Wide White RADIALS...what are the options???

Suppose you want the wide white look on a 50s car...but also want radial tire ride quality and handling characteristics...where do you find such an animal???

I had a couple new wide white radials that were made from truck tires a couple years ago...but they looked, well...like heavy duty truck tires that just happened to have wid white sidewalls ground into them! What I'm interested in finding now are p***enger car radial tires (probably about a 225-70-15 or so) with the really wide white-walls.

Back in the late 80s a tire warehouse I worked at sold these types of tires for big old Cadillacs and Buicks, and I think they were made by Uniroyal...anyone know if those are still on the market today??

What wide white radials have YOU run...and how do they look, ride and handle...what do they cost, and where do you get 'em??

Thanks, if anyone can come up with some good options on the subject, I know y'all can!!

 

http://cokertire.com/

Everyone speaks highly of the Coker brand. I like the BF Goodrich Silvertown line. Both can be purchased through coker.

 

Check out Diamondback......they seem to have a nice www radial.

http://widewhitewalltires.com/

 

I have heard nothing but good things about Diamondback. That is what I will be running on my '51 Ford. Coker brand radials, however, I have heard just the opposite.

 

I've had Diamondbacks on two of my cars...my old Studey wears them currently(full set of 4)...they ride nice, the whitewall stays pure white (unlike a yellowish cast-tint of another brand), the whitewall does not come loose from the tire like I've seen another brand do...and they are not cheap. There is no Alliance discount for them, that I know of...however, I'd rather pay extra money for a set of tires I don't have to worry about...

R-

 

6" wide paint brush and a heat gun to help dry it sooner.

 

Diamondback.

 

I've had around 10-12 sets of Diamondback radial www's on various cars, and I've had 2 sets of Coker's BFG Silvertons.

I'm more than pleased with the diamondbacks. Put lots of miles on several of those sets. Stayed brite white, rode nice.

I didn't get to put more than 1000 miles on either set of Cokers, but they seemed ok. I wouldn't buy coker's Coker cl***ics though. Only BFG's for me.

I have a bad habit of getting rid of cars I just put tires on

 

I like Diamondbacks. they are expensive, but customer service is super. They balance easily, wear well and ride great. I have no experience with Coker, but have read more than a few complaints on the HAMB. The HAMB is, IMO, the best real world test lab around. My 225:15s were $180 each, unmounted. I like to drive fast and California is getting to have roads as bad as PA or NM. Because of the cost, I keep them balanced and properly aired up.

We need a Diamondback Alliance vendor.

 

I am running Goodyear wide whites on my old truck. They are availablr from Kelsey Tire in Camdenton Mo. They have a tool free number that you can get through tool free information. Talk to John Kelsey, he has all kinds of old style tires in stock.
Later
****

 

Diamondback all the way.

Haven't heard any good experiences with Coker. In fact, we watched one of the tires blow and trash the fender on a *****in' '40 Merc on the dyno at Puyallup Goodguys several years ago. Not good.

 

Do a search for coker and diamondback, you'll find more than enough information to make a decision. I chose Diamondbacks because of the sizes they offered.

 

try the Whitewall Candy Store in CA. I have 5 sets of there www on diff cars and love them! Do a seach for them.

 

I've owned a couple sets of coker cl***ics.....ended up giving away one set just because I would never run them on anything I own again.
I had a car with silvertown radial wws and it rode very nice and looked great....but I only put maybe a thousand miles on that car before it went down the road. The next set I get may be the BFG's.

 

I asked around on a few forums when I was trying to decide on whites for my 32 coupe and got pretty much the same responses as on here - Diamondbacks over Coker. They have a better size selection, the whites stay white and clean easy, and I've just heard too much neg about coker whites, any of them. I put the DB's on my coupe and they've been great!

 

Coker's blow! I got a set on my 59 Apache....dingy and cracked, (not sucha bad trait in friends terrible in tires!)

 

If you're considering making your own WWW's out of standard radial tires, I've tried the Krylon Fusion method and I've also used "Snow Seal" flexible roof coating. The snow seal really held up well, the Krylon cracked out where my tires were weather checked, although I've heard it works really good on good tires.

Check out this link for some finished pics with the snow seal

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=195367

The tires on my '55 I bought for maybe $75 as a set, used but very few miles, and the snow seal was maybe $11 for a big bucket, enough to do hundreds of tires. I can't justify laying out $600+ for a set of tires just to have a white sidewall on them unless I had a REALLY nice car, and even then, I've heard bad things about store bought radial WWW's.

Bugman's tech on grinding raised white letter tires to make wide whites is also excellent, he says he's completely worn out a few sets already without a single problem from sidewall grinding.

I've used Porta-walls too and although they look nice when they're first installed, my set lasted about 2K miles until one flew apart. I definitely won't be using those again.

 

Hey Fat Hack, one distributor not mentioned here is Lucas Cl***ic Tire. They have a location in California and one in Ohio. I recently bought a set of Good Year Cl***ic Radials, 205/75R15's from them and were really pleased with their service as well as the tires I got. I don't think I've seen the Good Years anywhere else. They have a pronounced rib that goes around the outer edge of the white wall and small diamond patterns within the white wall itself. Super nice looking and riding tire. I think they look the most like the bias plies I replaced than other brands. I paid $170 per. Check them out at...

www.lucascl***ictires.com

 

Iv'e been watching this thread, waiting for someone to mention "Whities white walls" so that I could say steer clear. No-one has mentioned it yet, but i'll go ahead and post it up.
Ordered my whites at back to the beach in april where he began the job. his grinding machine broke down at the show, midway through the job on my car. So i had to drive my daily driver thunderbird around for 5 months with one white wall while the dude ****ed me around until primer nationals where he finally finished the job. All the while he promised to ship out tires many times, and promised a free spare for the trouble. which he never delivered.
I dont mean to be a **** and ruin someones new business. But I also dont want to see hambers ****ed around. dig?
Steer clear!
wayne

 

What are "radials"?

 

"Radials" are the automotive equivalant to "safe ***"...bias plys are like driving in the rain unprotected and even tho they are slick in the rain, they don't give much traction..."radials" are definitely "rubber on the road," so to speak...they prevent premature blow-outs and protect you from all possible diseases like tread failure and "deflation."

Yes, "radials" also help prevent premature vehicle ejection and you certainly don't have to worry about spares at any time.

R-

 

We have 3 radial brands of tires to choose from. Coker Cl***ics, BFG Silvertowns and the American Cl***ics. They are available in a variety of sizes, both whitewalls and redlines. We been selling Coker Cl***ic radials since 1996. We added the BFG Silvertown a few years later and the American Cl***ics in 2005.

We stand behind everything we sell 100%. Our warranty is for the life of the tread, nobody beats that.

Jess Hoodenpyle
Customer Service Manager
Coker Tire Co.
1-800-251-6336

 

I bought Coker Cl***ics in mid 90s. They "browned" right away. They stood behind them and I used the full credit to upgrade to the BFG Silvertowns. They are great, the sidewalls get dingy but cleanup well. They aren't "snow" white like the DBs I've seen. I've always used Westley's but have heard I shouldn't, maybe that's my color problem . They've been on the car over ten years.... I don't get out enough .

 

Ive ground down a few sets, havent painted yet but will try. But, for a really nice car that I care about, Id buy. Have had Coker, and only really had cheap-tire wear. Ex GF had Diamondbacks on her 61 Ford, that worked out well and that car moved...they stuck well. Id be tempted to try em.

 

I've got a set of BFGs from Coker on my '62 and I've put 15,000 miles on the car in the last year alone. Good tires, and I like Coker just fine.

 

So Jess... Seeing you on here does that mean:
a) we get a discount on tires (all 4)
B) would that discount apply in Canada (any dealers in Alberta?)

 

Join the Alliance, get your discount!-MIKE

 

Has anyone used the tire paint that several people have been selling on Ebay?

 

I am running the BF Goodrich wide white radials from the Coker catalogue , they list a big and little size for rods which worked out perfect. They are round, smooth on a good road, but took a lot of weight to balance. With Bleech White, mine are almost always the whitest at any gathering. My uncle told me when I was 14 if he ever sees me with dirty white walls he will break my arm, and the old guy is still alive.