Big Letter Goodyear Tires vs. Your Paint Job

[decooney]

Club Cobra members,

I've received a number of questions about the big letter 15" Goodyear Eagle tires on my new ERA Cobra with Trigos. I just had to try them, just had to. Oh well, now I understand first hand what the pros and cons are when using them for street use after just 300 fairly easy miles.

Pro's:
- car handles great.
- looks good and fits the car well.
- no rubbing on my ERA, front or rear.
- helps to add a fairly soft/supple ride, soft sidewalls.

Cons:
- they pick up rocks more than I originally imagined.
- front tires sandblast your rear fenders with rocks.
- paint chips all over the place - anywere rocks will fly to.
- can get flats fairly easily.
- not DOT approved.
- they wander a little, but not that bad to me.
- cannot follow another Cobra with them, or else!

(if you were thinking about these) - Before you buy and try them like I have, you might want to decide up front if your car will be a show car or a driver. If you drive with these, you car will not be a show car for long with all the paint chips. I guess I'll keep them for now as my car is definitely a driver.

[Roscoe]

Duane,
Thanks for the informative post. I've been thinking of getting a set when I retread. Why don't you send me your set so I can try them out?????

Seriously, thanks.
Roscoe

[Ikestaa]

Would something like heli-tape around fenders and rocker panels help to keep paint chips down. Our ERA is in the paint stage, but my dad has already dropped 800 bucks on the Goodyear tires

[decooney]

Yes, I would put something on there to protect it. One thing you cannot protect against, is rocks from your tires hitting other peoples cars. For my car protection, I am now considering doing LineX bedliner type guard, or some sort of heavy duty stick on 3M protector tape. Heck, if required, I'll be the first guy on the block to paint my entire car with LineX, put stripes on it. Boy wouldn't that look like crap, but it would be functional.

In any case, these tires cost much less than a good paint job. If you are worried about your paint, you can always sell the tires now. By chance you hit a road with any loose rock on it (and you will at least once), these things throw rocks like a hail storm. If you are more concerned about performance using these 15" tires on the street, then you'll be dealing with paint chips on the side and back of your car - guaranteed. Good Luck.

[bonyhadi]

I just had the 3m tape applied on the exposed areas that are prone to chipping on ERA 535.
I have a new set of Eagles on her. Biggest concern is non-dot tires and the possibility my insurance company denies a claim.

[Whaler]

Wow good to know Duane

How about some huge mudflaps with Goodyear written on those as well
Protection for those following too close

Tim

[ERA535]

Duane - are you saying you flat spotted them in 300 miles?

[Carroll DeWeese]

Do the comments about these tires apply to all Cobras?

Since the body shapes are basically the same, I assume the comment apply only to the tires and not to the cars. I am getting an SPF with the 15 inch tires. It is not for show but I would like the paint to stay nice.

[decooney]

Hi Pat,

I was just crusing along yesterday, breaking in my new motor carefully - and my buddy turned off onto a new road up near Georgetown with a bit of loose pebbles. It was about a 15 minute route, and my rear fenders just got blasted again.

I don't know if I am answering your question correctly, but the tires do not appear to have have flat spots on them, and they are really smooth so far.

[Alex Donghi]

Carroll
Get the clear stone chip guards on your SPF. I have it on mine no chips and I have a gravel driveway.

Any body know what to use to clean the raised white letters? I am affraid anything with bleach will turn them yellow.

[Pete C]

I like the slicks so well that I just ordered the treaded ones! Can't wait to drive on em!

Cheers, Pete

[A Snake]

Alex,
Try using warm water and SOS pads. works on white walls....why not white letters. Same rubber. If scrubbing is not to your liking, then find some spray on whitewall cleaner at your local parts house.

Just try not to scrub curbs with the tires and you won't have much cleaning to do.

For touch up, if they get dingy looking, get white china marking pencil. Buy the US made variety as they're softer than the imported kind. Though kind of messy, you can also go to your local hardware store or lumberyard and buy Markal Paintstik in white. Get the larger round ones in the yellow wrapper not the small hexagon shaped type. They'll look dried out but aren't. Just pick the "skin" off and you're ready to go.

Look in my gallery to see what that looks like. My tires are Bluestreaks and the letters were just black rubber until I used the markers.

Al

[Pete C]

Alex, Scotch bright pads.

[ERA535]

When the lettering on those Goodyears gets all dirty nothing but lacquer thinner will clean them....it also removes the lettering if you scrub too hard.

Re- letter them after a while.

[SSSnake]

The letters on the Dunlop G/T qualifiers that we got had some stains on them that would not come out with any cleaner. Sanded the letters down with some 600 grit/wet and the letters are as white and as smooth as i ever could have imagined.

Glenn

[Ikestaa]

Where are you experiencing paint chips. Is it just directly behind the tires, or all down the sides? Would heli-tape be enough to prevent any damage?

[jknight]

I also have a set of the Goodyear 15" big letter tires, and you are absolutely right about the rocks. These tires pick up everything! My question is concerning your comment about " easy flats"? Are you saying that you have had several blow-outs?

[Cobranut]

As far as flats, they are like any race tire, very thin and lightweight, therefore a sharp gravel or pothole will puncture them easily.
That's why they're not DOT approved.
I'll stick with DOT tires for the street, as I don't like changing tires along the roadside.
(Just had a trailer tire throw its tread coming back from Summit Point. Had to change it on I-81 with semis flashing by two feet from my backside, not fun.)

Later,

[decooney]

As for flats, my experience on it has been heresay. However, before I made the purchase, I spoke with various dealers, and the distributor, who made me aware of this. I carry a patch/plug kit in the car, just in case I pick up a nail. If I hit a sharp rock, well, it will be flatbed time for me, because I don't carry a spare on my rollbar. Its only a matter of time.

As for the chips, they are mostly on my rear fenders only, not on the side yet - but that would not suprise me if it happened. I plan to cover the rear fenders soon. I'm looking for wide sheets of 3M safety-walk self stick paper in black. The hardware stores only have the narrow stuff...

[ac andy]

Petrol cleans up the white lettering, dont know how good it is for the rubber though.