Copy of Firestone Town & Country Tire in 7.00-15

Put on your detective hat and see if you can get that info. If it's for real, you'll make one guy I know of very happy................

 

I will find out.

 

I'm burned out on the hunt for the elusive Grip Spurs or Buckshot Mudders, and if that price of $440 is true, I wouldn't touch 'em if I found a whole warehouse full. I want that kind of tire, but I'm not paying a ridiculous price. I'll go with the Super Traxion from Coker for $127 first.

$440 for one tire is insane. In the end, it's still just an old Jeep for basic trail use and any skinny 16" tire will work.

 

I just got off the phone with the Co-op in Natchitoches, LA. When the guy answered the phone, I said, "do you guys sell Co-op tires," he said, "are you looking for the grip-spurs?" He was reading my mind. He said that the manuf' of the tires quit making them about a year ago because they were having warranty claims against them all the time because the rubber compound was coming apart on the road. He said he can still get buckshots though

 

I just called gateway tire and they sold the last set of buckshots last year. They said they were having all those made in Japan and they aren't getting any more.

....And the trail goes cold again

 

I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist, so I kinda think they discovered how popular those tires were with off-roaders, so they "stopped making them", while in reality, they're filling their warehouses with them so they can miraculously "reissue" them in the future and make a killing. Let us unwashed Jeepers get all frothy over the "tires we can't get anymore", and then suddenly "oh looky here, we've started making them again" at bloated prices.

Yeah, I know, I'm nuts. But is sure seems like lots of items that are very popular suddenly seem to vanish from the market at the height of their popularity. Maybe it's just things that I like & want.

 

I think you are on to something there......just sayin....mehh

 

There was a certain flavor of Coffeemate the wife and I liked, it was hard to find because the stores were always out of it from people buying it up. They discontinued it.

I have a pair of New Balance hiking boots, the most comfortable shoes I've ever had. They won an award from Backpacking Magazine, "boots of the year" or something like that. Discontinued.

Grip Spurs and Buckshot Mudders, very popular tires by most accounts. Discontinued.

It's a conspiracy, I tell ya......

 

Tang.

 

Oh Ron why couldn't you just like some OTHER tire?



You seem to be making it hard for the rest of us that want Grip Spurs

 

how about no chocodiles on the east coast...WTH? ugh

 

......jeep cj5's with a buick v6; discontinued

 

Tang? The orange flavored sugar drink? I thought that was still available, could have sworn I saw it recently. They still make Ovaltine for cryin' out loud, and that stuff's nasty.

As far as tires, I've decided that "these'll do, Donkey, these'll do". $127 each, plus tube and liner, then siping, x5, I'll drive on 'em for years for that.

 

and just what are "these"?

You're right about the Tang...just found some online. They don't sell it in these parts.

 

http://www.universaltire.com/truck-and-military/truck/650-16-sta-super-traxion.html

 

No accounting for taste. I love Ovaltine. Mmm, chocolate-y Ovaltine.


Anyway, it's true that many good products are lost at the height of their popularity. I remember a diskman-clone that Radieux Shaque was selling long ago. A wonderful device, much better sounding than the Sony equivalent. Once people discovered it, it was gone ... replaced with a newer, "better" model.

IMO this all has to do with businesses incentives re products. Businesses want to 1) make a profit and 2) grow. If they bring out a great product, they will look for some way to improve it that a) makes a higher profit, by either selling more of them or charging a higher price or cutting their production costs, and b) increases their market share by selling to more new customers.

Some companies do this very well (ie Apple) while some don't (ie Radieux Shaque). The companies that fail at revising their product get noticed, because suddenly people are unhappy with the product, having lost access to a superior product.

I kinda think the story with the tires is less sinister than Rondog suspects. If you've been buying parts online lately, you'd have likely noticed that a lot of parts for old cars were closed out / sold off in the past few years. Since 2008, companies have been doing a lot of consolidating. This includes both cutting marginally profitable employment, as well as cutting product lines. By consolidating (cost cutting), companies can keep most of their income while reducing their overhead. This is a poor substitute for so-called "organic growth" but companies cannot remain static - they have a responsibility to the owners (private or public) to make a profit for both the workers (salaries) and the owners (increasing equity) ... so they take the path that's available to them.

In this case, I think the narrow tires for a niche market got cut ... not enough ROI (return on investment) to keep them. It was purely an accounting decision.

 

Sorry I have not been on the site for a while to respond, I will try to post a picture this weekend. The tire is manufactured by Universal Cooperatives, INC, P.O. Box 460, Minneapolis, MIN 55440.
It is listed as CO-OP, Grip Spur 180-024, 7.00 - 15 (they also have a 16) Tubeless, 6 Ply Rating, Load Range C, Nylon.

http://www.ourcoop.com/ourcoop08/main/default.aspx

615-793-8400, Ask for Butch in the Tire Department and he can search the Co-ops across and let you know which store still has inventory and put you in contact with them. I am not sure if universal has set the mold in the states yet but will ask Butch tomorrow and let you know when I post a picture.

 

Grip spur 700-15, 5.5 rim width, 31” dia., 8.07 section width, 7.23 tread, 41 lbs.
Max tire pressure 27 lbs - Min 14 lbs.
That is the details on the tire. I talked to Butch today and he was unsure of the remaining inventory due to computers issues and he also said that the supplier may not produce the tire due to the low sales volume.. What a shame if that happens, it is a good looking old tire that has been in production for over 50 years...

 

This may be an alternative:




http://www.stausaonline.com/light-truck/superlug.html