WHERE IN OHIO IS LUCAS are porta walls worth the trouble and how long do they last never accually had anyone say they had them
This question will get you about a zillion different opinions. Lucas says run a tube even in a tubeless tire. SOME say they hold up, some say no. I talked to cat running a set and he had 5k on his already so who knows. I know I paid 800 bucks for my cokers and wish I had at least experimented with the portowalls. I am going to get a set for my trike. LUCAS is the cheapest place to get em too. Rod
Ran a set on some BF Goodrich radials on a T-bucket.Drove the crap out of them and didn't have any trouble.Beats the hell out of buying tires in Wide Whites that come in only a few sizes.
funny actually someone mentioned this to me today as well.. as I was talking about wide whites and not gonna be able to afford the Cokers or the like right now. I may do this as well..
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/search.php?searchid=636065 Save up some money and buy real whites -- those things look like crap close up and they have been known to fly to pieces. Or get your thin whites ground -- that looks pretty good and is cheaper if there is someone in your area who does that. If you use the search function for grinding whitewalls you'll find a bunch o threads on that to.
i had a set on a pickup and for some reason they would not hug the tire so i tried glueing them on and that didn't work either. Needless to say i lost both the front ones doin about 55 and then i just cut the rears off.
I have used them years ago... mount the tire then clean and dry the bead area then add the unit dry... yes.... no lube as they will slip out when doing the final bead pop... run a tube as they never seal at the bead like a real tire does It may take 3-4 hands to get them right..rebreak them down under the porta wall unit!!! then balance as specs allow careful not to cut them with the weights I have had them on old g -78s and L-70 BIAS PLYS ON 5-6 INCH WIDE RIMS for the whole time until the tread wore down on the tire. stay under 75-80 mph???? If they are not laying nice unmounted they won't be mounted they want to grow at speed and the are weaklings against the curbs I now buy used WW all the time for the price of a set of these portawalls new .. THEY ARE JUST USED TIRES FIND SOME CHEAP JUST LOOK AROUND IN THE CLASSIC CAR local classifieds As they Swap them often.. napa had them in the balkamp BOOK when I WORKED THERE. TRUE TRADITIONAL IS BLACKWALL . THEN YOU COULD USE OLD WHITE HOUSE PAINT TOO. paperdog
Going to swap tomorrow think i can get a set for under 100? ill give them a try no wide whites in the size i need
What size you looking for? I have a huge box of original "Port-A-Wall" brand 14 inchers. The new ones are not like the old ones.
I found an old one with a small tear in the bead side next to a place that crushed out 10 years ago. I mounted it on a radial tire in the college chassis lab with a crapload of sealer. It sealed up and held air fine. Unfortunately I was never able to get it on the car I mounted it for and the last time I went past there the car (a '62 Catalina 2dr) was gone. But it did hold air without a tube.
i got a set of portawalls from Lucas at a swapmeet (4 portawalls in a set) for $40. 2 of them worked PERFECT,the other 2 didnt seat right because there was grease on the tire cuz of the dummies at the tire shop and i drove it on the highway without knowing they werent seating right and they tore off..otherwise,they're awesome.had the tires SLASHED and just popped em off the old tires and put em on new ones.i do recommend putting them on a kinda tall tire.i originally had them on 15x35s and i think i went up to 15x36s or somethin..all i remember was the tire guy sayin "you wont even be able to tell the difference" but if they're side by side you can see it...gives the portawall a little more to grab onto than the other tires..but the other ones would've worked no problem...of course the dude who slashed my tires slashed the ones with the GOOD portawalls,right?oh well creepy
i had some a looonnnng ttiimme aggoo..buy real whites..the look cheat and cheezy..it will kill the whole flow of the car,,
im going to try to gring them but i drive my cars alot like 20,000-25,000 a year and cokers last me 5,000 maybe
I'll throw my .02 worth. Save your money. Porta walls dont seat well on radials, and they look like crap. Alot of people might disagree also, but Im not too keen on the shaved sidewall method either, not because of looks but for safety reasons.
One last note from me. Can anyone tell which 50's custom chevy (the badass one show inthe pics of a souther car show) has the portawalls? I bet not. That guy drives that car everywhere. ROD
actually,i'm running radials and on the tall ones they seat fine.sure if you get right down to it and get on your hands and knees to lick the crud off the tires you can tell they're ports,but no one's gettin that close to my wheels but me,right? creepy
I ran portawalls on my '60 Fury for a summer. They held up nice for about 2000 miles then one tore off. They developed a crack right where they sit behind the bead. I'm not going to get any of those again, and tire grinding makes me nervous. This time I'm going to try the Krylon Fusion white paint, I'll prep a good set of radials and I'll paint the whitewall on there. if they yellow out, I'll give them another coat.
Just curious as to why tire grinding makes people on the board nervous? The layer of rubber that is taken off is cosmetic and has nothing to do with the structural integrity of the tire. It holds no air or weight. In a lot of manufacturing processes the sidewall is ground at the factory to show the white layer underneath in their prescribed areas and all you are doing by grinding them is making your own pattern so to speak.
I tried for the first time grinding a tire yesterday. It was an older BFG narrow white wall, it was about 3/4 inch wide, I ground it with a small angle grinder and a roloc disk, it is now 2 1/4 inchs wide and looks pretty good. Don't get me wrong they are no COKERS but they look awsome from a few feet away and this is the first time I have done it. I will add pics later my camara is dead. I would also think that a white letter would be best to start with cause on a white wall the letters are above the whaite wall, so whne doing a white letter you will be grinding off the letters completely.... Thanks everyone for the idea, I will now own a set of wide whites.....
THIS JUST IN: Port-o-walls are $hit and do not work ...I put some on the fronts of my '59. Looked kinda half ass'ed half way around the block till they started to pull off the bead of the wheel (danger!). So I bought some real white wall bias plys instead. Sure it cost alot but they look a hell of alot better than the inserts did. Just my new .02 cents... -Dean
I talked to a guy from lucas and he told me that portawalls are not a good option on radial tires because of the sidewalls. The bias ply tires were more stiff so the portawalls didnt have to flex as much. I have been weighing my options for some time now on the portawall vs whitewall tire debate and seem to be coming up with neither. Portawalls seem to have a bad reputation in about a hundred different ways. Tires simply dont last for those who really put miles on. So tomorrow I'm headding down to get some fusion and try that on some old tires. I like the look of whitewalls but I'm not paying $600 every 2 months for a new set. Seems like the way to go so far but we'll see when it comes paint time.
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