Kelsey FR70-14 Goodyear Polyglas Radial Tires

[schlett7nu1]

I purchased a set of the new Kelsey FR70-14 Goodyear Polyglas Radial tires for my 70 Challenger convertible. I've always run bias-ply tires on the car to get the right look. With the bias-ply tires the ride was poor. I felt every road flaw. I think I could feel a cricket I ran over. I saw the new radials on display at SEMA. It took a long time after SEMA for the tires to successfully complete testing and finally be commercially available. I was a little concerned about the tread and side wall design. Both features visually departed from the bias-ply version. I recently put 20 miles on the car with the new radials. It's a completely different car in terms of handling and ride quality. No surprise when comparing any radial to a bias-ply. I'm very happy with the tires. The tread and side wall design have grown on me. Not cheap but I love the tires.

View attachment 70932

 

[fasjac]

Is the sweet vert wearing the new shoes in the picture? I can’t enlarge it enough to tell.
Beautiful car, and if those are the new tires, awesome. If I may ask, how much coin?
Thanks

 

[moparleo]

From what we can see in the picture they look good. Not much selection on any RWL tires these days.

 

[schlett7nu1]

Here's a better image that shows the side wall and tread. I paid $1141.50 for a set of 4 shipping included. I then paid another $120 to have all 4 mounted and balanced. Thankfully, I was able to sell the 4 bias-ply tires that I removed to help offset some of the cost of the new radial tires. The bias-ply tires had very few miles on them and they were dated 2017. As I understand it the tread design was similar to the bias-ply Police H-rated Polyglas tires (130 mph) of the day. Kelsey only produces these as 14". 15" are not available. My car came with the 14" optional Road Wheels. These tires also give the appearance of filling the wheel well better similarly to what the 15" wheel does. The 14" wheel with bias-ply tires generally look small in the wheel well.

 

[schlett7nu1]

Side wall image

 

[Rich G.]

I was so excited that Firestone made a radial that looks like a bias-ply tire when I was building my car I ordered them. Of course after I got them I remembered they didn’t put Firestone’s on Mopars! Well they do now and I must say they do ride nice!

 

[doubleyellow]

They look great......is that the A4 Silver paint? Never seen that before. Must be rare, especially on a vert.

 

[340challconvert]

Looks nice; close to an original look

 

[schlett7nu1]

EA4 Silver Poly paint. Listed on the fender tag as "999" paint code and Y39 for special order car. "Special Order Paint" listed on dealer order form and on build sheet.

 

[moparleo]

Not true, Firestone tires were an option on Mopars. Not every car came with Goodyear Poly-glas tires. Just seems that way because most restored cars had them put on in the last 30 years. The Firestone tires were very popular back in the sixties and seventies. Firestone Indy Profile were some of the first wide tread tires used on the streets in the sixties, although they were actually a racing tire and not DOT approved. The Firestone Wide Ovals were oe on many cars. The only other Major tire maker of the day with 60 & 70 series tires although never supplied oe were the Uni-Royal " Tiger Paw" . Looked good but absolutely the worst wet weather tire ever. Like driving on black ice. The now popular BF Goodrich T/A radial was originally developed for the Chevy Corvette Racing program and only came in 1 size and a totally different tread design than is what people are familiar with today. They later became available on other sizes for the street.

 

[plymouthbelvy]

I purchased a set of the new Kelsey FR70-14 Goodyear Polyglas Radial tires for my 70 Challenger convertible. I've always run bias-ply tires on the car to get the right look. With the bias-ply tires the ride was poor. I felt every road flaw. I think I could feel a cricket I ran over. I saw the new radials on display at SEMA. It took a long time after SEMA for the tires to successfully complete testing and finally be commercially available. I was a little concerned about the tread and side wall design. Both features visually departed from the bias-ply version. I recently put 20 miles on the car with the new radials. It's a completely different car in terms of handling and ride quality. No surprise when comparing any radial to a bias-ply. I'm very happy with the tires. The tread and side wall design have grown on me. Not cheap but I love the tires.

View attachment 70932

Where did you purchase them? Thanks.

 

[schlett7nu1]

I bought them direct from Kelsey Tire. I pestered John Kelsey for nearly a year after seeing them at SEMA. It took that long for them to finish testing, certification, and production start. They use a representative named Rusty Small as a distributor. He frequently advertises on several of the various E-body forums. I don't have his number.

 

[plymouthbelvy]

Thank you. I talked to rusty small and was checking to see if and when a 15 inch version was coming out. He was not sure but said they were on second batch of 14 inch so hopefully they will. Thanks.

 

[Promo6pckConv]

Love the paint code 999 silver paint. Is that a U-code 440 magnum?
Automatic?
Located down in Texas?

Great looking car.

 

[1970 R/T]

Love the A4 silver! I painted mine a very similar color! Tire and wheel combo are great!

 

[michael bucklew]

I purchased a set of the new Kelsey FR70-14 Goodyear Polyglas Radial tires for my 70 Challenger convertible. I've always run bias-ply tires on the car to get the right look. With the bias-ply tires the ride was poor. I felt every road flaw. I think I could feel a cricket I ran over. I saw the new radials on display at SEMA. It took a long time after SEMA for the tires to successfully complete testing and finally be commercially available. I was a little concerned about the tread and side wall design. Both features visually departed from the bias-ply version. I recently put 20 miles on the car with the new radials. It's a completely different car in terms of handling and ride quality. No surprise when comparing any radial to a bias-ply. I'm very happy with the tires. The tread and side wall design have grown on me. Not cheap but I love the tires.

View attachment 70932

when i bought my '71 challenger in '71, it had F78/14 tires, lasted about 20k, had Dayton steel belted radials installed. car was a different riding animal. those tires lasted over 60k miles, were on display at tire store when new ones were bought.