1968 SS Factory Tire Brand & Style

[curtis0916]

I am restoring my late brother's 1968 Camaro SS396/L35 late May '68 car to factory for most items.  I know the tire size is F70-14, but what brand and style of tire came with the car originally?  I am not a big fan of the redline tires, but I do like the raised white letter Dunlops and Goodyear tires.  I plan to take the car only to local shows, so it doesn't have to be 100% factory.

Thank you for any help you can give me.

I posted this in the general area, but didn't have any responses, so I thought I'd try this one.

[bertfam]

No need to post again. Your question will eventually get answered, but tires are one of those things where there's not a ton of info on.

As for which tires would be "correct", the 68 Camaro was fitted with several different sizes and manufacturers with the main three being Goodyear, Firestone and Uniroyal.

From your post, it appears you're looking for the Goodyear like the one pictured below. (Note that this is a 1968 Z28 tire, but the SS tire looked the same, just a different size.)

Ed

[Kelley W King]

If it is a driver and local shows the BF Goodrich TA while not stock seems to be the tire of choice for 60, and 70,s cars.

[william]

If I still had a 1st gen I would strongly consider the new bias-look Firestone radial Coker tire offers.

IMHO modern radials look like SUV tires; don't like them at all on an old musclecar. Sure, you can get repro bias tires but they still suck just like they did 50 years ago.

https://www.cokertire.com/tires/firestone-wide-oval-radial-rwl.html

[jeff68]

Nothing beats the look and driving experience of bias ply tires on these cars.  Don't be scared of them, they are fine (see disclaimer).  I run the repro Goodyear Polyglas F70-14 on my L30/M20 car because that is what my Dad put on the car 'back in the day'.  They hook up great and are handle just fine, even when cruising the winding back roads at a good clip.   I wouldn't trade them for anything.  For me, there is no better feeling that rolling into a local show rockin' the Polyglas with full wheel covers!!

Just make sure to align the car properly for them and run the right tire pressure (which is relatively low by today's standards).

Disclaimer:  My experience is with the currently available reproduction Polyglas from Kelsey.  Now, it's my understanding that the Wide Tread tires had a different internal construction that the Polyglas.  I'm not sure if the new reproductions exactly follow the original internal construction or not, so the Wide Tread may be different than the Polyglas.

[bcmiller]

It all depends on the look you want.  I just run the BF Goodrich Radial TA tires, because they are reasonably priced.  If you want the original look, it will cost at least 2 to 3 times more.

[PHAT69AMX]

imho the "key" to the vintage look is the "square shoulders" of Bias Ply Tires....
the shape of the inner and outer circumferential "corner" of the tread face...
Radials all have "round shoulders" and just can not look like vintage Bias Ply tires...
except maybe those new Firestone tires another poster mentioned...
Gotta have square shouldered tires to have that vintage look... 

[DAVID CHAMBERS]

I just decoded my spare on my 1969 SS built Oct. 1968. The Goodyear 70-14 RWL is dated  Oct. 1968