Coker ribbed (dirt track) front tires

Has anyone tryed to mount cokers ribbed front tires on 6in rims? The discription says 5.6in cross section and I would think that you could stretch them .4 (less than half an inch) without them looking goofy.

Or should I look for a set of 4in wide wheels for the front?

And how many of you have had troubles with them? I have heard that some of them dont balance well.

Thanks

 

They work fine on 6" rims. Had them on my roadster.

 

Ok, so coker's customer service says that they will not work? Can someone show me a picture of a dirt rib on a 6in wide rim? With how popular they are, I cant believe it would be hard to find someone that has first hand experience.

 

Im going to try this one more time, I cant believe only one person has tried putting these on 6 in rims? Im about to call coker today and make the order.

Any more advise?

 

I had a set of Ribbed tires on 6" salt flats. They did look goofy. I narrowed the 6" to 5" and it made all the difference in the world. They look even better though on 4" rims. I just put a set on my 4" Kelsey wires.

 

Mine are on 5s and I wish they were on 4s. That tire needs a narrow rim.

 

Isn't it written somewhere in stone that you shouldn't run anything bigger than a 4" front wheel on an open wheel car?

It's like a Commandment or State Law or something.

 

They look better on 5" or narrower. They spread too much on a 6".

Ben - you just get a wrist slap for 5".

Charlie

 

Hahahaa

Amen!

 

I have mine on 4.5 rims and they look good but I did have lots of problems with getting them round. When I first ran them they would really bounce at 60 mph and if you put the brakes on at that speed it was a "religous" experience! I finally took them to a shop in Redwood City to have them trued they shave about .06 to .08 inch off of them to get them round and now they work well but really wear quickly. I will probably try some of Coker's Excelsoir racing tires next time, 5.00-15s I hear they are pretty true. If you take the cost of the rib tires plus the shaving and the time it is about a push. The ribs look good and right with my 8.20-18 Firestone Dirt track tires.

Rex

 

Doyle Gammels`3W with 6" / 15 " ET-Wheels .

( Pic from Roadsters.com )

Klaz

 

Klazurfer- that doesnt look that bad, And those are pretty close to the same wheels that im running.

Anymore pictures would be absolutly awesome!

Now you guys have me worried about the look. I might have to look for some new front rims. I dont know who makes my wheels, I think there some kind of knock off (no name).

 

You might be able to have yours narrowed if they are aluminum.

Not baggin' on your car at all, it's just one of those things that really makes a car right. Especially on an open wheel car.

The Gammel coupe is Bad ***, but honestly wouldn't it look better with 4"s?

 

I have a smooth 16x6 Halibrand with a Firestone (pre-Coker) ribbed tire on it. It fits, but it looks rather spread out like these fellas are saying.

 

Or 40s-50s dirt ribs on a '60s mag wheel designed for drag racing? I'm just saying... find a nice front tire, Hurst makes some neat ones...

 

I've got a pair of original 4.00-15 ribs - yep, 4". These are super rare but make it even harder to fit as they really need a 3 1/2" wheel, I think, to make them look right. If I want to run mags I'm going to have to have a set narrowed for sure.

Steve

 

When you say wear quickly,how quick?

 

I must have got lucky, mine ran pretty true. I have no shakes or t******* at any speed unless its been sitting awhile. I have around 1,000 on mine and they dont seem to have worn much at all. They are quite soft so i would say that your not going to get close to the miles out of them, per say from a radial. But i like the look and they track better than my old bias plys. Oh and i have them on a 4'' rim.

 

I mounted a pair of 7-10 X 15" silvertown which measure about 4 1/2 inches across the thread on some '35 wire wheels that had been converted to 15"X 6 a long time ago. The original rim was replaced with a 6" and they looked terrible. Really fat and the thread width looked tiny.

I had another wheel that was 15" X 5" and I tried the tire on this wheel and it still didn't look right. Still too fat at the sides.

Don't know where I'm going to find a pair of 15" X 4" wheel wire wheels, but it's either that or get some wider tires to go with my 6" wheels. These are going on the back of my fenderless '27 roadster. Joe.

 

Those tires look quite out of shape on a five inch rim I would not suggest trying for six as five takes some stretching.

I contacted Coker because I have the opposite problem, I'm running 3.5s and I'm not keen on the 5-1/2 inch cross section on a narrow rim. If you do some searching you'll notice all those old drag cars that did use those Firestone dirt tires ; they are two rib tires not three such as 500-15 ones now. They could have been another size maybe a 450-425 ? I wish Coker would make those. Properly narrow 15's are hard to come by for Altereds and the Pirelli Cinturato cost as much as most slicks.

 

4.5 at the widest

 

They work fine on 6" rims. May need to run tubes though to "push" them out.

The front of this sprinter has 16 x 6 inch rims..

Joshua Shaw

 

Wow! Would you like to sell two front tires from that giant stack?

 

Waking a slumbering thread here.

Is this tire OK tubeless? I know how much tubes can complicate alancing, so I am determined not to go there.

 

Am running them tubeless on 35 wires. The newer production DOT aproved ones are marked tubeless,and I have ran the ones marked display only tubeless also with no probs. 2500 on this set and no noticable wear.

 

Gracias! I think I'll be ordering a set. Not many choices in tubeless bias-ply front tires these days. I guess these are a good choice and prices are decent, too.