Today’s tires and wheels can bring a higher level of performance to these older Corvettes. We’ll look at the many options for performance tires and wheels for C2 and C3 Corvettes and explore new tire technologies that benefit all car enthusiasts.

Tires look pretty much the same but that belies what lies beneath. The advances in construction and materials constantly increase their performance and life. One of the first popular performance oriented tires for Corvettes and muscle cars was the Firestone Wide Oval. These bias-ply tires rarely made it to 10,000 miles with spirited driving. Now, many radial tires provide a greater level of performance and last 40,000 miles or more.

The advances in technology mean that the tires you buy today will have better performance and better life even if you use the original 15-inch wheels and OEM tires sizes. Plus, now there are radial tires that look like the original bias-ply tires on C2 Corvettes. And for those who just want a period-correct aftermarket appearance for C2s and C3s there are a number of choices, with BFGoodrich Radial T/As and Cooper Cobras being among the most popular.

Plus Sizing – Larger Wheels

When stock 15-inch wheels are used, the widest tires that will fit C3 Corvettes on all four corners without rubbing the fiberglass or the frame are generally 245/60R15 or 255/60R15. Larger diameter wheels will be required to put modern high-performance tires on these Corvettes. Installing larger wheels and lower profile tires is termed “plus sizing.” The challenge lies in finding a good tire width and aspect ratio to approximate the diameter of the original tires.

Increasing wheel size to 16-inch was good 10 years ago but now the choices of 16-inch performance tires that fit early Corvettes have greatly decreased. For example, in the 255/50R16 size, nearly all the remaining tires are for track use. One of the only street performance tires remaining in this size is the BFGoodrich g-Force Sport COMP-2. The good news is that this tire is highly rated.

There’s still a decent selection of 17-inch performance tires that fit C2 and C3 Corvettes. However, the number of choices is likely to decrease. Next, the 18-inch wheels may soon prove to be a better size for these early Corvettes because there are a number of late-model cars that use 18-inch tires sizes that would be a good fitment. Therefore, it’s likely tire manufacturers will continue to offer these tire sizes for years to come.

After deciding what diameter wheel is best, the choices of brands and styles are enormous. Hundreds of aftermarket wheels are on display at the SEMA show in Las Vegas each year. It would be impossible to cover all those new custom wheels here. For the old-school custom look on early Corvettes consider two of the most popular choices: the Torq-Thrust II and the Cragar S/S. And for replicating the original 15-inch Rally style, follow along to see a number of new choices that enable running a wide variety of modern performance tires.

Decoding Tires

While wheel choice largely concerns appearance, your performance tire choice should be more data driven. There are several specifications that are useful when choosing new tires. Uniform Tire Quality Grade (UTQG) standards were created by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to provide information on the relative treadwear, traction and temperature capabilities of passenger car tires. These three grades can be found in the specifications for each tire and they are embossed on the tire’s sidewall. It’s also worth noting that all UTQG data is provided by the manufacturer, not the DOT.

The treadwear grade is displayed first and now goes to over 600 for some passenger car tires. A high treadwear grade is of most interest if you drive many miles per year. High-performance tires are often graded in the 300 range or less. Even though high-performance tires wear faster (and have shallower tread depth), the treadwear grade is of little concern for Corvettes that are driven a few thousand miles per year or less because the tires will go past their safe age before they wear out.

The traction grade comes second and now goes up to AA. This grade is of limited use because it only measures a tire’s straight line wet traction. It does not measure accelerating, stopping, or cornering performance on dry roads. Slicks, for example, provide excellent traction at the dragstrip but their UTQG traction grade would be quite low.

The last grade displayed is the temperature grade. It relates to the internal friction and resultant temperature buildup in the tire to help determine its maximum safe speed. The temperature grade of A indicates the tire can be safely run at over 115 mph. The grade of B indicates that the tire will not overheat when run and at speeds between 100 and 115 mph. A separate tire speed rating is used for exceptionally high-speed applications. For example, a W speed rating indicates it’s good for up to 168 mph.

Selecting Tires

Once the limitations of the UTQG specifications are understood, the need for real world tire information becomes clear. A good source is TireRack.com. On this website you can compare specifications such as tire diameter, tread depth and treadwear on hundreds of tires. That’s very helpful but what’s most valuable when deciding between several tires are the many reviews from car enthusiasts on any specific tire. (For example, the BFG Radial T/A Performance All Season tire has over 500 reviews). Importantly, the reviewer’s driving style and experience with other tires are described along with comments on comfort, road noise and traction.

In addition to the Tire Rack user reviews, you could also talk to the experts at Coker Tire who have personally tested most of the popular performance tires. Both Coker Tire and Tire Rack can ship tires directly to and also offer complete wheel and tire packages (mounted, balanced and ready to be bolted on).

Modern performance tires can make a vast improvement in the safety and handling of your C2 or C3. So it’s not surprising that installing new tires and wheels is one of the most popular performance and cosmetic changes owners make to their vintage Corvettes.