Help finding a Firestone Firehawk!

[PonyDoc]

Just found an old patch in almost new tires on the 69 GT convert we just bought. It was right on the edge of the sidewall and now it's leaking. Any attempt to fix it just splits the sidewall. Since these are almost new tread, I'd hate to have to buy 4 new tires to just replace1. Does anyone know where to find a 225/70/14 Firestone Firehawk SS10 tire? I could also use 2 of either 215's or 235's and just put the smaller ones up front. I found one on Craigslist in So Va, but he won't ship!

[bartl]

Do yourself a BIG favor and find the DOT stamp on the tires and decode the date of manufacture. If they are more than 10 years old, REPLACE them, especially if you find even small cracking around the bead or in the valleys of the tread. They are time bombs waiting to explode.

As far as finding a replacement, keep checking eBay and CL - looks like Firestone no longer manufactures them.

[Maxum96]

Originally Posted by bartl

Do yourself a BIG favor and find the DOT stamp on the tires and decode the date of manufacture. If they are more than 10 years old, REPLACE them, especially if you find even small cracking around the bead or in the valleys of the tread. They are time bombs waiting to explode.

A big +1


I've seen first hand the results of driving on old tire even though they showed no signs of aging. It wasn't pretty.

[2manyhobbies]

I drove mine for several years with a slice cutting into the side of the tread from where the rear quarter cut into it from a fully loaded car. I got lucky, I'd never do it again.

[slim]

My personal experience is tire stores and auto repair shops won't repair a puncture on or near the edge/corner of the tire.

Evidently others have a different experience with this or maybe this is DIY tire repair.

Possibly this is a radial tire issue. Most radial tires are belted which concentrates the flexing at the corner of the cross section.


Slim

[openheaders]

I feel your pain. Firestone recently discontinued the Indy 500 tire too. I've had zero luck finding a replacement for one that had a bead fail on me.