I have asked a few of my friends and they cant seem to give me a straight answer...Do I have to us bias ply tires and tubes on my 16" rims or can I seal the rims w/ something and use a tubeless radial tire? If I can use a radial tire, can some one tell me what size will fit my rim....My current set up is 600x16 bias ply tube tires on wide 5 bolt pattern rims...Thanks for your help guys...
I would like to know too. I was told air will leak past the rivets. I had a pair widened and they used late model rims/bells to make them tubeless but that gets spendy as the centers are an odd size.
I am not sure..??? The only markings i could find on the tire are 600x16 on the fronts and 650-16 on the rear...
Lots of the "A" guys are running them now. Their using the 16's and buying radials on the road cars. Might check the "A" web sites.
First they DO make radial tubes and they can be used in tubless radial tires. Second mount 'em up tubless and see if they leak,if they don't no prob. If they do add tubes.
I thought I saw something about radial tires transfering stress to the wheel, which may exceed the engineered limits of the older wheel? I'm sure there are hambers who have knowledge about this. Stu
Would that stress be due to higher inflation pressures? My car trailer instructs you to inflate the tires no higher than 50# - which is the recommended max pressure for the tires as well. Kinda surprised me, never saw an inflation limit for a wheel before.
Been quite awhile since I messed with any wide 5's, but couldn't you clean the inside real good, and smear a little JB weld around any rivets that might leak? But I'd still ask around about the safety of combining them with radials.
Wheels rated for radials are a little thicker construction, not because of inflation pressures, but side loading in a turn. The way a radial transfers load to the bead area of the rim is different, due to the construction of the sidewall. On an older, possibly lighter-duty rim, there's at least a possibility of a rim flange failure in a hard turn. For all practical purposes, the older rims will probably work OK, but the tire manufacturers won't endorse the use of radials on a bias-ply rim for liability reasons. If the rim is airtight, and you don't go road racing, you'll probably be OK running tubeless. I suppose a good welder could silver-solder or braze over the rivet head if you find one that's leaking air, but running a radial-rated tube would be simpler with a leaky wheel. Jerry
To seal the rim I would simply use a good silicone caulk on the welds and rivets before mounting the tires. That's what we use for aftermarket ATV rims that have a tendency to leak at the welds. We don't have any leak problems anymore. You could run a tube as mentioned, but a little silicone will seal it right up. I'm no engineer, but I find it hard to believe that a rim from the 30's or 40's (except maybe wires) wouldn't be more structuraly rigid than a newer, usually lighter rim? I'm ***uming that the rim is in good shape to begin with, not some rusty old rim. That's my two cents worth.
I'm running radials on a set of "35" spokes. No tubes and no problems. Got the tires at local Goodyear dealer. Butch
the older wheels tend to flex and that's why you see wheel covers and trim rings fly off. had one of my trim almost come off because of that but i don't have them on anymore.
Running 215 85R 16's (no tubes) for 44 K miles on '49 stock Chevy rims. Ten + years on a daily driver year round.
Radials have a lot more flex in the sidewall, and the older wheels don't have the safety bead to keep the tire snapped into place. Some say the radial will roll off the seat if pushed sideways too hard. A radial tube inside your radial tire is supposed to prevent the loss of air if the tire becomes slightly "unseated" for a moment.
I run em on 16" wire spokes no problem. I got the Coker WW Cl***ics in 5.60 and 7.50, tubeless. There's a warning to run 41# of air.
No problems on my 46 sedan. Guess the paint I spayed them with was more than enough to seal the rivets. Ive run them for two years and no leakage.
I have a set of radials and bias on 2 of the same sets of rims. The radials work just as good as my Cokers and ride much nicer. I was having the same conflict and just said screw it and mounted them up. No problems now for over a year.
Use RTV to seal the rivets like evil clown said. If you look at some of the Centerlines, they have a strip of RTV all the way around the inside of the wheel.
Answer: Always try and use and tire that has the same tread width as the wheel width. example: 600R16 had tread width of 5.00" therefore rim width should be 4-6.0" wide 215/70R16 has tread of 7.0" therefore rim width should be 6-8" wide Coker makes radials with same specs as 550-75016 that way you can use your O.E. wheels. but you still have to use a tube. Those old wheels don't have a safety bead.
They do make a radial for that rim but you will have to use a radial tube too . Gonna cost allot of $$$$$$$$ !
Isn't a safety bead to help keep an UNDERINFLATED tire on the rim? For the "common" man or woman who'd rather ride on the sidewalls then check his/her air pressure...or taillight bulbs...or oil level etc, etc, etc...
These are Coker Cl***ic 16" radials that use a tube. I don't see why they wouldn't work on wide five:
A friend of mine runs spoked wide 5s and radials and he used gas tank sealer to seal the spokes and has never had a low tire in almost 2 years. No problem with the wheels being over stressed but he does'nt slam into corners either. Just a thought
i have been running coker tubeless radials on my '47 frod for 3 years no problems and i'm going to run 215/85r16's on my daily '54 f100 panel, both have stock wheels. a few sites for sizing: http://www.whitewallcandystore.com/CrossChart.asp http://www.widewhitewalltires.com/diamondback16inchradials.htm
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