Comprehensive Bias-Ply Tire Success/Failure Empirical Evidence Post

For what it's worth, I spoke with fellas at Coker about the reported issues with their tires at Hershey last year.

The sales rep said that 8-10 times it was that the tire was balanced incorrectly. He had a name for the type of balancing they recommend and it's in my garage right now so I don't recall.

But his claim was that these old Ford wheels need to be balanced using a jig or fixture that clamps the wheel through the bolt holes and not the center.

He said that these old stamped wheels are so wavy and that if you use the center as true, it throws everything off.

I'm not a tire or wheel guy so I don't know. I was going to call this high end resto shop in my era and ask if they balance tires or who they use. I'm sure they run into the same issue.

Just an FYI....

 

Yeah, I'm like the education system...

I expect a lot from people and don't cater to the boat anchors in the class...

No wait... I guess I'm exactly opposite of the education system...

I'm like a Democracy... No wait...

But, I really don't care if they get all emotional... As long as they vote...

I want to see if we can get an idea of how big a 'problem' certain tires are... Or if it's all drama...

So we don't 'waste' $600 on a crap product.

Plus, if we get enough 'votes' it won't matter if there's a few wing-nuts in the bolt drawer...

 

Running big and little "gum-dipped" Firestones on my '34 and I like them. Probably 2000 plus miles, balanced easily, wear pattern seems even. OK, you do have to drive the car, grooved concrete highways require more "driving" than asphalt, but that isn't much of a issue. When you consider that there's no power steering, no cruise, no GPS, no Sirius FM, etc..having to pay attention to the road is all there is to do! Bought a set of Coker classic radials ,early on, out of fear that the bias-plys would be bad news.............haven't felt the need to mount them !!

 

I put on some Goodyear Super Cushion Deluxe on one of my cars after Coker sent me two horrible batches of Firesones with major blems in the sidewall.

So far so good they drive ok, nothing like a radial.

Ride can be a bit harsh and the car does tend to bounce alot and so far no failures which is great i guess.

 

forgot to mention the Firestones took lots of weight to balance. The Goodyears barely NONE, two of my wheels have No weight on them thats how true the tires were.

Havent heard much greatness on Firestones from Coker but i guess it all depends on what foreign coutry they are being made but they for sure arent being made in the USA.

Kelsey tire told me the Goodyears are made in the USA thats all i can comment on.

 

I selected "other/good"...I have run Denman G78/15 on all my cars for 10+ years now and I have never had a problem with them, ever.

 

When you guys reply can we get SIZES and WHO you bought them from? I am in the same boat as Kilroy looking for rubber for my Tudor. Thanks. Trent

And for the record, my radials on my 54 and my Rangers "wiggle" with South Dakotas new grooved concrete. Tire store pal says he has refunded and replaced several sets on new cars including a late model Vette when folks drove their new rubber on I90 or Hwy79 here in the area.

 

Does anyone know if Universal tire owned by Coker?

 

As a former Goodyear tech. I will tell you that NO type of balancing on this or any other planet is going to correct/compensate for an out of true wheel/tire combo.

 

People like to bitch. So you'll hear more bad than good, regardless of topic.

I've run Coker Classic 5.60-15s for a while (1,000+ miles) with great success. Coker MT drag slicks ran very close to true, as well. Great burnouts with NO hop (sorry, it's as scientific as I get).

 

So far, we've gotten WAY more positive than negative... That might change...

But I'm thinking, the complaints were nothing more than a tempest in a teacup...

Why would you think I wanted something more 'Scientific' than I ran X for Y ammount of time and they worked great?

 

I chose to run bias tires on my pickup snow and mud tires big luggs and howl when driving over 35 mph, I never get stuck in the woods hauling out fire wood. I had a 62 Buick that had bias tires they were fine for me. Dry rotted to hell but never wore out!

 

This is the kind of BS non/imperical response that helps no one. We are talking about vintage style tires for our early hotrods and in some cases customs as well. Not our firewood haulers.

 

Been running 6.50-16 Specialty Tires of America rubber on Buford. They're el-cheapo's bought from Jim Carters. They're cheap, but they look the part and I've had no problems out of them with about 2,000 miles wear. And they look even better since I've dropped the truck 4" all the way around since I last took any pics.

 

I have had good luck with coker classic on my 53 cadillac. After I put the tires on the car it sat for almost a year before I drove it .None of the tires lost any pressure. I put on 6000 miles on them with no problems. It has sat for another year. motor went kaput last Sept. I am really close to having her on the road again. They are problaly not going to last very long . the new motor is a bbc with just alittle bit more horsepower and torque.

 

Sorry, 450/475x16" and 750x16" from Coker

 

lately i have had no problems with tires from coker, it has been the garbage tubes i have been dealing with. i have had to replace 5 junk tubes in 3000 miles of driving. coker has been working with me, but i have had to pay to have them changed out everytime. i don't have a problem with coker, i have just realized that i need to buy the best tubes they offer not the ones they send you when you order tubes.

-danny

 

Hhmmm, good to know.

 

what about adding the Radir tires...setting on the fence about tires still myself.........

 

Probably like me, an interested observer with no recent experience on bias-plys.


No probs in the good ol daze, but that's all I can report.

 

it doesn't matter what type of tire you put on, if you put on a quality tire and keep the right air inflation you should get good service, if you buy a cheap tire and run over or under inflated it will not live

 

When I first finished my last roadster I had a set of Coker Classic w/whites, 5.50x15 fronts and 8.20 or L78 x 15 rears (as I type this I can't remember exactly). With no miles on it, we took off on a 2800 mile road trip. I couldn't wait to get home and get those 5.50's off the car. Rears were great but at 62 mph the fronts started to shimey and sorta jump around and would do so until about 85mph or so.

Got home, took them to 3 different shops. Lug-centric balancing. rim trueing etc. Even got another pair of new rims. Nothing ever helped. Coker said that they never experience that problem??? I use 'em now as rollers in the shop.

Went to Coker Nostalgia radials (look a lot like bias ply's) and have been happy ever since.

 

Yes, unless the $250 a piece vintage racing tire is actually a crappy product from the get...

We're trying to use the experiences of other hot rodders to nail down any possible bad products out there... Before we have our own negative experiences to report.

If you think you can make a faulty tire product work fine by running proper pressure and maintaining it, great...

 

Didn't the bias-plys of the late 50's and early 60's run tubeless?

Seems like I had a set of tubeless bias-plys on my 50 Ford sedan that worked ok.
No air leaks etc.

 

I ran the BFGs on my shoebox and on my T-Bird tubeless... No issues

Same with the Firestones on the Shoebox...

I alway thought the tubes were for early wire wheels?

 

You gotta run bias plys just for the looks.

I've had bad problems with the 450/475 16 Firestone street tires. Seriously out of round! Changed to a 500 or 550 16 with same wheels and same balancing no problems.

Also be prepared to have lead trim rings after your Firestones are balanced.

I had good luck with Goodyears but they only come in 600 and 650 16 sizes. Less weight and no out of round problems.
Clark

 

If you want your car to ride like a new car , then buy a new car, part of the fun is getting the feel of an antique vehicle, now if your car is full fendered , you can run poliglass white walls, but in general , you can not have a traditional hot rod with radials, it also depends where you live, if you are surrounded by freeways, then have the tires shaved, on highways bias plys are fine , also check the degree you set your axle if you split your wisbones.

 

I have the Firestone ribbed dirt tires on the front of my roadster, and had to have them shaved before I could really drive them. They were frightening! I have the Firestone dirt 8.20 x18 on the rear and they are great! I have about 6000 on them and it looks like the fronts will go maybe another 3-4000, the rears will go at least 10,000 more. I think I will try the Excelsoirs on the front next time.

Rex

 

So from what we've gathered so far, all the tires except the firestones are pretty good tires...

The firstones concern me a bit though... Anything approaching a 20% failure rate, is a bad deal...

Thoughts?

Any chance it could be the tubes causing ballance issues? Could the tubes be the wrong size and bunching up in the tire?

 

Can't help with firestone, but I've got around 1500 to 2K on my Coker Classic G-78 15's on the '46 truck. No problems at all, and other than riding a bit harsher than the radials did (which I expected as part of the bias-ply experience) the truck handles as well as it did before. Tire shop had no issues mounting and balancing my combo.