There is not a huge selection of 14 inch white letter radial tires out there in the proper size. I very much dislike the BFG tires but have used them for many years because I hated the other options more. Hypothetically, if Goodyear came back out with the old Eagle ST tires, how many would prefer those over the BFG? I truly think Goodyear is missing the boat on this. I think they would want to see Goodyear tires on so many muscle cars.

Do people agree with this or am I the only one that don't like the BFG? I would go with the wide oval radial in a heartbeat but are just to much money for me to consider.

 

Need to convince someone like Kelsey Tires to repro them..

https://kelseytire.com/

 

They can't sell enough 14" tires to make it worthwhile to break out the molds again. Personally, I'd love a set of Eagle STs for my '69, but its brown-letter BFGs age out
next year and I'm not holding my breath for Goodyear to come to my rescue.

 

Just for S&G's, I went on ebay last night and looked up 14" Radial tires. I was surprised how many I found- I had figured 14" tires were pretty much unavailable. Regular old 3/4" whitewall 215 75R14 were about $325 for 4. Some wider 70 and 60 series RWL tires were a little more but odd looking white letters to my eye.

 

I've pretty much given up on white letters after my most recent experience with BFG T/As. I'll either buy blackwalls or flip the letters inboard.

 

I remember back in school people joked that ST meant “Slippery Tires”. I only had one set back then on my 70 Supreme and I don’t remember how well they gripped.

 

Ha, you just reminded me: I put a set on my '68 4-4-2 in the late '80s and was actually disappointed at the improved traction. I say disappointed because the rear tires would only briefly chirp on the 1-2 shift instead of laying down the ten feet I'd been used to with the G78-14 Tiger Paws I'd replaced.

 

Diamondback sells and makes some 14” with their own equipment. You can get the sidewall customized. Their free tire sale is ending around now.

 

If I were to spend that much I would just go with the radial wide ovals. Can't justify spending that much on tires on something that will sit most of the time.

 

Had them on my 67 442 for many years and I liked them.

 

I've always been partial to blackwalls; I even ordered my 1970 Corvette with blackwalls.

On my most recent tire BFG purchase, I asked the tire installer to turn the letters in. The installer asked if I wanted them blacked-out. He used APV Rubber Repair Paint and it has held up perfectly for 5 years. The white of the letters has remained invisible. With that experience, I know it would even have been suitable to have asked to have the entire letter side coated and left facing out.

Unfortunately, the smallest container of APV Paint is one gallon, so it's not an economical solution for a few tires. If you are interested, I'm suggesting you could ask potential installers if they offer that option.

 

I never ran Eagle STs on my '68 Cutlass, but I did run them on both my '69 Toronado and '76 T/A back in the day. I think they were comparable to BFG Radial T/As for traction, which is not saying a lot. They were far better than stock-sized tires in both cases nonetheless (both were sized +0). If they made RWL 40-series 17" Eagle STs, I'd seriously consider them for my '68.

Sadly, this is my only picture I have of the Toro (that's my first ex behind the wheel):

 

My '72 that I bought in August of 2024 had these Goodyear Wingfoot HP tires on it. If they still made them, I would have bought a set. I bought the T/A's, no browning as of yet.

 

I think the browning issue on BFG's has been fixed now.

 

At the risk of inciting riotus ad nauseum, I still say moving up to 17's and modern rubber is a better alternative to staying with the nearly 50yo Radial T/A tire tech (nearly 40 years for Cooper Cobra)....

A set of 17's with 245-50-R17 rubber are almost literally identical in height to what a 245-50-R15 would be on a set of 15's but 17's bring you substantially more rubber choices across many different brands, quality levels and price points. Not to mention providing measurable disc brake component clearance.

Dumping my prior 15" brown lettered RTA's (in my opinion at least) was worth the wear and handling benefits I gained when upgrading a few years back (now 17x8 AR Torq Thrusts with 4.5" BS on Falken ZIEX 245-50R17 tires).

And in my case at least, going to 17's from my prior 15x8 TT's didn't noticeably change the speedo calibration, to wit: 245/50-R17 tires are roughly 26.7" tall, 245-50-R15 are about 26.6" tall.

And visually, tire height still looks almost no different to my prior setup - i.e. not thin or out of character to the original stance of the car.

I now return my soapbox to its prior vinyl LP storage duties

 

That does look really nice Geek, though I also like the old 14-15" look. But yours still have the old look which I like. I really hate most really bog "Hoops" -20's,etc.

 

OTOH, I did not buy a 56-year-old muscle car in order to replicate the experience of driving a 20-year-old muscle car. I don't want to put 17s on it; I want to know I'm driving a car from 1969. Besides, I like the look of a 14 or 15 with a taller section height on the tire rather than having the lower profile O-ring look.

Increasingly, however, that seems to be just me -- at least judging from auction results.

 

x2!

 

Well to answer original question, Yes I would consider the Goodyear Eagle RWL if it was available....

 

I am right there with ya

 

I totally get and respect the choice to stay with smaller wheel/tire sizes to maintain the period look or feel of these cars. I ultimately soured on the absence of what I considered to be a reasonable selection of quality tire choices in those sizes.

When I acquired my ragtop in 2016, it had 14" x 6 rally wheels that were obviously a prior-owner later-model year swap for the original hubcap wheels it came with. Sold them off immediately and installed 15x8 AR Torq Thrusts on 245-50-R15 RTAs.. I knew even then that 17's were an option many people had gone to but I rationalized that I wanted to maintain a period-custom look by having white lettered rubber.

I guess for me it ultimately ended up not being so much an aesthetic thing as it is a pragmatic choice - I soon HATED my RTA's - even the brown-letter BS notwithstanding, they rode harsh and had arguably sketchy traction on anything but completely flat and dry road surfaces. I'd had Cobras on a past GM a-body, which I recall having been somewhat better but I eventually got tired of being a captive audience to either brand mostly just to maintain a period-70's Hot Wheels look in absence of either brand otherwise inspiring substantive road handling confidence.

Losing the letters didn't bother me in the least when I realized what a difference modern rubber meant for me - rides and handles exponentially better than it ever did with the old tech - so especially when I have fam and dogs aboard, I much prefer modern vs. 50yo car handling characteristics.