That is only because there is no other choice. No one is making tires with that high speed rating these days. The tires they run at Bonneville are not the same tires we buy for street cars, and no one is running the Bonneville tires on their street cars. Nice try though.
None of my land speed tires are newer than 20 years old. I have a set of GoodYear Blue Streaks that were first run in 1969. I quit using them in 85. They have a 200 mph stamp on them. Nice display tires now. If I had a need I would run my 750-18 Dunlop’s on the street. They fill a high boy fender well great…
Bodywork got loose. Southco's backed out. Still, that is a tire down. Whatever the cause, that's what it can do.
Powder them so they don't stick to the tire, should last many many years. You can break a bead and inspect periodically if you want to look
My searches for 6.00/6.50 18" tires Radial or Bias-Ply all link to Coker. Is Coker the only supplier of this size of tires?
Other than they are basically not H.A.M.B. friendly, I don't understand the bias (no pun intended) against radials on a vehicle that is driven OR the expiration date. I bought the first set of radials sold in my county of residence in 1968, and have been using radials on everything since. Had one radial that the belt separated, on a 20-year-old radial with more than 225,000 miles. Have had three that I can remember where small separation began, but it is easy to feel, and replace at the time. Have never had a radial blow-out, and I drive them until they wear out. Compare that with the old bias tires. Blow-outs were common at 10k miles or less (incidentally, blow-outs on the rear are MUCH worse that blow-outs on the front, the rear end drops, and you have no steering). And two weeks without a flat were good weeks. We even bought a Coates manual tire changer from a filling station that went out of business. Got completely fed up with using tire irons to change tires! Just as information; there was some concern in 1968 that radial tires should NOT be used on older vehicles that were not designed for them. And about 25,000 miles after installation, noticed that all of the steel wheels on this car had minute cracks in the steel! They were warranted, but I replaced them with aluminum wheels, and had no further problems. As far as the expiration date, I currently have 28-year-old radials on my collector vehicle that I drive locally. No, I probably wouldn't want to start across the desert in one of the western states, but have no worries locally. No recommendations, just experiences. Jon
If you can get Blockleys out there I'd thoroughly recommend them. I've run the 16's and 19's for some time. I can get them warm enough to stick in the rain. They do a few sizes in 18". https://www.blockleytyre.com/product/600-650x18 Only dilemma I have is they're an L section tyre where most crossplies/bias belt tend to be 100% profile these work out about 80-85% height. That, and despite my badgering they've yet to produce a tube with a centre valve in 19" to suit the Model A rims.
Coker had Excelsior Bias-Ply tires with the same tread pattern as on the Bentley. Plus I found some 18 x 6 alloy wheels with spinners that were on clearance and couldn't pass them up. These Excelsior Bias-Ply tires are really great tires for my car. They ride better, less likely to follow ruts or dips in the road and so far the handling is as good as the Excelsior radials I have. I did have to reduce the rear brake bias to keep the rear from locking up to quick. The tread pattern does create a little more road noise than the radials. The radials were very harsh on ruff surfaces even at 20-25 psi, the Bias-Ply are super smooth compared to the radials on the same stretches of road.
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