Customs white wall inserts?

so i just bought a 48 plymouth 2 door sedan and i want white walls but find the price rediculous since im trying to make this build quick and affordable on the shoe string. are these whitewall inserts that noticable as fake? i almost bought a 50 plymouth that had them but they were maybe 20 years old and didnt follow the tire lines due to age.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chev...Accessories&hash=item19c462ee05#ht_500wt_1162

 

Port a walls.Do what you can with the resources you have. They blow apart when used with Radials.

 

You get what you pay for.

 

well theres 2 nos

 

Grind some used raised white letter tires.

 

I didn`t say NO. I will have to shell out $1000 in the next month or two for a set of WWW radials for my car. Bias Plys and Port A walls just don`t cut it on a Big Block Chevy. I mean you buy whats in your budget. $1000 is out of my budget, but I have no choice. Been puttin it off as long as I can.

 

iff there going to blow apart or flap then i dont wana waste my money but if its a bend down and notice type of deal then im ok with that till i stumble on to something better

 

dirtracer i read the how to on that and just nervous of buying a good used set of tires then messing one up.

 

Buy 5 tires then after practice you will still have 4!. I ground the tires on the truck in my avatar and put 10,000 miles on them before I sold it! It is really easy to do, just take your time!

 

My portawalls lasted about one summer before coming apart and I don't ever plan to use them again. Grinding sidewalls works nice, I've also had good luck painting wide whitewalls onto the sides of regular tires with snow seal, the white elastomeric trailer roof coating. I've heard people talk about using Krylon Fusion too, but I tried that and it didn't hold up for shit for me.

 

i like the paint idea too. looks like ill be making my own so i can be done and over with it. thanks for the input guys

 

discount tire sells a tire Arizonian 235/75/15 with a 1" white wall for pretty cheap. Bought 2 for $150...if you were to do the ground down side wall option

 

what do you guys use to grind them

 

StanLow is right ,Porto Walls will blow apart on radials .I know cuz i tried them once.They lasted about 1000 miles before they started to crack and fall apart .Grinding radials works and its cheap ,but i like the look of Bias Wide Whites on hotrods myself and just shelled out $604.00 for a set for my truck.There is just no way around it ,you get what you pay for .BTW i coulda spent the money in other places ,but i wanted Bias WW's so i saved up and bought them ...

 

Angle grinder with 36 grid disk followed by DA with 80 and 120. If you're really on budget, get some used ones at a salvage yard to practice on. You should be able to score decent useable tires for 10 to 20 bucks apiece. How much more low buck could you want?

Brian

 

Guys, I have been running porta-walls for abou 6 years on the '56. Never any trouble and they fit nice against the (radial) tires. They are a German brand I found online called "Wegu". They must be pretty good quality because I just ain't that lucky.

 

I put them on my 53 ford over 30 years ago or so. Looked great when i put them on. Went for a ride around town and people where pointing at me. Proud as a peacock i'd just smile and kept on driving. Went home, got out of the car and they looked like bottle caps hanging on my tires. LOL. One of those lifes embassing moments. Junk

 

mixer used to rotate wheel/tire on old spindle..messy but effective

 

Had the same thing happen to me on my galaxy - port o walls are terrible plain and simple. Most embarrising is when half of it broke off. Wonder how a half white tire looked at 40 mph. Also maybe check with a local tire shop. There's a place her that'll shave em for like $15 a tire. I know that's not much help.

 

The 1 3/4 are good, ran em one my bug for a couple years, but anything larger than that, tend to flop off. If ya want anything bigger than an 1 3/4, i'd save some cash and get the real deal,IMO.

jay

 

edge, i love that idea. thats hot rodding 101 in my book!

 

This is funny. In '61 or '62 I painted my wide whites black and put on skinny white porta walls. By '63 we were running black walls and white wheels. Ever changing. My poor old '38 Coupe never knew which end was going to be up. Rake or power rake.

 

i had a set on my car for over a year and have been well over 100 and there on radails and theres no problem... all has to do with brand and mounting...

 

I bought an old Plymouth wagon that has relatively new blackwall radials. I have a set of Portawalls that I've had for years but never used. I want to mount them on the radial black walls. I've seen here comments ranging from "never again" to "no problem, been running them on radials for years", to, "it all depends on how they are mounted and the brand".
For those who have been running portawalls on radials successfully, do you have any advice or is there a special technique required that I could relate to the tire shop that I will ask to install them for me?

 

What size do you have? I've been reading up on this and so far it seems the ones with the best experience (on radials) usually have the narrower ones. I was thinking of getting 2 inch wide inserts for my 205/75R15 wheels.

 

I checked out that white snow seal elastomeric and it looks like a pretty good product, but what about all the stuff on the sidewall; the lettering and codes and numbers, etc? I assume that is all still visible and noticeable if you paint it, not nice & smooth like real whitewalls right?

 

you can take a DA and sand off the ugly lettering before you paint it.

 

I've always had really good luck scoring used www's usually pretty damn cheap too. just have to be selective and not buy questionable tires.

 

Find some good used ones or buy coker classics there 150$ each that's a steal if u ask me

 

The cheapeast WWW that Coker sells for 205/75R15 is 199. That's just insane considering a good tire this size (Good Year, Cooper, etc) sells for $75 new.