Firestone steel radial 500 Corvette tires 1973 -77

[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]

Originally Posted by Formula455SD

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]

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