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(1) 2 »

My 1969 GTO Tire Blowout
#1
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Tom (Packin31)
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Hi my Packard Friends,

I know this is Packard forum but wanted to share with you my experience yesterday and a warning about tires.

I purchased my 1969 GTO back in November of '19. Stored at my nephews for the winter months.

Went yesterday to pick it up to drive it back home here to Illinois.

Had a few mishaps on the way home. On 80/94 I was looking into the left side view mirror I see this round chrome thing rolling down the expressway. I am like dang it one of my trim ring blew off. No chance I was going to stop and try to recover it. 80/94 at this stretch is not the best place to pull over.

Later on my joureny getting close to home the front end started to shake vigorously. I pull over to check to see if I had a flat but all tires had air. Figured it was just the road and the suspension on this old GTO needs some attention when I get it back home. Get back on expressway and the shaking got worse. I got off at the next exit since i was only about 15 mile out from home pulled over again to look at tire and look what I found.

There was a nice guy that saw me pulled over also since he notice the tire shacking. He followed me to a parking lot so we could change the tire. I don't trust the bumper jacks so he looked in his truck for a bottle jack he thought he had but he didn't. So he went to his buddies to pick up a floor jack. While he went to do that I pulled out the spare tire and lug nut/jack wrench and low an behold the lug nut wrench doesn't fit the lugs on the car. Luckily the guy that helped me had an Milwaukee Impact gun and sockets.

Put on the spare and took side the side main roads back home.

Once I got back home and settle in I texted the guy I bought the car from and mention to him my joureny home, He told me when he had the interior the shop put new 14" Rallies on and tire. Said he had only put on about 50 miles on these set of tires before selling the car to me. He said he is going to call the interior shop on Monday to see what he spent over 15,000 on and will let me know what this shop says to him.

So warning check your tires even if you are told they are new.

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Posted on: 2020/6/7 9:28
Tom
1931 833 468 Coupe
Packard Registry|1931 Project Blog
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Re: My 1969 GTO Tire Blowout
#2
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64avanti
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Looks like a classic "old tire" failure.
Don't think they have made those in years...

Posted on: 2020/6/7 10:45
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Re: My 1969 GTO Tire Blowout
#3
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39Rollson
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tires were made in April 2003---not surprising it blew out--doesn't matter had many miles were on tires-- I'd replace all four

Posted on: 2020/6/7 14:48
1954 Cavalier (export model)sold

1941 Clipper

1939 120 Rollson all weather cabriolet

George
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Re: My 1969 GTO Tire Blowout
#4
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HH56
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Must have been on someones shelf for a long time and they saw an opportunity to get rid of them. I had a service station do that once before I knew enough to check dates.

Not sure if it is a Calif policy or is nationwide but locally a reputable tire shop will not mount something over a few years old saying it is against the law. When buying a new set for my pickup I couldn't even get a name brand shop to mount my old 10 year old tires coming off the truck onto rims for use as roll arounds for the 47. Said I would need to go to an independent or used tire shop and maybe they would do it.

Posted on: 2020/6/7 15:28
Howard
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Re: My 1969 GTO Tire Blowout
#5
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Leeedy
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Quote:

Tom (Packin31) wrote:
Hi my Packard Friends,

I know this is Packard forum but wanted to share with you my experience yesterday and a warning about tires.

I purchased my 1969 GTO back in November of '19. Stored at my nephews for the winter months.

Went yesterday to pick it up to drive it back home here to Illinois.

Had a few mishaps on the way home. On 80/94 I was looking into the left side view mirror I see this round chrome thing rolling down the expressway. I am like dang it one of my trim ring blew off. No chance I was going to stop and try to recover it. 80/94 at this stretch is not the best place to pull over.

Later on my joureny getting close to home the front end started to shake vigorously. I pull over to check to see if I had a flat but all tires had air. Figured it was just the road and the suspension on this old GTO needs some attention when I get it back home. Get back on expressway and the shaking got worse. I got off at the next exit since i was only about 15 mile out from home pulled over again to look at tire and look what I found.

There was a nice guy that saw me pulled over also since he notice the tire shacking. He followed me to a parking lot so we could change the tire. I don't trust the bumper jacks so he looked in his truck for a bottle jack he thought he had but he didn't. So he went to his buddies to pick up a floor jack. While he went to do that I pulled out the spare tire and lug nut/jack wrench and low an behold the lug nut wrench doesn't fit the lugs on the car. Luckily the guy that helped me had an Milwaukee Impact gun and sockets.

Put on the spare and took side the side main roads back home.

Once I got back home and settle in I texted the guy I bought the car from and mention to him my joureny home, He told me when he had the interior the shop put new 14" Rallies on and tire. Said he had only put on about 50 miles on these set of tires before selling the car to me. He said he is going to call the interior shop on Monday to see what he spent over 15,000 on and will let me know what this shop says to him.

So warning check your tires even if you are told they are new.


Lots and lots of things going on here... in addition to old tires.

As someone who bought a 1968 GTO convertible brand new (and I had mine Bobcatted-and still have most of my original papers and service records), I remember many things vividly.

I'm including a photo of my 1968 GTO when new (date on the frame of the photo was whenever I got around to having the prints made, but well after when the car was purchased)... WITH Rallye II wheels and original red-line tires. I ordered the car while stationed in Viet Nam and yes, I still have the original order form that states it was a military order in special discount from Vietnam war zone. There was very little difference between 1968 And 1969 GTO (think of 1955 and 1956 Packard).

One of the things I remember so well was how Royal Pontiac dealership (thee BIG GTO dealer) once used to warn AGAINST mounting radials on GTOs. Of course, today this is a hot button subject that provokes endless arguments into the ground, usually with today's generation and sport car "handler" guys swearing that radials and "good" mean the same thing. So I won't go into this aspect further.

However. Aside from the age of the tires, the photos here tell me a few things:

? SOME radials from the period this tire was made had asymmetrical tread. This appears to be one of those type tires.

? MANY asymmetrical treads were designed to roll unidirectional (usually with an arrow indicator on the sidewall).

? SOME radials were designed only for RH or LH installation.

? All this is HUGELY complicated in this case by the tire being mounted on a Rallye II wheel with the tire backwards (mounted inside-out) on the wheel.

With all of these complications... anything could (and probably would) happen. My advice is IF you're going to swap things around on a vintage car-especially tires-be sure you know what you're doing by swapping... and the potential results which can mean your life or wrecking your vehicle.

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Posted on: 2020/6/7 17:48
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Re: My 1969 GTO Tire Blowout
#6
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Tom (Packin31)
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Leeedy,

For the directional of the tires rotation by LH/RH of installation I am not sure. Will need to take a look at the tires and see.

For putting the raised white to the inside does that make a difference on how the tires will run?

When I do go purchase new tires (which will be all four including the spare) I am not going to buy the LH/RH type tires. I am one that rotates tires at every oil change or before the driving season for my cars that are stored over the winter months.

You had yourself a nice 68 there. Cool option with he dual side dumps. I like it.

What color was your 68? From the Picture it looks to be yellow?

If you like I could post over on the GTO forum to see if any forum members knows the whereabouts of it?

Thanks to all of you for your concerns and feedback. I really do appreciate it.

Be safe all....

Posted on: 2020/6/8 5:58
Tom
1931 833 468 Coupe
Packard Registry|1931 Project Blog
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Re: My 1969 GTO Tire Blowout
#7
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John
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What it boils down to anymore are these tires are crap. I guess they figured a way to sell tires every 5 or 6 years...

Posted on: 2020/6/8 8:43
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Re: My 1969 GTO Tire Blowout
#8
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Leeedy
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Quote:

Tom (Packin31) wrote:
Leeedy,

For the directional of the tires rotation by LH/RH of installation I am not sure. Will need to take a look at the tires and see.

For putting the raised white to the inside does that make a difference on how the tires will run?

When I do go purchase new tires (which will be all four including the spare) I am not going to buy the LH/RH type tires. I am one that rotates tires at every oil change or before the driving season for my cars that are stored over the winter months.

You had yourself a nice 68 there. Cool option with he dual side dumps. I like it.

What color was your 68? From the Picture it looks to be yellow?

If you like I could post over on the GTO forum to see if any forum members knows the whereabouts of it?

Thanks to all of you for your concerns and feedback. I really do appreciate it.

Be safe all....



Hello,

It is not a matter of the sidewall being in or out, but rather the tread design. But it IS important to remember that the tire manufacturer presumes that RWL sidewalls will be mounted on wheels as intended. So flipping those tires backwards (I guess the latest trendy thing is the Euro-look blackwall) just tosses a wrench into the works.

When I was Project Manager at Mazda in the 1980s, we introduced a uni-directional tread radial on RX-7. AND uni-directional alloy wheels. There were all kinds of things that happened as a result. Almost nobody paid attention to the details and facts-or read the owner's manual.

Very first thing: a photographer decided he liked the way a RH wheel and tire looked, so? He had one mounted on the LH front. Then took a photo and put it on the cover of a magazine! People tried to imitate the magazine cover or wondered why theirs didn't "look that way." Rotater folks tried rotating RH tires and wheels onto LH mountings and vice-versa. Things got crazy. One magazine guy complained that a car "handled funny"... only for me to discover the tires were mounted on backwards! This is what happens when new technologies are introduced and people try using old methods and business as usual. Tires stopped being just tires a long time ago.

Thanks for the compliments. My GTO was indeed yellow... the name of the color was "Mayfair Maize". Interior and top were black and pinstripes (real painted ones) were red. Wheelhouse liners were red too.

The "Exhaust Splitters" (while normally an extra-cost Pontiac accessory) were not an option on GTOs for the first time in 1968. This was because the factory exhaust had radically changed for 1968. So the only option that year was for a chrome "trumpet" tip that looked too much to me like Mustang GT. So? I had Milt Schornack and the guys at Royal Pontiac make a set of special exhaust splitters just for me. As far as I know, I had the only 1968 GTO with exhaust splitters.

The mirrors you see here were prototypes not available. Got them from a friend who worked in design at Ford when they were being tossed out. I had them specially painted by the dealer to match my GTO.

I also had my GTO Bobcatted at Royal, but I never installed the special "Royal Bobcat" stickers and window decal (all of which I still have along with my Royal license plate frames and paperwork. I even have my "Protect-O-Plate).

I don't know anything about the GTO forum you mention, but I would love to find my GTO and have it back again. I very reluctantly sold it while in college. The gas and insurance were astronomical at the time.

Good luck with yours.

Posted on: 2020/6/8 9:14
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Re: My 1969 GTO Tire Blowout
#9
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Tom (Packin31)
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Leedy,

Here are a few sites I have joined a few months back.

https://www.gtoforum.com/

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/forums/index.php

Alot these guys there have alot more knowledge then I.
Just like here on Packardinfo.


I am researching now Brands and the type of tires to put on the GTO.

Thanks again for the insight on tire development, tips and feedback.

Posted on: 2020/6/8 9:29
Tom
1931 833 468 Coupe
Packard Registry|1931 Project Blog
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Re: My 1969 GTO Tire Blowout
#10
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Leeedy
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Quote:

Tom (Packin31) wrote:
Leedy,

Here are a few sites I have joined a few months back.

https://www.gtoforum.com/

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/forums/index.php

Alot these guys there have alot more knowledge then I.
Just like here on Packardinfo.


I am researching now Brands and the type of tires to put on the GTO.

Thanks again for the insight on tire development, tips and feedback.


Hello,

You are most welcome. Appreciate the links.

By the way, I'm Leeedy (with 3 e's) rather than "Leedy"

Thanks again.

Posted on: 2020/6/8 10:16
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