Goodyear Still Makes the Gatorback

[Historian]

This is the tire that came from the factory on our Mach Wons.

Has anybody bought these recently? How was the DOT date code?

Thanx

Semper Fi

[2k4mach]

beats me, ive never even thought about buying them lol.
****ing 25 yr old design tire.

[Azure Blurr]

Yes they still make it.

[swoop1156]

How Did This Tire Rank In Its Category?
35 out of 40 tires (Score of 6.7 vs best tire in category score of 8.5)I can't wait to burn mine off.

[mach1 03]

if they do i dont know why you would want them.

[Derek]

kinda funny I have originally full size spare off of one of my tbird turbocoupes thats a goodyear vr45 and is the exact same tread design. they also used it on the GN's around 87-88

[birdman941]

Originally the VR "Gatorback" tire was OE on the 84 Vette,
(Goodyear Eagle VR50 "Gatorback", P255/50VR-16)
then it went to Camaros, and Mustangs in 85.
Some did not like the treadwear on the gators when they were originally on the Mustang,
but that was more the fault of the front steering and suspension
geometry than it was the fault of the tire.
I got 38,000 miles on a set of Gators on my 87 Tbird,
but I had a lot of suspension geometry mods done to it, (all factory parts of course)
and rotated and flipped the tires religiously.
Many changes to the compounds have been made in the last 25 years,
and overall, it's still a pretty good tire for the money.
You just have to know your and the car's limits. (driver mod)
With new gators, several heat cycles have to be made for it to really come into its own.
I would not try to make any corners with brand new ones.

Edit:
I currently have Nitto 555's on my Mach 1.
I replaced the Gators because where I worked at the time,
I got them for a very reasonable cost.
Comparing the 555's to the Gatorbacks,
the Goodyears actually have better steering response at speed than the Nittos.
Eveything else is about equal, ride quality, handling, noise, etc.

[NJ 03Mach1]

Comparing the 555's to the Gatorbacks,
the Goodyears actually have better steering response at speed than the Nittos.

:surprise:



No way are the skators, even close to Nitto 555's. As soon as I could I got a set of Nitto's on the Mach and never looked back.

I'm way more confident at over 130mph on my Nitto's, then I was on the Skator's at 85mph.. The two aren't even in the same class IMO.:smack:

[birdman941]

:surprise:



No way are the skators, even close to Nitto 555's. As soon as I could I got a set of Nitto's on the Mach and never looked back.

I'm way more confident at over 130mph on my Nitto's, then I was on the Skator's at 85mph.. The two aren't even in the same class IMO.:smack:

Obviously you havent driven both one after the other on the same car,
whereas I have.

[Azure Blurr]

I kinda agree with B-man. I felt the gatorbacks were adequate for my kind of driving. They are way better than these crap suckitome's I have now. I'll leave a review of the BFG's that are going on Saturday! :3amin:

[2k4mach]

I kinda agree with B-man. I felt the gatorbacks were adequate for my kind of driving. They are way better than these crap suckitome's I have now. I'll leave a review of the BFG's that are going on Saturday! :3amin:

da gators arent bad, but once they get some age on them there like any other tire lol.

mine have 3k on them at the most and are on the car right now lol, it was fun driving on them before Billy took the car.

[Azure Blurr]

Them seem to get hard to me. Very easy to lite them up.
I'm going to try to do a little vid on the camera before the new skins go on.:D

[falcongtho3]

I didn't realize how much I hated the Goodyears until I put the Cooper Zeon 2XS tires on my car. Quieter, and smoother riding, I don't feel I've given up any handling, especially in the rain. I will say that the Goodyears probably hooked up in a stright line better than the Coopers, but as little as I drag race it I give that up.

Also, the original Corvette spec Gatorbacks had inset letters. (It was the only version of the Gatorback that did) They were done that way in the interest of aerodynamics (mainly fuel economy at the time). Die hard Vette people drove me nuts looking for those when I worked for a Goodyear dealer.

:borg:

[03SHKR]

I believe any performance rated tire will make a HUGE difference in handling (wet or dry). I replaced the stock Goodyears with the F1 GS-D3s (I'm actually on my second set of GS-D3s). The difference is amazing.

I have Nittos and Kuhmos too. When warmed up, they are great on dry roads. But on wet roads, they are not much better than the skators. IMO, the stock gatorbacks are bottom of the line (any brand).

[Historian]

Cept for the catback I can have my Mach back to OE in 10 minutes.

For those you have kept their Machs stock I thought it was interesting that the Gatorbacks were still available as someday we will die to get our hands on the original meats.

Yes, someday we will die to get our hands on the Gatorbacks. Just like I would die now before putting a foreign tire on my Mach 1.

The funniest mods I have read here are huge, heavy sound systems stuffed in the trunk. It wasn't that long ago we would share ideas on what all to rip out of our Machs to lighten them up for faster times. To think some people buy a street fighter Mach 1 to thump, thump, thump.

Just kidding as one of the requirents by Ford for the Mach 460 radio manufacturer was that it had to make the trunk thump.

[2k4mach]

my car is gonna be so far from stock having stock tires will be the last thing ill be worried about and even then i could care less.

[mach1 03]

Mine were on my car until just about 6 months ago. I know that a lot of their lack of grip was due to their age but they never griped the entire time i had the car. My new nitto invo's are far better, rain, high speeds, the car feels much more stable and less like I’m driving it on the ragged edge.

[Mike1284]

its sad that any of you still have these on your cars

[NJ 03Mach1]

Obviously you havent driven both one after the other on the same car, whereas I have.

Umm yes, I have. I went from skators with 50% life left to new 555's on the Mach with no other mods other then the tires and they don't even compare to each other.. I just now bought another set of 555's to go on after this weeks round of mods...

I love how you people know what others have and haven't done... Don't assume things, when you haven't a clue.