The radial Goodyear is a much better tire then the bias ply is but the tread pattern that they use is still the same.
Part of the issue with the bias ply tires is the tread was designed for smoothness and quietness but not much else.
The treads are very similar to the first generation of BFG T/A's which would hydroplane before the rain even got there.
It is strange that the tread rubber is so hard and only gives you 8,000 to 10,000 miles of life at best.
I personally found that I would start to hear the wear warning blocks at about 6,500 miles.
There isn't anything criminally bad about the first generation of the bias "performance" tires it's just that the criteria has changed. There was already technology in existence being used on the race tires but for some reason it was not crossing over to the street tires. Maybe it was the lawyers?
In NYS, annual inspections are and were mandatory. The bias ply was always an issue for that since the inspectors would want to use the warning block height as the wear point and technically you needed more then 25% of tread life left to pass.
The wear blocks would appear right about then at about 3 to 4/32 of tread left.
I also had several that were out of round brand new. Good thing they were pretty, unless you kissed a curb, they weren't good for much else.
I remember the Goodyear's were $125 each and buying Kelly's for $100. There was a department store here called Floyd's. They sold retreads for $25 each. The street racers would buy those and go through a set in a couple of weeks.
When I first saw the Avon's I got a flashback. The treads look the same as the Floyd's retreads. I'm still not convinced so when I see someone with the Avon's, I always ask if "you like them or not?"