<VV> Firestone & Hancook Tires

[Phil Fairman]

After reading the submissions & comments about the currently available tires, I would offer the following comments on  both, having recently purchased a set of each.......

The Firestones are, as noted, made in Costa Rica and are decent tires with the following caveat: the white walls are, at least on the set I had, "less than perfect" there were several that had black gaps where the whitewall material was either very thin or had been improperly ground. After a few weeks the whitewalls began to take on mottled brown areas that no amount of  whitewall cleaner, powdered cleaner, etc would remove. It appeared that the lampblack or rubber compound was staining the whitewalls from the inside out. I sold them to a friend who will use them as blackwalls. I then got a set of the Hancooks, seems to be a better tire, with 24psi front & 34 rear, the ride was good and handling was positive......however, again, a whitewall problem.......the surface of the whitewall(s), even protected by the blue film was quite rough, not smooth like the Dunlops that I had been running and very difficult to keep clean. The did clean up, but due to the surface (looks like the tool that cut the whitewall area chattered all around the surface) they will be difficult to keep clean..of the two brands, the Hancooks seemed to be, overall, a better tire, but I really dislike buying stuff from China, they cheat so much on most everything, stuff from there makes me uneasy. I will, eventually, have to buy from Coker, Diamonback or Classic at $150 a pop to get a decent tire. Perhaps Clark's can persuade a US company to make a good tire for Corvairs at a reasonable price.........

Phil
"66 Monza Coupe 110/pg