Well, I finally decided on the Firestone Indy 500 tires, size 255/60/15 for my '79 'Vette. I have been looking at ratings and prices for almost a year and found that these are rated fairly well and priced at only $79.00 each at Tire Rack. I also found Bilstein shocks there at a very competitive price. Shipping charges were the most reasonable I could find too. So for a set of 4 new tires and a new pair of Bilstein shocks it is running me $503 delivered to my door. Mounting and balancing is another $20 each at my local garage. I tried finding a better price at Firestone but they couldn't come close and I am not exactly comfortable letting them work on my classic car.
I have been running around on an old set of Goodyear Eagle GT II's that came with the car and can't wait to get rid of them. The new tires and shocks should be a real treat!

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Nice, congrats on the new tires/shocks. I'm not familiar with that brand of shocks. How do they rate compared to edelbrocks performance IAS? That's what I currently use and it's like riding on air.

 

DeeVee,
I had those same Firestones on my 'Vette. They wore good, but they rode hard. The bumps with those tires were giving my 'Vette a beating. I do know that they were revized/redesigned to some extentin the past two and four years. Ofcourse this is something that's done on alot of different models from time to time. I got this info from a Firestone rep who I spokewith one day at the local Firestone shop.
I commented on another post; All the new good tread designs of late are made for the taller/wider(overall bigger) rims and not for our old-time fifteeninch wheels. The last time especially, when I looked into Michelins (for example), The different tread designs that I was interested in were only made for a bigger wheel and in a much lower profile. In the next few years, I'll consider replacing my stock wheels with a bigger rim and a lower profile tire so that I can get a tread design that I want. I'd for sure want to match something up for the exact overall height so that my speedo would be accurate. The only thing I don't like is that it will take away from my 'Vette being all factory original. My wheels are in perfect shape and look great when I shine them up. I have heard that the very low profile tires don't ride very smoothly. Compared to even ten or fifteen years ago, the availability of a big selection of tires for our old C3s has faded away.

 

I agree, there are only about a dozen tires for us to choose from and many do fall in the light truck category. I for one am resisting changing to a larger rim. I like the old school tires and feel that there is more cushion between the rim and potential damage from a pothole if there is more rubber in between.

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