[Keats]

Thanks to SuperCar Creations for the great job refinishing my 72 KR rims. Looking for thoughts on tire brand and sizes. Have T/A Radials on all my cars.
Rears. P245/60/15
Fronts P225/60/15

Put P225/70/15 on my 79

1972 Trans Am. 455HO stoked motor/4sp/342 rears. Stock Trim.

Considered Kelsey Tires. But no fatter size for rear.

Thinking of Running 70s not 60s

What are the correct lugs nuts for a 72?

Looking for Ideals




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[JUDGE3]

I have TA radials, 255/60/15 rear and 245/60/15 on the front on 15x7 R2'S. next time i'll go with cooper's though as I have a set of the turn brown white lettering on these TA radials. thats baloney!

[Norwood]

Dave put 245/60 radial T/As on it if you plan on driving it. Put the F 60 Poly Glas troops on if your doing limited driving.

[Rocky Rotella]

Have you considered the Firestone Wide Oval radials from Coker Tire?

https://www.cokertire.com/new-wide-oval-radial

https://www.pontiacv8.com/articles/2...al-tire-remedy

[wovenweb]

Originally Posted by Rocky Rotella

Have you considered the Firestone Wide Oval radials from Coker Tire?

https://www.cokertire.com/new-wide-oval-radial

https://www.pontiacv8.com/articles/2...al-tire-remedy

X2

Mine ride very nice. Now just need to switch them to my KN rims.

[Keats]

Thanks for the replies, I have same issue with letters on TA Radials, Had not considered Coker Tires, I would like to have original looks, but I do plan to drive a lot.



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[78w72]

Originally Posted by JUDGE3

I have TA radials, 255/60/15 rear and 245/60/15 on the front on 15x7 R2'S. next time i'll go with cooper's though as I have a set of the turn brown white lettering on these TA radials. thats baloney!

Originally Posted by Keats

Thanks for the replies, I have same issue with letters on TA Radials, Had not considered Coker Tires, I would like to have original looks, but I do plan to drive a lot.

brown white letters in BFG tires you say? according to some on here thats impossible & you just need to clean them right....

ive posted about the issue a couple times before & got some flack for it but its a very common issue. if the tires are within 6 years old you can contact bfg about it & they will most likely replace them. the newer tires they are making in the last year or so are much better & they claim they are aware of the problem & have fixed it. the recent set i got last year are much better but still get a little tan'ish after sitting for many months but clean up "ok. " this never happened with the older ones before coker tire bought bfg, i have a set on another car that are 8-10 years old & they are snow white after no washing for years. contact bfg, its worth a try & they are usually very helpful.

coopers are decent tires but have heard lots of problems with balancing them. the best RWL tire IMO is the mickey thompson radial SR, they are a solid white letter tire, have a higher speed rating that BFG & dont cost as much. summit has good prices on them.

[389]

When I switched from 255/60R15 BFG to 225/70-15 Cooper Cobra tires it was amazing, the Coopers were light years better.. My 69 el Camino (427) has the SC&C Stage III tall ball joint front suspension along with Spohn Delsphere rear control arms and a Lee 14:1 box that is the best I ever experienced.
What I am getting at is the suspension is very important to the way a car handles and rides, its not just the tires..

[389]

Originally Posted by 78w72

coopers are decent tires but have heard lots of problems with balancing them. the best RWL tire IMO is the mickey thompson radial SR, they are a solid white letter tire, have a higher speed rating that BFG & dont cost as much. summit has good prices on them.

I was always under the impression the Mickey Thompson tire is a Cooper Cobra and a Master Craft Avenger with different lettering. Yes? No?

[78w72]

Originally Posted by 389

I was always under the impression the Mickey Thompson tire is a Cooper Cobra and a Master Craft Avenger with different lettering. Yes? No?

never heard that before, but looking at the cooper, m/t & mastercraft tires they have a much different tread pattern but same speed ratings. probably very similar tires with slightly different tread patterns. either way they are better than the outdated BFG & cost less... & have nice bright white letters.

[72projectbird]

I run 245/60s in the front and 275/60s in the rear.

Probably not the look you're going for, but figured I'd throw it out there.

[Keats]

Just out of curiosity what is the Right (best) way to clean the T/A Radials?

[78w72]

Originally Posted by Keats

Just out of curiosity what is the Right (best) way to clean the T/A Radials?

RWL should only need a standard dish soap or car wash & a brush to do regular cleaning, i have had many different brands of RWL tires over the years & thats all they usually need. but if they are very dirty or a long time since cleaned i use wesleys bleach white or simple green & a brush scrubbing to get them white. have also use something more abrasive like comet. i have firestone indy 500's on another car & the letters stay bright white for a very long time with just normal soap, same with AT good years on my 4runner daily driver. & same for my older bfgs, never a problem cleaning the letters to a bright white.

the newer coker owned bfgs however will not get bright white with any of those cleaners & if they do get acceptable they get ugly after sitting a few months inside a garage. what i have found that works good is wiping with lacquer thinner on a clean rag using your fingers. that seems to break through the film & get them "white'ish" but they will not stay that way. so its a losing battle with the ones that have the problems.

some report they dont have a problem which indicates it was a bad batch or only a certain size, but i went through replacing over ~2 years so thats a long bad batch. mine are the 255/60/15 & i have had bfg replace them 2 times, so that 3 sets that had the issue, the 1st i bought & 2 replacements. after talking to a manager in customer care they acknowledge they are aware of the problem & claimed they fixed it on the last set they replaced early 2019... but they still have it although not as bad as the first 2 sets. i posted pics on a thread i did last year if you do a search. but its definitely wortyh contacting bfg if you are the original buyer & within 6 years. im trying to live with this recent set but might still call about them, no reason a RWL tire should look like this, no other brand does it.

[necdb3]

Originally Posted by Keats

Just out of curiosity what is the Right (best) way to clean the T/A Radials?

Wesley's bleach white cuts through just about anything. Try that, you'll be happy with it.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by necdb3

Wesley's bleach white cuts through just about anything. Try that, you'll be happy with it.

doesnt work on the bfg tires that have the tan letter issue.

[Rocky Rotella]

Originally Posted by 78w72

the newer coker owned bfgs however will not get bright white with any of those cleaners & if they do get acceptable they get ugly after sitting a few months inside a garage.

Just an FYI on this. Having seen the BFG Radial T/A appear in many Coker ads, I, too, assumed that Coker owned and/or had assumed production of that tire line.

While working on the Firestone Wide Oval Radial story I linked above, I specifically asked Coker about its relationship with the Radial T/A tire. I learned that Coker is nothing more than a BFG distributor and it chose to offer the Radial T/A because it's so popular with Coker's target customer base. It also made sense for Coker because it also owns Wheel Vintiques and many wheel customers use modern Radial T/As as opposed to Coker reproductions.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by Rocky Rotella

Just an FYI on this. Having seen the BFG Radial T/A appear in many Coker ads, I, too, assumed that Coker owned and/or had assumed production of that tire line.

While working on the Firestone Wide Oval Radial story I linked above, I specifically asked Coker about its relationship with the Radial T/A tire. I learned that Coker is nothing more than a BFG distributor and it chose to offer the Radial T/A because it's so popular with Coker's target customer base. It also made sense for Coker because it also owns Wheel Vintiques and many wheel customers use modern Radial T/As as opposed to Coker reproductions.

good to know, i thought i heard awhile back that coker bought bfg. if it wasnt them maybe it was another company. regardless, the "recent" bfg's have had the white letter issue for many years now, lots of guys on other forums report the issue & many complaints out there on a quick google search.

[69 Limelight]

I believe Michelin bought BFG.

[Keats]

Will Cokers' Firestone Wide Oval Letters stay white with proper cleaning or will the letters also turn tan like the TA Radials?

[Jim Rotella]

The '72 Trans Am in Rocky's article is my car and I've been running those Firestone Wide Oval Radials for nearly two years. The white letters are just as white as they were when we received the tires from Coker.

I had used several sets of Radial T/A's over the years and I too experienced the yellow lettering issue. I have tried every cleaning remedy mentioned in the previous PY posts and I could not get the letters white again. I finally called BFG/Michelin customer service and I was told that some of their Radial T/A's had the yellowing problem and there was really nothing they could do about it.

I switched to the Firestone Wide Oval Radials because I liked the looks of the original Wide Ovals and their tread design. They ride and handle like a radial tire and their correct size retains the car's original stance.....and their white letters stay white!