Firestone steel radial 500 Corvette tires 1973 -77

[Ralph Spears]

How much interest is there in these tires for show and display cars These are the tires that were recalled back in the seventies.

[napa68]

How much interest is there in these tires for show and display cars These are the tires that were recalled back in the seventies.

To the right person, there is interest. The problem being they have been known to let go without air pressure in them much less with. That will make a mess of a fender or a tire carrier

[L_e_e]

I think NJSTEVE? had one of those Firestone 500's go out on him.

[Formula455SD]

Surprised they haven't started reproducing these.

[Ralph Spears]

Didn't the Trans Am use the same tires ? GR70 x 15

[danachevroletfor1967]

I know they used them on 1978 Z28's, not sure about 1977's or 1979's.

[John Brown]

I had five of them replaced free on a 74 Corvette I bought used. Firestone didn't care that I wasn't the original purchaser, they just wanted to get them off the road.

Must have been in late 80 or 81. Corvette was a used car I was redoing. I heard on the TV about the recall, and that it was ending in a few days. I had the Corvette at a body shop in the middle of a repaint, so I went over there driving my 76 Monte Carlo and swapped tires and rims from one car to the other. As I recall, they wanted to see proof that I owned the car the tires were on (the Monte Carlo), but other than that, it was no problem.

.

[fortim]

I was working at Firestone during the early part of the recall; from personal experience these tires were dangerous. I saw way too many blowouts and tread separation, terrifying stuff.
As part of the recall, Firestone pulled them off the road and the serial numbers had to be cut out of every tire. Personally, I wouldn't use original 500 tires on my cars.

[muscle_collector]

my 73 corvette had them on it when i bought it from the original owner back in 78. they almost immediately failed. i remember driving down the road and all of a sudden it felt like the car was wobbling back and forth. i bought a set of the goodyear polysteel radials a friend took off of his new 78 t/a and put them on it.

[Ralph Spears]

I bought a new 1973 Corvette and had a couple tires go bad on me both times the belts started to separate and there was a bulge in the tread. I had to pull into rest area and put the spare tire on i remember having to let the air out of the tire so it would fit into the spare tire holder. Driving at highway speed the tire started a thumping noise

[Zedder]

I was at an NCRS regional in 1996. Fellow had a beautiful red 75 Corvette convertible with something like 2,000 miles. Original tire blew during the road test busting up his rear quarter panel.

[Formula455SD]

Firestone 721 wasn't much better.

[Ralph Spears]

What about putting inner tubes in them ?

[Lynn]

Don't think I would risk it even with an inner tube. The belt separation (which is the catalyst for the ultimate destruction of the tire... and maybe part of your car) comes from heat and movement which makes the adhesive let go. Drive on any tire long enough and it will come apart.

[Ralph Spears]

Part of the problem i think was the recommended tire pressure on the door jamb label on Corvettes was 20 pounds.

[njsteve]

Surprised they haven't started reproducing these.

There's noooo way anyone would reproduce a recalled tire that killed dozens of people and was part of the biggest coverup by a manufacturer since the Pinto. The name "Firestone 500", alone, is a cursed product line.

When I had my SD455, I hunted down and bought several 1973 Corvette Firestone 500 tires that were unused spares stored in the underbody spare location. Each one, within days of being mounted and installed on the car for a magazine shoot exploded after only a few yards of travel. One even blew up without even being mounted on a rim. The steel cables snapped internally and shredded the drywall that the tire was leaned up against.

Here's a couple photos of one in the process of grenading. They were taken about 10 minutes apart. You could actually hear the steel cords snapping - kind of like the sound of a steel winch cable snapping. I carefully threw it behind the garage until it was done with its death throws.

The funny thing is that the original set on the car lasted fine and never showed any issues. I just took them off to store them since I did not want to drive on them at all.

If you want to PM me, I can forward your info to the collector I sold the SD455 Formula to. He may be interested in them if they are the 1973 version with the solid white Firestone shield logo (not the 1974 and newer, black outline logo)

[TimG]

My word, what a disaster.

[njsteve]

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

[wayoutz]

I had five of them replaced free on a 74 Corvette I bought used. Firestone didn't care that I wasn't the original purchaser, they just wanted to get them off the road.

Must have been in late 80 or 81. Corvette was a used car I was redoing. I heard on the TV about the recall, and that it was ending in a few days. I had the Corvette at a body shop in the middle of a repaint, so I went over there driving my 76 Monte Carlo and swapped tires and rims from one car to the other. As I recall, they wanted to see proof that I owned the car the tires were on (the Monte Carlo), but other than that, it was no problem.

.
I had a 74 LS4 convert with 7200 original miles that had this tire in the Tub never down split in half.

[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]

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/tyrfil-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]

I guess you could always do this:
https://carlisletyrfil.com/products/tyrfil-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-category/tire-lettering/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5cOwBhCiARIsAJ5njuZol5DHOD7prEwtqx_g MIdE7QJ1R60KkwPOoAeo9p-SOBWyUG5y9WcaAolkEALw_wcB

[Unreal]

I was working at Firestone during the early part of the recall; from personal experience these tires were dangerous. I saw way too many blowouts and tread separation, terrifying stuff.
As part of the recall, Firestone pulled them off the road and the serial numbers had to be cut out of every tire. Personally, I wouldn't use original 500 tires on my cars.

Did the Firestone Wide Ovals have the same issue? I have 5 never mounted, NOS F70 15 with, I think, 72-73 dates.

[Ralph Spears]

Just the GR70x15 steel belted radials had that problem

[Pro Stock John]

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