Well it appears that the Firestone Indy 500's 225/70R15 are discontinued from what I was able to search today locally at tire suppliers.

I've been selling tires full time for the past 10 months for a good size tire company here in Pa. Up until that time I was selling tires in my auto repair shop before I sold my business. This is what I know about tires from what I see on a daily basis.

First, 15" sports tires are getting harder to find. Almost, if not all cars have gone to 16" - 18" tires as standard so the tire manufacturers have not and do not plan on producing near as many 15" tires for our older classic / muscle cars. Many of the classic/muscle car owners have gone to the 17" & 18" for a few different reasons. First, some feel they look better while others like the stock sizing looks.(rotors and calipers stand out) 2nd reason for the larger tires is the size availability is much better. What many dont understand about going from a 15" tire to a 17" / 18" tire is that the outside diameter can be matched to what your stock tire was. Then you have many selections on the width of the tires. Todays wheels/tires are all about styling so manufacturers see that as profitability potential, thus the reason they have gone to the newer sizes.

Now when it comes to what brand should I buy, and remember. this is only my opinion and we all know about opinions!
With todays quality control techniques in manufacturing, todays major brand tires are all very good. Remember this about your car, Very few of us race our cars, so the performance side doesnt come into play. (although I'm sure we all drive aggressive at times) (if you plan on racing its a whole other ballgame) Also, mileage usually doesnt matter as the tires get old before they wear out.  Now when it comes to "my car handles great with brand X", its usually because of the difference in the wear and condition of the suspension/alignment. Take care of that part and it comes down to what tire makes me feel good. Some look at pricing to make them feel good, others want a sidewall that looks good. Then there are those that want a tread design that looks aggressive.

I could go on and on about tires but by now you should see that when it comes to "what tires should I buy" only you can make the right decision. I will say this, one of the most important part of the tire purchase is to be sure that the person/place that mounts and balances your tires does a good job. Make sure all old weights are removed before the new tire is mounted.(this includes removing old stickon weights) The rims are cleaned well, they use ruglyde on the beads and you put in new valve stems. Once you get the tires on go drive and enjoy the ride!

Best of luck,
Rodney

From 78 up the optional size tire was 255/60-15. The wheels are the same regardless of what tire size you use. In 78, Chevrolet increased the size of the wheelwell to accomodate the larger tires. I agree with most of what Rod said, except I feel that wet traction has to be a consideration. If you use you car, you will be caught out in the rain sooner or later. Ask anyone that has driven in the rain with bad or cheap tires and you'll see it makes a difference. The only thing that holds your Vette to the road is the tires. Don't cheap out!

Rod, most excellent post, Barry I'm with you, even thou it took me a while to like the lettering on my Indy's I bought them because of traction in wet conditions. I remember a post where a member had new goodyears on and went down a wet exit ramp and looped the car around.

Again thank you all for awesome information, you are the greatest.

That's not true....tire dating has been done for many years....long before '93. The date stamps are normally only on the back side of the tire, so if you did not look there, you wouldn't see it. I have an article somewhere describing date de-coding on tires....I'll see if I can dig it up this evening when I get home. I think there was also a thread here before that had the same info. I can check that now....

I did find this in an old thread...it gives basically the same info....

rod7515 said: Mike and follow C3VR members, I dont know what I was thinking last night when I posted but I had to go back and edit to correct what I said. It was late and I was sneaking in some reading while doing my month end closing for work which I am late on! (Again)! Any way the build date always follows the DOT number and can be either a 3 digit or 4 digit number. Its usually only on one side of the tire and can be inside or outside depending on Manufacturer and mounting. If its only a 3 digit number the first 2 will be the week of the year and the last digit will be the year. 3 digits are 90's tire. 4 digits are usually the 2000 and newer. Hope this clears up my mistake!
Rodney

Also, the Federal Guvment started requiring a uniform dating on ALL tires starting in '71. Up until then, each manufacturer had their own way of dating tires.
The original Firestones on my '74 are dated.....can't remember the dates, but I do know I have checked them.





|UPDATED|11/8/2012 11:07:29 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

And I found this on the NCRS discussion board, from a retired Firestone employee...

Bruce, Ok I'll give this a shot.
I believe they started requiring the DOT on tires around 68 or 69. You are correct in the date code with the "347". It would be the 34th week of a year ending in "7". Before 2000 they used a 3 digit date code (first 2 for week and 3rd for the year) because they didn't figure tires would last more than 10 years (OR maybe they didn't figure ANY of us NUTTY classic car enthusiasts would need to know what decade it was produced ). After 2000 they started using the "4" digit (first 2 for week and last 2 for year). The first 2 digits in your DOT (VJ) is where the tire was produced, which in this case is Pottstown Pa. The rest of the numbers/letters had different meanings for each tire manufacturer. At Firestone some of the numbers designated which curing press and mold was used. Not sure what other manufacturers called these numbers but at Firestone they were the "serials". Before we went to the 12 hour/ 7 day operation we would change the serials in the curing molds on 3rd shift (3-11) Saturday. To muddy the waters more, on the set of numbers you posted I'm guessing "N08B" is on one tire and "N15B" on the other? If so that would be the curing presses (N08 and N15) they were cured in. Since they cure 2 tires per press each time one tire would be stamped "N08A" and the other "N08B". Now that you are TOTALLY confused, have fun at BG!!!

I stand corrected... Found MFG date on inside... tires are per 96 so time to change.