Tire Ad Hype

[Ulu]

Remember “the round tire”? I think it was Uniroyal that claimed that their tires were “rounder”…within 0.005”

 

Remember wide ovals? Tiger paws? 721 radials?

 

I remember putting radial tires on my ‘66 Ford coupe and thinking that it would handle So much better!

 

It didn’t.

 

But there was lots of old time hyperbole about automobile tires going back to the non-skid-tread days. What do you guys have stored up in the attic? (Mental or physical.)

 

What else was in those old tire advertisements?

 

 

[Dan Hiebert]

The tire ads I remember were all about traction, mileage, and wear.  Usually not all at the same time.  What stands out are the Tiger Paw ads when those first came out, with the tiger's paw coming out of the tread gripping the road.  I also remember "Uni", "Roy", and "Al" touting Uniroyal tires.

[Plymouthy Adams]

like the tires themselves after a good run on the highway, full of hot air......the most memorable tire of the era for me was the Firestone Wide O Ovals....these found their way onto most all makes and models as an aftermarket tire.  

[Kilgore47]

I remember the exploding Firestone radials.  The parents had put a new set of Firestone radials on the family car.  Radials were new at that time.

I was driving on the way back from grandma's with a car full of family and the front left new tire exploded - no warning.  That pulled me into the on coming traffic - I was lucky that the car coming at us saw what was going on and pulled on to the shoulder giving me room to pass.  Was also lucky that I knew what to do.  Didn't hit the brakes and didn't try to pull back into my lane too fast.  Driving the rest of the way home with one bias ply and one radial on the front was fun.  

 

To this day I am not a fan of Firestone.  

[Plymouthy Adams]

yeah, their rendition of a radial was the very fall of Firestone and eventual sale of the company to Bridgestone I think it was.  The 721 series...hard rubber tires with little traction...I still swear I could lay 20 feet of rubber in my 1.7 Plymouth Horizon, second gear,  with them tires in place.....yeah...they were that bad.  The squalliest tires I had ever seen. 

[oldodge41]

Perception is everything. As a high school kid all the "cool cars" the older guys drove around here had Remington XT-120 white letter tires. When I was ready to buy my first set of "new" tires, I went to the local tire shop and asked for a price on a set of cheap white letter tires and a price on a set of good tires like Remington XT-120's. The guy looked at me and said, "Remington is a cheap tire, that's why all you guys run them"! I was amazed, they were on all the coolest cars, I thought they had to be expensive tires. 

[Plymouthy Adams]

there are cheap tires and there are inexpensive tires....some of the cheapest tires cost the most money....hint hint, nod, nudge  the inexpensive tire is in this case is the much better value, deep deep rabbit hole that draws many folks ire when stated and hype and name dropping seemingly take first seat...

[Ulu]

I had a set of 721 radials on the rear of my P 15, and one of them split apart through the tread while I was driving it.

 

It didn’t explode, it just felt very lumpy and I pulled over and changed the tire. I was very disappointed, though I had bought them used, they still had plenty of tread left.

 

 

[Dan Hiebert]

I'll go out on a limb here, ready to duck and cover...long-ish story.  I worked for 32 years in an agency that grew from 3,000 to 19,000 personnel with a fleet to match.  28 years of that was in supervision and management with fleet, purchasing, and safety responsibilities.  How we bought tires evolved over the years but was never a "lowest bidder" deal.  21 Sectors across the U.S., and all of them did their own tire purchasing thing, following Federal purchasing regulations, of course.  So, it depended on each Sector's budget.  Some Sectors are sexier than others, so they get more funding, and the Sectors that didn't get much money had to scrimp, usually on tires.  As noted above, cheap tires are just that, cheap.  Didn't last long, tore up the vehicles they were on, etc., but we'd get tires that were hard as hockey pucks that didn't get flats very easily, which was our main concern.  Can't catch bad guys with flat tires on your cruiser.  We'd get good tires for the highway, but vehicles that operated out in the willywags would get something from the truckload sale.  Can't count the number of times I drove a vehicle with two or three different size tires on it the first few years I was in.  That evolved over the years to buying the best tires we could for the conditions we work in and/or under.  We'd deadline a vehicle we couldn't get the right tires for until production could catch up.  To shorten the story, US Border Patrol seems to have a share in keeping Goodyear in business.  BP has at least 20,000 vehicles of varying types, most easily put on 100K hard miles per year, and are kept in the fleet for at least six years, but usually until the wheels fall off.  That means a lot of tires, and just through pure experience, we found that Goodyear products - heavy duty (10-ply), off road, highway, pursuit tires, etc., perform and stand up best for the agency's needs.  Personally, I don't buy Goodyear simply because I can't afford them.  The last few purchases we've done well with Coopers for my truck, and Uniroyals for the wife's car.  The old cars get tires from Coker.  If money wasn't an object, I'd get Goodyear stuff for our newer vehicles.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Dan Hiebert

[Dodgeed]

In '64, I'd bought my first car, a '56 Ford, with blackwalls, naturally. So, since the cool cars had whitewalls, and since I couldn't afford those, I bought cheap Portawalls, and had them installed. I guess from 10 feet back, they looked "okay". I really don't remember, but I do remember they weren't as good as 'real' whitewalls. So much for having a cool car. Scheeesh. 

[Los_Control]

Just now, Dodgeed said:

So much for having a cool car. Scheeesh.

I love the honesty.

 

When I was 17, I had a 1969 mustang fastback .... base model 351 2brl/fmx transmission. I got 22mpg with the car.

I installed L60-15 tires on the rear. Had to use air shocks to get the body to clear the tires. .... I do not remember the brand .... were raised white letters.

 

I had the yellow traction bars mounted underneath & a 7" pro stock hood scoop on front. .... just the style of the times. .... makes me cringe today thinking of it.

 

As a 17 year old kid I thought it was cool ... today I think I would be embarrassed to share photos of it.

   

[Kilgore47]

Couldn't afford white letter tires when I was a teenager.  So I went to the JC Whitney catalogue and ordered a white paint stick and filled in the letters on the black wall tires by hand.  Looked OK driving down the road.  Had to re do it about once a month but I had plenty of time and energy to do useless stuff like that back then.  And they were cheap  wide oval type tires. 

[Sniper]

I bought my share of cheap tire, new and used.

 

Now days, I just run Michelin on most of my rides.  The BMW got a new set of Pilot Sports this past winter.  The Plymouth rides on Hankooks.  The Cuda has a set of mismatched roller tires, no engine in it).

 

Work truck gets Firestone Transforce, but I don't pay for those the company does so they get to choose, their truck.