Original 1987 Goodyear Eagle GT Tires

87WE4!!

Active Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2018
Hi everyone,
How is everyone doing tonight? I hope all is well.
My question is about caring and storage of tires. I am still 31 years later the proud original owner of my very first car a 1987 WE4. Due to my mom passing away in 1997 I kept the car in my sister’s garage under a tarp from 1997 till 2018 when she sold her house. She shipped it to me in Florida a few months ago and I’ve been restoring this car like a mad man. Even tho it really didn’t need much. Just a new fuel system from the tank to the injectors due to nobody driving it or starting it for 21 years. But I got that all fixed already.
Now my plans are to restore this to a museum quality show car. And I was actually lucky enough to find 4 matching Goodyear Eagle GT tires dated the 8th week of 1987 which match my car perfectly. They have about 90% tread left the seller told me that he only replaced them because he wanted fatter wheels. He kept them sealed in plastic bags in the closet of one of his bedrooms since replacing them. Honestly guys they aren’t hard and don’t have a single sign or dry rot or any signs of wear. I think these will be perfect for car shows. I have no intention of driving on these tires ever. These will be stored in my home when not in use.
Now my question to y’all is: should I be doing anything else other then keeping them sealed in big plastic bags? Is there any kind of preserver treatment or chemicals that I should be rubbing into the sidewall of these tires with. To prolong The longevity of their shelf life. I would like to make them last for many car shows. And should I keep them mounted to rims without air when stored? Or dismounted from the rims when stored. Either way I can make it happen. I have a tire mounting machine.
Please hit me with all of your inputs. The prior owner who removed them from a 87 Grand National said they were factory GN tires and he just stored them in an air conditioned climate in plastic bags and stacked in a cardboard box for 31 years. But I figured since most of y’all are experts I wanted y’all opinion.

Have a blessed day
 
Your like me brother Man , I over think things from time to time but if I where you I would just keep them armor all'd and climate control and you will be fine for years to come .
 
Your like me brother Man , I over think things from time to time but if I where you I would just keep them armor all'd and climate control and you will be fine for years to come .
You’re right I do over think things. Idk what got into me. It’s so strange when I was 17 I was a very angry and disrespectful kid to my mom and running with the wrong people. My mom actually lent me all the money I needed and helped me buy this car a few days after I got my drivers license. All she asked was that I not drop out if Automotive High school in Brooklyn ny.
I know this sounds stupid but getting and owning this car actually changed my life, made me a responsible person and made me want to go to college. And now I’m a retired nyc firefighter who put all of his time in. My mom lent me all the money I needed without charging me a dime of interest, no lien or joint ownership, not even a promise to repay her note. A few days after I made my final payment in 1992 she had her first heart attack. I was very close to her and this devastated me. She would always want me to take her to her appointments and tests in that WE4 she liked how it slammed her in the seat. Lol.
On June 4th of 1997 she lost her fight with heart disease (even with a new heart). This killed me and I couldn’t look at this car without getting sick and upset. So I stored it in my sister’s garage in carle place ny. But all I did was remove the battery and gave it to her as a spare to use and I covered it with a very expensive car cover and left it there for 21+ years. The problem is I didn’t drain the gas or winterize it. I had real coolant in there but I should have really packaged it better. Unfortunately I wasn’t in my right mind.
Fast forward to summer of 2018 my sister retired from her job and sold her house and plans to move here to Florida. So she had to ship me my car. And as soon as I took it off the enclosed trailer something inside me clicked and I felt like I had my mom back with me again. And now I’m constantly working on it and fixing it up. I really want this to be a show car. (I know WE4 aren’t really all that) but my mother helped me get this and God’s honest truth most of my childhood friends are either dead from a traumatic experience or in prison now. This car actually changed my life for the better. Not to mention the Grand National was always my dream car since I was 13 and they first came out in 1984.
So I have this image in my mind of hopefully next year sitting at the Daytona Turkey run at the speedway car show with my fully restored 87 WE4 on display and sitting on original (not reproduction) Goodyear Eagle GT tires dated from 1987 with 2 folding tables with all my original documents like the Window sticker, bill of sale, welcome to Buick family letter, pre trip inspection, all my recall notices, original warranty receipt, and of course the little certificate that they used to give you whenever you bought new tires, and my original New York State title from 1987 where it says “new”. I want to go to the dollar store and buy a bunch of picture frames and put each document in a frame and set them up on those tables. And hopefully my experience will help another family with a teen in crisis.
But I do thank you for the info on keeping the shelf life of these show tires alive. I hope they last another 30 years in my house. I will definitely take care of them. I don’t ever intend to drive on them. I plan to drive on the new tires I bought with black powder coated stock WE4 rims. And as soon as I get to set up at a show swap them out with the Goodyear Eagle GTs on regular aluminum color stock rims. This car is and will always be bone stock. I bought a WE2 Grand National a few years ago that I have my fun with and put mods in. But the WE4 means a lot to me.

I’m sorry for the long story. It’s therapeutic for me to explain how it changed my life. Thank you again for your help in storage of my tires.
 
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