I know that this has been discussed ad-nauseam here, and I almost feel guilty bringing it up again, but it seems to get increasingly difficult to find good tire sources for these old 16" x 8.5" salad-shooter rims.

Has anyone tried getting more creative with these rims in the past? I spent some time today trying to figure out if I could get away with a 235/60R16 or even a 225/55R16. Les Schwab thought they might be able to stretch a 225/55R16 onto the rims and make them work, but didn't have any available today. I managed to find two older used 255/50R16s with different tread that I can run for now before I get a pair that will work. I would be fine with the tires being narrower than the originals, so long as they stay on the rims and don't rub in my wheel wells. For those who have been down this road before, what have you tried and had success with that was a little bit out of the ordinary? I have to wonder if there are some odd Chinese tires that might fit these but it would probably require someone to get into all the detail dimensions and compare them.

I have also been looking around for some sort of snow tire just to see what it's like to run a corvette during winter, and I haven't found much.

I have found All Season tires like these 245/50/R16 tires from Goodyear: https://www.goodyear.com/en_US/tires...edirected=true

However, I have not found anything designated as a winter tire in this tire size. Does anyone have experience with winter tires on a vette?

 

I ran BF Goodrich T/A 255/60 x15 on 8 1/2" by 15" wheels on my '73 and had very good luck with them. They used to have a block tread pattern back then. This was back in the early '70s.

 

I just tried Googling Salad Shooter Wheels and they seem to be somewhat plentiful out there. Didn't go to any of the websites to check them out though.

 

Back in early 70s I drove a 70 Vette year round using all season radials. It's doable but with snow and Ice driving keeps you on your toes. Anything rear wheel drive we always put a few bags of salt to add to the ballast of the car. Good Times. Only had to be pulled back up on the road once, Black Ice. Ended butt first into some guys garden. slight damage a little glasswork.

 

It's sort of a long story that I won't bore you with the details of, but I got my 1986 convertible "Indie 500 Pace Car Edition" in a trade that got complicated and I ended up giving my winter daily driver to the other party. So, I now have this car to drive for the winter among other equally unsuitable vehicles.

My state is quite snowy, although my region is not bad so I think I'm not too concerned. I just installed a new heater core, and secured the hard top (from a later year, so it doesn't fit very well) better than before, and with a slightly better pair of rear tires it is now at least acceptably drivable for the winter. However I'll keep looking for possible tire solutions and put them here for future reference if I discover anything interesting.

 

There are a lot of people that live in snowy regions use two sets of wheels, summer and winter. A good set of winter snow tires with studs work the best I n snow and Ice on all 4 wheels. I had 66 Caprice that had snow tires and ballast in the trunk but that didn't help with Idaho rural snow drifts, Had a 82 citation with the same issue, ground clearance. I used a 72 C-20 pickup one year, 2 wheel drive snow tires and chains and a 1/2 ton concrete block I the back, worked great on snow drifts, the plastic grill didn't survive, Corvetts can work well on snow and ice with the right tires on plowed roadways 2 to 3ft snow drifts can stop you.