Hot Rods Coker tire question

^^^^^^^^^^V8 Bob, your statement about wire wheels and old, rusty wheels being the only ones needing tubes falls right in line with my thoughts.
I was around and working in service stations, the kind that fixed flats and sold tires, at the time tubeless tires started coming on new cars.
Although we at first had customers who insisted on putting in tubes at the first flat or new tire installation, thinking they were making things safer when they really were making the tires run hotter.
Tire companies and automotive writers finally convinced the majority of the public to go tubeless except for tires not marked tubeless.
Now recently I start seeing the mention of an "inside bead" on "modern wheels". The only difference I have seen is that most all wheels nowadays have the "safety bead" that Mopars used way back in the '50s and maybe earlier, that we were told helped keep he tire on the wheel in the event of a flat or blowout and incidentally made "breaking the bead loose" to dismount a tire more difficult.
Is this the "inside bead" people talk about?

 

I agree with D.O.M. When I first built the Sedan Deliv. I ran Bias plys and it handled like a dump truck. Switched to radials and it handled like a go-cart...1000% improvement.

I had to use radial tubes for that very reason. I couldn't get the wire wheels to hold air. The tubes were a little expensive, and a little tougher to balance, but never had a problem with them.

 

What size are those?

 

Perhaps they know that the 16" tires they sell have issues with the way the beads are made, and won't seal? but the 15" tires are OK?

just a fun guess

 

750x16 rears

 

"Running is a key word....early wheels lacked the inside bead the later tubeless rims have....just saying....."

"I've read the safety bead was introduced by Dodge in 1940, many years before tubeless and radial tires, and became industry standard years later.
The purpose of the bead is to help keep the tire on the wheel during a complete loss of air, with or without a tube."

And isn't this "bead" actually a raised lip inside the rim, on only one side, that doesn't touch the tire when it's normally inflated? So how can it possibly help prevent leaks at the outer, sealing beads?

Sounds like a Red Herring.

 

I don't know about the original ones, but the "safety beads" I'm familiar with are on both sides, and the tire bead is in contact with them when the tire is inflated. I expect they could help with sealing. But there is probably more to it than that.

 

The bead or raised lip is on both sides and is there to keep the tire from coming off the rim and yep the original 16" rims that were on my 1940 Dodge when purchased were those safety rims.

 

I just checked a couple of my rims and yes, they also have the safety bead or lip on both sides.
Still, I can't see the safety beads sealing the tire much. It would seem that air pressure will push the tire away from them.

 

I checked another rim that has the bead on only one side, but I think it's a trailer rim (fairly wide 14" steelie).

 

The safety "bead" helps keep the tire on the wheel during a massive/total air loss. They have nothing to do with sealing the tire.

 

I partly agree with this sentiment. The cars we're talking about were designed for bias ply tires (or bias ply was designed to work on them, either way) and all the engineering and testing to build them was done with bias ply tires. Disc brakes don't always help, and FM radio doesn't have the range that AM does. Not everything is an improvement, just sayin'.

 

I took the Cokers off my Corvette after 3 of the tires had bubbles in the red wall. Diamondback is a much better tire. Big differance.