large as for a GY or FS P-Metric radial.

[Rolf Krueger]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

1. The secret to "correct" reproduction tires for 1968 to 1972 Corvettes is to remember that these cars were OEM equipped with a NYLON cord, bias ply F70-15 tire that was unique to Corvette. Most of the Corvette OEM tires were made by Goodyear (Speedway Wide Tread) or Firestone (Super Sport Wide Oval), but a few were made by US Royal.

2. There is no one that reproduces the Nylon cord F70-15 Firestone or US Royal tire originally used on Corvette. The Nylon cord F70-15 Goodyear Speedway Wide Tread is reproduced by Kelsey Tire Company in Camdenton, MO under license from Goodyear. All of the various sidewall options are available. They can be obtained directly from Kelsey or from Goodyear Dealers (special order) or various other outlets. These tires are made in the original Goodyear molds, and with perhaps one exception noted below, are very high fidelity reproductions of the original tire.

3. There has been an "originality" Judging issue that has arisen with the RWL version of the Kelsey F70-15 Nylon cord reproduction tire. The raised white letter "E" has a shorter center leg than the top and bottom leg. There are some NCRS Judges that believe that originally installed RWL Goodyear tires have the RWL "E" with all three legs the same length and will make a small deduction for the reproduction tire because of that. I personally do not have sufficient knowledge to know what the facts in 1968-1972 installed tires really were. I spoke with John Kelsey (owner of Kelsey Tire) late in 1998 and he told me that he had taken that same hit from NCRS members and that the tire mold was recently modified to make all three legs of the RWL "E" the same. That means that future production runs of that RWL reproduction tire will avoid this Judging issue. But, you must be sure when these tires will become available and clearly specify what you want if you want to avoid this Judging issue.

4. It is my belief and experience that the cars left the St. Louis assembly plant with five identical tires. If the car did not get delivered that way, the change happened after the car left the factory. The Judging Guide does allow the spare to be different than the road tires, but it must still be a Nylon Cord F70-15 tire to receive full credit.

5. One final point. If you have been driving your 68-72 Corvette with modern P-Metric radial tires and then put on these nylon cord F70-15 reproductions, you will not be happy with the ride and the handling. It is not that the Kelsey reproduction tire is bad or poorly built, it is just old technology and we have all been "Spoiled" with modern radial tire technology. That is why on my cars that get NCRS judged I have two sets of wheels and tires; one set with the correct reproduction tire and the other set with a modern P-Metric performance tire. I personally don't suggest using a non nylon cord bias ply tire on the 68-72 Corvettes because there is no real advantage. The bias ply tire performance is not much different than the nylon cord tire and is far inferior to modern radials; whereas the Judging point deduction for the wrong bias ply tire is almost as large as for a GY or FS P-Metric radial.

[Terry M.]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

Tony,

You have received excellent advice from bot Joe and Rolf. I can add nothing to their comments that is significant. I wish to make only one minor point for the record.

The Goodyear Speedway Wide Tread tires that John Kelsey reproduces are NOT made from original molds. Those were not available to John. He had to make molds from Goodyear supplied blue prints. That is where the long/short leg problem came up. Apparently the blue prints did not match the original molds.

On a more general level there is another matter to consider: It took us over a year of comparing reproductions and original tires on cars side by side before we spotted the long/short leg difference. We ought to consider a philosophical question of "how close is close enough?" And we need to especially rememebr that tires are parishable items. Even if not worn out, they will deteriorate even if never mounted and inflated. The same sort of thought ought to be given to other parishable items like batteries and lamps.

The exception in the Judging Guide for the spare and road tire match is there to allow a owner to keep and show the original spare even if he chooses reproduction or performance tires for the road tires. As judges we want to see the original spare if it is still with the car.

Terry McManmon

[Terry M.]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

Tony,

You have received excellent advice from bot Joe and Rolf. I can add nothing to their comments that is significant. I wish to make only one minor point for the record.

The Goodyear Speedway Wide Tread tires that John Kelsey reproduces are NOT made from original molds. Those were not available to John. He had to make molds from Goodyear supplied blue prints. That is where the long/short leg problem came up. Apparently the blue prints did not match the original molds.

On a more general level there is another matter to consider: It took us over a year of comparing reproductions and original tires on cars side by side before we spotted the long/short leg difference. We ought to consider a philosophical question of "how close is close enough?" And we need to especially rememebr that tires are parishable items. Even if not worn out, they will deteriorate even if never mounted and inflated. The same sort of thought ought to be given to other parishable items like batteries and lamps.

The exception in the Judging Guide for the spare and road tire match is there to allow a owner to keep and show the original spare even if he chooses reproduction or performance tires for the road tires. As judges we want to see the original spare if it is still with the car.

Terry McManmon

[Jack H.]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

In addition to advice/comments from others, bear in mind reproduction tires are just that 'reproductions'. These tires were DOT labled, by law, and a portion of the DOT marking reflects the mfgr's date of manufacture.

Currently, NCRS is NOT judging the portion of the DOT sequence that bears the date code, but personally, I think we should as an added validation to recognize the true original part from the reproduction. So, no matter how 'correct' your reproduction tire source is, the tires are going to have CURRENT vs. original dating in their DOT marking sequence....

[Jack H.]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

In addition to advice/comments from others, bear in mind reproduction tires are just that 'reproductions'. These tires were DOT labled, by law, and a portion of the DOT marking reflects the mfgr's date of manufacture.

Currently, NCRS is NOT judging the portion of the DOT sequence that bears the date code, but personally, I think we should as an added validation to recognize the true original part from the reproduction. So, no matter how 'correct' your reproduction tire source is, the tires are going to have CURRENT vs. original dating in their DOT marking sequence....

[John Rohe]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

Gents,

Just as a follow-up to Jack's post about DOT date codes, I believe that current DOT dating carries only the last digit of the year as well as a "week" coding (e.g. "528" for 52nd week of 1998). I might be wrong and julian dating might be used instead of week-dating, but that matters not for my next point. (I'll verify this tonight if I remember)

I do NOT know what the coding looked like back 30 years ago, but if it HASN'T changed since then, perhaps the dating of a tire manufactured in late 1999 would look "correct" for a model year '70 vehicle, etc...

Does anybody have any knowledge of formatting of DOT date codes from way back when?

John R.

[John Rohe]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

Gents,

Just as a follow-up to Jack's post about DOT date codes, I believe that current DOT dating carries only the last digit of the year as well as a "week" coding (e.g. "528" for 52nd week of 1998). I might be wrong and julian dating might be used instead of week-dating, but that matters not for my next point. (I'll verify this tonight if I remember)

I do NOT know what the coding looked like back 30 years ago, but if it HASN'T changed since then, perhaps the dating of a tire manufactured in late 1999 would look "correct" for a model year '70 vehicle, etc...

Does anybody have any knowledge of formatting of DOT date codes from way back when?

John R.

[Terry M.]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

The current date code, which you have described, began in January 1971 - thank you federal government.

Prior to that time each tire manufacturer had their own codes. Goodyear codes have been published, but others are not.

Terry McManmon

[Terry M.]

Re: RWL Goodyear Speedway Tires

The current date code, which you have described, began in January 1971 - thank you federal government.

Prior to that time each tire manufacturer had their own codes. Goodyear codes have been published, but others are not.

Terry McManmon