port-a-walls

will i be wasting my money if i get some port-a-walls? I want to put them on a 235-75-15 tire. what are the pros and cons? got any pictures of any? thanks!

 

All I can say is........ick.
Ed

 

I know one guy who got them for his 50 Chevy with radials. They wrinkled up and fell off in short order. he thinks the radials may flex too much for them, but certanly was NOT impressed.

If I ever get to the point of getting new tires for my 48 Chevy, I will likely get the tallest, thinnest 16" radials, and use the info from this site to try and paint the whitewalls on. Many good accounts of that, and I still feel uneasy about grinding out thin whites.

 

i think they are a waste of money. they wrinkle up and look bad fast. save the money and do it right.

 

Did you do a search here-lots of input. Can look OK from a distance if you never drive with them on a car/truck.

 

They sucked back in the day. What has changed?

 

When I bought my 51 Belair it had portawalls on already. They were yellowing and were warped. But the tires were like new and the car looked like crap with blackwalls. So I bought a new set of portawals on ebay. I think they were 60 bucks. That was alot cheaper then new tires. They were a real pain in the ass to mount but I finally got them to stay on. They look good from 20 feet, but when the tires wear out, I'll be going to a white wall tire for sure!! Heres some pics of mine before and after and during......

Redneck bead breaker.....


New one on left old on right....


20 feet away looks good!

 

Buy what you want not some garbage fake.

 

my mom had porta a walls on her 66 vw, and they chewed up the sidewalls on her brand new tires, now she has real www's...

 

radials flex when they roll to the pavement and the portawalls will "rub" thru on the sidewall. I bought a set of tires that are used that have portawalls on them two look like shit and two look perfect. I bought them to use on a trailer at some point so I was not to into how perfect they were.

 

If you gonna put any kind of real miles on the vehicle I would suggest not using them. It took only one 220 mile trip for my buddies to look like shit.

 

I've had a lot better luck on bias ply tires, and have put them on some radial tires also. I always take the tire off the bead all the way down, put the Port A Wall in place air it up till its back on the bead. It'll look or be wrinkled. I let all the air backout by removing the valve core, take my thumbs side by side, and push in the Port A Wall all the way around the edge, completely going around the tire. Air it back up and check for wrinkles again and that usually does it. Sometimes I'd have to do it twice to get all the wrinkles out but it always worked for me. Thats the way my Dad showed me how to do it.

Michael

 

I thought about getting port-a-walls for my PT (yes i know...its just a PT ), but I have heard nothing but bad things about them. But hey, when your poor like me, you try to come up with options. lol I'm always taking up donations.

 

I found an old one and I think they were made different, but I noticed it didn't have a lot of flex to it. I remember reading they will like flap around on the tire because there's nothing holding them except the bead. Probably okay for a fairgrounds cruiser, but not on a car you drive everywhere.

 

i have them on my newport, they look ok-not great. waiting for these tires to wear out and then i'll buy some real www's for sure.