Tire Holy Grail, Pics

Took a while, but the Cooper 700-15 Courser LT's finally came in. I promised some photos, so here ya go.

Some inital observations. The bias tires don't seem to ride much rougher than the radials did, the road system being criminally unmaintained here could have some effect on this. No matter what your tires, its gonna be a rough ride...
Clearance for the spare has increased quite a bit, as hoped. Less chance of a stick getting stuck in there, or the two tires rubbin at full tilt boogie. The radials (225x15 Toyo Open Country) only had about 3/4" clearence at best, so this is a signifigant improvement.
Tread depth, aggressiveness, and sidewall toughness are night and day between the radials and the bias. Big plus in the sharp granite/pointy manzanita we wheel in.
Gained about 1 1/4" ground clearance with the new tires. Toyo's were 27 1/2" tall, the Coopers are a little over 30". Every little bit helps.
So far as looks, I know its subjective, but I really am trying hard to keep an old school look for the jeep, and I'm pretty happy with the way the Cooper's look. We'll have to see how they do once in the bushes, but judging from my buddies experience, they're gonna be fine. I just wish it haden't been such an ordeal to find a set.

 

Beautiful. They look great on your jeep.

 

WooHoo! Gotta love new sneakers!

 

When I was a kid every M&S truck tire looked like that. My mother worked for sears, so most of my parents tires came from there. They'd probably sell well if they were still easily available. They look great.

Paul

 

Get ready to be sick.....

After looking at those tires, i realize that those were the same ones i had on my cj when i got it. I just sold a set of 6 of em, 80-90% tread left on 5 rims, 1 with a side wall plug and just a little dry rot on all 6, for $65. Not that they would do you much good all the way over here in Jersey.


If i know they were the holy grail, i'd have buried them in the desert for indiana jones and the Germans to find.

 

Well, they were the grail for me. I really wanted to keep my side spare, and needed a tough tire for the terrain here in the Sierras. I researched for days, and as far as I could find, this was the only tire that would meet my needs. All radials were out, bulging sidewalls made for too much section width, even bias ply TSL mini swampers were too wide.
So I spent days more on the phone trying to find this specific tire within 100 miles of here. You wouldn't believe the BS I heard from dealers and distributors..."they haven't made them in years" or "they only make them special order in the winter, and you have to go on a prepaid in full waiting list". What a crock. Sometimes living in the boonies really has disadvantages, but I've got 'em now!
At one point there, I'd of had no problem paying to have them shipped from Jersey. As it turns out, I wouldn't doubt if they came from that far away, took almost two weeks to get them after I found a place that would order them...

 

yeah great tires I just ordered two more for the front as I can,t seem to find the Hercules HDT 700-15,s .

 

I considered those tires very seriously before I bought the TSL's. They look great.

 

!

I have looked high and low for a set of 6.00x16 or 6.50x16. I'm about to give up. I think my next best option is going to be the 7.50x16 Courser.

In your opinion, how close to OEM would you think the 7.50x16 to be?

I've got an old (original?) Goodyear 6.00x16 Sure Grip here, and also have a 7.50x16 NDCC, and they appear noticebly taller and fatter when standing next to each other. Do you think it would be as noticeable on the JEEP?

Farfle (or Sparky if you remember), what did you pay for the 15", if you don't mind my asking?

Could you possibly take another photo of the front tire turned a little bit to view fender clearance at the rear? I'm wondering if I might have to go 1" spring lift if I have to use the 7.50, which is putting me even farther away from the build goal of an original looking (but not all original) JEEP. I looked through the gallery and found a couple pics of Sparky's '62, but the front tire shot was hard to make out. I did find this rear tire shot:
http://www.earlycj5.com/gallery2/v/personal/Sparky/Jeep/1962/kscan_0018.jpg.html

Does anyone have a lead on some other OEM-styled tires? I've looked into the Grip Spurs, but I don't think that is going to do it for me in the 16" size.

TIA, sorry for so many questions.

 

Clint,
Here's a shot I took when I first put them on. 7.00-15, so they'll be a little narrower than a 7.50 tire, not enough to notice, IMHO.
My jeep sits on tired stock springs. I've got power steering, stops stock, and no rubbing at all when I've cranked lock to lock.
The courser LT's howl a bit on the road, I like it, it's just another instrument in the symphony.
The pics the best I can do tonight, if you need more, I can shot in the morning...

 

Clint, check out the Firestone knobby or the STA super traxion. I have no experience with them, but was considering the STA super traxion.

http://www.universaltire.com/cart.php?target=category&category_id=343

 

Farfle, thanks for the pic. That is exactly the shot I needed.

Sloth, that web site is awesome! Gives me some more choices to consider. I'm thinking with the nominal size of the 7.50x16 standing at around 32" and judging from your 7.00x15 pics, I'm definitely going to need to keep searching and find a 6.50 or 7.00 at most.

 

Check w/your local farmers co-op. Locally here they carry the "Safemark" brand,basically a private label Kelly Springfield. They list an 8 ply, 7.50-16 tire (20/32" tread , 46 lbs.) List was like $97 ea.IIRC. I'm still committed to grip-spurs myself only because thats whats been on there for the last 40ish years.

 

Beautiful. That's what a Jeep's supposed to look like IMHO.

 

Does anybody know what the stock 16" tire would've been on a '63 CJ5? I see some pics that are NDT, and some that are treads.

 

I've seen all kinds, not sure if there was a "standard" tire from the factory. Check out the link, tons of Willys pics, some early '5s. A vast variety of tread designs used, some application specific like ag. or military.http://66.213.36.5/getkeyw_bool.asp?key=jeep&how=cp&Start=0&Offset=10

 

Clint,
I forgot a couple of details
Cost: $104/tire (before taxes, fees, mounting, balancing, recycling, and whatever else they found to add to the final bill)
Size: 30.1"
My 75 orig equip were P225-15. 27.5" tall.

 

Thanks for the link! Man, a guy could waste some time sifting through those!

Here's the one. Same Goodyear Suregrip that I've got in the garage right now. I think that Courser or Super Traxion will match close enough:


Here's a slightly different tire for ag use:


And here's one for Boyink: