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April 6, 2011 6:11 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

Our '87 C4 wants new tires for spring. OK, not an unreasonable request but...

... wait for it ...

... apparently it's such a rare car and such a rare tire size that aside from expensive drag radials, hoosier rain tires or Toyo RA-1s for a grand a set, there are no DOT-legal tires available at the moment. The only regular two tires in that size (255/50/16) that are normal high performance tires are Falken ZE-512s and BFGoodrich gForce Sports, both listed as back order with no delivery date anywhere.

So out of four cars we have over here, we have precisely one that is working unconditionally - my wife's Cherokee. My CJ has just disabled itself again and I'm getting tired of that game, the C4 has tires down to the wear markers at the front and the Celica is a project that's quite some time away from road legal.

Happy Bunny, not me...
April 6, 2011 6:17 p.m. turboswede SuperDork

Would a different set of wheels from another Vette get you by until you can get some proper tires?

Might be time to hit up Craig's List of toys....
April 6, 2011 6:19 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

I'll have to ask on the 'vette forum I'm on if the later C4 wheels & tires fit. The problem with those is that the rears are considerably wider so I don't know if I'll run into clearance issues with the earlier C4.

Someone's got a set for sale not too far away, but they're no good if they don't work.
April 6, 2011 6:24 p.m. hrdlydangerous Reader

Go with the F-Body friendly 245/50/16? I know they're a little narrower and shorter but they're probably a lot cheaper. -or- This could be a good time to find a set of Craigs List C5 wheels and tires. They seem to be plentiful.
April 6, 2011 6:25 p.m. Javelin SuperDork

Yet another reason the 944 is better
April 6, 2011 6:38 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

In reply to Javelin:

Mumblemumble.

I've found a set of late C4 wheels and a bunch of C5 wheels, they don't fit straight on (need spacers, I don't like spacers) and I need to find out if there are any other potential clearance issues. Plus of course the tires for at least the later C4s are a lot more expensive, but at least they're also available...
April 6, 2011 6:44 p.m. 2002maniac HalfDork

Our 928 had ra1 that size on it when we bought it. I'd say going down to 245 shouldn't be a big deal.
April 6, 2011 6:52 p.m. Javelin SuperDork

FYI: Summit is showing the ZIEX 512 in stock, but drop-shipped. Might want to call them.
April 6, 2011 6:53 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

I'll check again - if it turns out I only need to replace the fronts I wouldn't worry about the 245s, not sure I want to replace all of them and then find the 255s have become available again...
April 6, 2011 6:59 p.m. Apexcarver SuperDork

Discount tire doesn't have the g-force sports showing as back-listed, might try them. (says 2-3 days for availability)

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/searchTiresBySize.do?r=NVLINT|c|Las+Vegas&cs=...
April 6, 2011 7:17 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

Yep, says that for the local store, too. Time to give their place in Reno a ring, I think.
April 6, 2011 7:40 p.m. daytonaer Reader

Don't limit yourself by size.

I squeezed some 235 50 17's on the front of my 17's. Quite a step down from the 275's but the guy who gave me them for free said they measured closer to 245's, which is almost 255's.....What do F-body's wear? I bet they fit.

And as for extra wheels, check out the chi-co re-pops, not the OEM's (think so and so's aftermarket Chrome bling wheels) The PO of my c4 got zo6 style rims, in chrome..., but with the correct offset for a c4. No spacers.

And as for bad day's, I dumped a cup of coffee into my jeep's driver seat and locked my only set of keys in my apartment yesterday.
April 6, 2011 8:06 p.m. joey48442 SuperDork

Well, on a good note, I finally kicked heroin.

Joey
April 6, 2011 8:50 p.m. huge-O-chavez SuperDork

BoxheadTim wrote: My CJ has just disabled itself again and I'm getting tired of that game,

I daily drove a 71 for years. It was like a 3 year long knife fight to keep it reliable on the road. Never again..... Just a constant fight to keep it going... Brake system rebuilds, and heater box rebuilds and engine rebuilds.... ugh.. Then the rust.

Love it and miss it, but never again as a daily.
April 7, 2011 2:29 p.m. Travis_K Dork

I'd try going into an americas tire store and tell them you are ready to purchase a set of tires right then if they could find what you want. I did that once with tires that were backordered with no production date, and they found a set of 4 within 10 minutes. If that doesn't work, get a new set of wheels that you can get tires for.
April 7, 2011 2:59 p.m. killerkane Reader

Maybe you should just invest in a set of CCW classics...I think it would solve all your problems!
April 7, 2011 3:03 p.m. mndsm SuperDork

Travis_K wrote:

I'd try going into an americas tire store and tell them you are ready to purchase a set of tires right then if they could find what you want. I did that once with tires that were backordered with no production date, and they found a set of 4 within 10 minutes. If that doesn't work, get a new set of wheels that you can get tires for.

Amazing what happens when you do that. I had my star specs drop shipped from PA in under 24 hours when I produced a wad of benjamin franklins and said "Tires. NOW". And reportedly, they were out of stock EVERYWHERE.
April 7, 2011 3:19 p.m. keethrax Reader

huge-O-chavez wrote:

Love it and miss it, but never again as a daily.

Man, you're not kidding. I mean they're neat/cool/fun/wahtever. But I'd dd a bike before I'd dd a CJ-style jeep.
April 7, 2011 3:27 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

Well, I am DDing a bike if the weather isn't working against it (like today...).

I think re the CJ, we're probably going to look at a YJ that my wife found locally and try to rid ourselves of the CJ...