Front tires, which are the best?? or roundest??

Just looking for opinions on tires, I have a pair of Firestone 6.00-16's on my 33 coupe, they suck, got them from Coker. When I first mounted them a few years ago they were slightly out of round and one was a little warped. I really didnt have time to deal with sending them back and now they are really hairy.....

I dont really care for super small tires on the front of hot rods...which is the best front tire on the market?? I want something thats nice and round and retains a vintage look.

I have been thinking about those ribbed front runners.....how are those??

Pete-

 

You can get 16" radials from Diamondback. I put a set of wide whites on my '37 and they were 10x better than the bias ply tires they replaced.

 

I have the Firestone dirt track tires in front of my hot rod and they are awesome, but I've heard mixed reviews on those.

 

Im not looking to put radials on...just want some feedback on tires.

Chris....what type of mixed reviews?? How do you like them, are they ok at speed??

Pete-

 

If you go with bias ply have them trued and balanced while new and before you put them on the street.

 

I've heard mixed reviews on the dirt track tires as well but it mostly involves their performance on gravel and such. I had a pair but gave them to my brother for his project before I could run them. The bad thing about those is that they are 5.00's or something small. Definitely not the size of a 6.00.

I'm with you, I like the 6.00's on 40's/early 50's cars. It just looks right especially on 33-34's. I have a really nice pair of vintage 6.00's I am going to run on my '33 when the time comes but I always wanted to see what a pair of firestone motorcycle tires would ride like on the front. Seems like there were quite a few running them back in the day but I have heard it's dangerous. Wonder how much truth there is to that.


Another thing that I like about the 6.00's which is me being a picky asshole but it's the last size before the tread pattern changes. So 6.00' and 7.00's or 7.50's have the same tread pattern where as if you went down to a 5.50 it would be different.

 

I would stick it to COKER and have them send you another pair of 6.00's. And be firm about how displeased you are about them being out of round because there is no reason for that. They should have quality control when dealing with something as serious as tires. Even if an out of round tire does pose any dangers it still isn't what you paid for and looks like shit on fenderless cars. Looks like your wheel is going to fall off!

 

Mixed reviews as in, not every batch being same, some people seem to get good ones, some don't (thats what I'm reading), but I have to say, all the local guys around here, had good luck with them.

Top speed so far, around 100mph, but I regularly drive at 80mph, I like them alot.
Mine are 5.00 front, 7.50 rear

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

Has anybody had better luck with BFG's, Lesters or any tires other than the Firestones??

Pete-

 

Boy have I been down this road

I have the exact same setup as Chris above. The Firestone Dirt tracks on the front. They bounced like a basketball at first. I could only go 40MPH. I went to a tire shaver and had them shaved and balanced on the car. I drove them for probably 1000 miles after that. Went to the drags and all. No real issues. Once in a while if I hit a pot hole at 80Mph it would bounce a little but it was ok. Then they started to do some basket balling on bridge crossings. Then within 200 miles it was damn scary and undrivable.

So here is where you say : You have worn front end parts / shocks / caster / car setup issues.

I thought so to but found no issues. Didn't even change the setup. Tudor comes over to my house and we put on a set of radials on the front. Voowala! We went 60Mph across the bumpiest piece of shit back road in Georgia and not a bounce! Ran straight as could be.

I was pretty frustrated with the bias ply thing by now. I ordered a set of the Excelsior Radials and that's what I am running now. No issues. About 1000 miles so far so good.

Your results may vary. I have had some old timers tell me that bias ply tires break down like a pair of blue jeans over time. Then these bumps in the road can cause the tire to bounce more easily. Makes sense from my experience with them.

 

plain and simple. if you have a tire that bounces after you have had a good balance done to it. contact coker right away. BE NICE ABOUT IT, and they will take care of you. be realistic about how you want your tires to perform. ALL BIAS PLY TIRES ARE JUNK compared to radials. the goal is to find a tire that suck the least. when you buy the tires. buy the good tubes, not the $13.00 tubes they offer. heavy duty tubes is what you want.

i run Excelsior tires from coker. here is what i would run instead of firestones.

http://store.cokertire.com/600-16-excelsior-blackwall-tire.html

 

Pete
here is the deal on the tractor tires/dirt track tires. They are a crap shoot. Some are nice and round and some are not. Buy them directly from Coker and make sure you are not getting rejects, some of the less scrupulous vendors buy rejects or seconds or whatever term you prefer.

I know that the Raven has had a pair on his roadster for few years they wear like iron. He runs the guts out of it but it goes into death wobble @ 55 mph and then it goes away. We have done one of everything and pretty basically have traced it back to the tire. As long as he is not trying to cruise in the 55 mph range he is good. 8thgradegenius ran them on his blown Willys truck and never had a problem with them. He made passes in the 130+ range.

The deal is to make sure if you get them that you are prepared to send them back if by chance you get a bad one.

If you want bias ply tires you may also contact Hurst Tires (I don't remember his screen name), they make a good looking front tire or at least market a good looking front tire and I have not heard any bad reviews about them.

 

I've had good ones and bad ones. I had a terrible set of 5.00 coker firestones on the front of my '34 pickup, roadforce balanced several times, shaved them, rebalanced and they still bounced around a lot and werent great. I replaced them with a pair of excelsior 16" bias plies and I liked them a lot. Nice and round. I have 5.50x16 firestones on my roadster now and they run as nice as any bias plies I've ever owned. I just put a pair of 15" cokers on the front of my f1 and they ride nice, but that truck doesn't ever see more than about 60 mph (yet...) Like others have said... crapshoot.

 

Cool, thats the type of feedback I was hoping for.

The front end of my car is tight. I can clearly see the tires wobble at any speed. I really shpould have sent them back the second I noticed this while balancing them. I have a pair of 7.50-16's on the rear and those are great, nice and round...I think I just got a shitty pair of fronts.

Pete-

 

Ya know Pete your car has the right look that you could step up and try some Indy Firestones if you have the cheese to get some. I mean with the track nose and all the INDY FIRESTONES would look great and would give you a speed rated tire to blast down the highways on. Just a thought....

 

I do like the Hurst tires you're talking about, I wonder since they're capped on modern radial tires if they'll feel any better on the road? Those guys are good about taking care of you if problems arise too I've read.

 

Excelsiors:



I never had any issue with the rear Firestones and even on my other car its still got Firestone bias plys (not dirt track) its never had a problem at all.

 

Running Dunlop Racing tires on my roadster. Replaced Stones. Made a big differnece. They make a 6.00 also.

 

I wanna see some pictures of these!!

 

Firestone 5.60's..... run smooth and have had no problems.........

 

I did not get any pic's from LARS this year but here is one from Viva this year.

I am running 5.50's and 7.00 Dunlop Racing tires. Like I said above, big difference from the Stones I was running prior.

 

I called Universal Tire Co. and spoke to a really nice guy. I asked him several questions regarding the Laster line of tires and the firestones. I was pretty surprised when he told me all of the tires are made by one company, he did however tell me that Denman was making the Firestones about 3 to 4 years ago and they were having some issues with them. He also hinted that the quality of the tires has improved a bit and some that are not 100% round or true do sneak through. Lesters, Fireston, BF Goodrich are all made with the same rubber and in the same building, I think he said Specialty Tires of America makes them now.

I then called Coker and spoke to a nice dude there. I explained my current out of round tire dilemma, he was somewhat sympathetic but as I already knew too much time had passed to send them back. I ordered 2 new Firestone 6.00-16's from Coker with the understanding that if the tires are crap they will pay to ship them back and replace them with new ones. Thats the reason I purchased them from Coker,,,,good cust service.

Pete-

 

Best of luck with the new tires Pete. Universal told me all the tires are made by Specialty Tire of America. They don't sell direct though.
http://www.stausaonline.com/

 

Yea, thats what I meant to say. I hope I get a good pair.

Pete-

 

I have 2 model A's with out of round coker classics !

 

Coker doesn't make tires...Specialty makes almost all of them for Coker. Coker owns the molds....Repeat...Almost all tires purchased from Coker are made for them by Specialty in Pennsylvania.

It's all a crap shoot as to which tire on a given day will be round from Specialty. Specialty needs to beef up their Quality Control...or Coker should bitch at them more for the prices they are charging us...pisses me off.

 

If coker would spend more money on getting them right , instead of all the money on advertising , we would have better tires & more trees !

 

Low cost high profit...

Pete-

 

Ryan hates when I chime in on these threads but as a prospective buyer for my Tudor, my brothers 27 roadster and eventually my A pickup I am hesitant to pull the trigger on many of the vintage tires out there. Living in South Dakota means we have a 10+ hour drive to many of the events we enjoy. BTT50s, HAMB Drags, Pileup etc..........Roundup is a full 23 hours or so. With limited vacation time I CAN NOT afford to lose a tire and have to wait to match up something on the road. Our trips are usually straight through both ways. Hate the thought of using my vacation time in Rawlins Wyoming heading to the Salt, waiting to find something that will fit just to get back to work on Tuesday.

Good luck Pete, keep us posted, I know you drive the wheels off your cars!

 

This thread is about 5 years old and I was thinking of putting some Firestone dirt track grooved tires on the rear and Firestone ribbed tires on the front of a project. Have these tires improved over the last 5 years? Is anyone running this combo today. How do they ride and track? Appreciate any input.