Just spent a fortune on tires. Please tell me it's worth it!

I just bought tires for my DD, which was a tick over $200. I'd like to get wide white radials for my '52 Chevy, but the wide white bias plys are new, so I'll live with them till they are worn.

 

I bought Diamondback WWW 6 years ago. Paid out the poop shoot for'em but you generally get what you pay for. I have put about 50K on them in the 6 years I have had them on my car....I blew one of the rear tires off this week end running across East Texas.....they were good while they lasted....I just put a new set of Michelin on this morning..guess what they were expensive too.....I don't want cheap tires on my car.......

 

Now that you paid the big bucks for a set, yoour gonna start seeing great deals on nice used sets all day... Thats how life usually works, right. Either way if you like the car more now, thats what is all about.

 

I'm running a set of Diamondback ww's, love them, car feels great at high speeds too.

 

That's not bad as compared to what the kid who was at the tire store a week ago was going to have to pay to replace one of his week old 22 inch tires and the rim that had hit a curb or pot hole and destroyed both. A bit over a thousand to replace the pair and I think you still could see the ***s on the tire.

I figure on mine that 1000 for wide whites with no money tied up in rims (have the steelies) and about 80 bucks tied up in the hub caps still works out better than black walls and custom wheels.

 

Well new slicks for my old hotrod went up from $350 ea. to $450 ea.+ shipping +oversize charge etc.etc. 4 tires for $1,000 don't sound so bad. Hopefully you get to drive yours more than 1/8 mile at a time.

 

A bit over a thousand to replace the pair and I think you still could see the ***s on the tire.
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I would rather see the ***s on some old girl....18 to 80 blind cripple or crazy....don't matter.

 

I haven't even turned a single wrench on my '51 Styleline Deluxe project yet and I'm already checking out the prices on WWW. I fugure I won't need the tires for a couple of years but, I'm already planning on spending the money to get the tires I want. I hate to have to spend that kind of money but, I figure it's just part of the build. You can take almost any car and improve the looks with the right wheels/tires. I think once you get your new tires you'll be glad you spent the money.

Doc

 

When the whiewalls start getting brown spots from carbon transfer your going to get that sick feeling after spending the big bucks. Its a problem I have experianced with expensive tires from cooker,

 

That's exactly why I went with Diamond Back, not Coker. They have a totally different application technique and in all the threads on the HAMB no one says they had this problem with DB tires.
It IS what kept me from buying wide whites when I first built my car, though: I had ponied up for a set of new WWW radials on a '50 Ford couple a couple years earlier and the whitewalls all browned really bad almost immediately. They weren't Cokers, they were from some company that went out of business not too long after my experience (something like "Antique Auto Tires," maybe out of Kansas or Iowa??) but it was enough to make me gun shy.
By now the technology and experience is so much better that I THINK I don't have to worry about that.

 

Once there on the car for a week you'll forget all about the $1000.00.... In fact, in a couple weeks you'll be doing smoke shows at cruise night lol

 

Haha, that's the truth. When I built my 23 I put two Firestone 10 x 15 WW slicks on the back, and at that time they were $ 350 each. I worried about them not lasting and considered just running them for shows and putting cheaper tires on the back for daily driving and trips. But I ran them anyway, did lots of burnouts, and after 3 years and lots of miles they looked like the day I put them on. I just saw them on my old car at BP and they still look great and are now almost 5 years old.

The same with my 27, the Coker Cl***ics on the back were the originals when I redid the car a couple of years ago, those were 20 years old and still had about half tread left. I only changed them because they were old and I worried about a blow out, but they had a lot of miles on them as I drove the car almost daily.

Sometimes we worry about things that don't need worrying about.

Don

 

If you think tires are expensive, you should try orthodontics.

 

After spending $1,000 on my new Coker WWW's this is how I took the stickers off of em'. This was about ooohhh 4 seconds after getting them on. Also, this was the first time my car ever moved under it's own power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndpo_vTj7eo&feature=channel

Yep, everything works!

 

The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.

 

UPDATE: It was TOTALLY worth it!!
I have been driving this car for 10 years wishing it had wide whites. I've been getting the Diamondback catalog for five years thinking "some day..." and now I can't believe it took this long to pull the trigger.

I took before and after photos, but can't find the cord to plug my camera into a computer. Once I find that I'll post them.

One thing Diamondback does NOT tell you: their tires are TALL. The 205/75R-15 tires I ordered were the same exact height as the 215/75R-15 Goodyear radials I already had on my car. If I'd known that I might have gone for 195s. But they are nice and skinny and if I had 5-inch wheels (instead of 6-inch) they would look ever more narrow and have that vintage vibe.
An unexpected bonus is that it was damn near impossible to get my old wheels and tires on and off the rear of the car (215-15 radials on 7-inch wheels) because the sidewall didn't really clear between the brake drum and fender lip. The new ones slip right in - there is about an inch or two difference in the max width at the sidewall.

Hopefully Tuesday I'll be able to post the photos and give some driving impressions (just got them on last night; haven't had a chance to drive it yet - it's been raining like hell and my wipers are just okay.)

 

After puttin 450. on whitewall slicks i thought it was stupid but after four years they still look ***s! Now quit cryin n get over it lol!

 

two area i dont skimp... tires and breaks

 

I think some of us are just born as wide white guys, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.
Look forward to seeing the pictures
Paul

 

Maybe it's time to bring back Port-O-Walls!

 

I went to coker and bought a set of WWW radials for my 50 Pontiac, being a full time college student and only having a part time job I gagged when I saw the price. I pulled out my wallet and paid it kicking and screaming the whole way but it was well worth it. All of my other cars had bias plys, switching to the radial was night and day.

 

Well, it DOES tinge one's **** to drop the cash.. I just did it.. Diamond Back III, 255/70R15.. just bought two so I can mount them up for measurements to narrow the frame and fab up new wheel wells.. going on 9" (od) wheels.. fronts will come later..check out my pics below.

I KNOW I'll feel better when she's all done.. hahaha

 

You can't go wrong with Diamond back. I've bought lots of tires from them and they have always did what they said. Quality was good and the price was fair!

 

Sorry it took me so long to post up before and after photos - I couldn't find the cord to connect the camera to the computer!
Before: light green wheels, 21575R-15 narrow wide whitewalls. (Goodyear)
After: red wheels, 20575R-15 2.75" whitewall Diamond Back DBII (Toyo) tires.

Sorry about the photo quality - it was raining like hell that day so I had to take them in the shop. But even in these photos you can see how much better and s****ier it looks with the wide whites. I am glad I went for the extra quarter-inch of whitewall, although I think I could have gone for 195 rather than 205 tires because these things were exactly as tall as the 215s I pulled off. (Exactly the same height, within and eighth of an inch, but an inch or two narrower.)

 

the rat rod look we all love so much

 

...and the final result.

 

Looking good professor.

 

Looks great, Dave!

 

What a difference ! Looks great now. I just have this thing about customs needing white walls. I have seen so many 50 Mercs with blackwalls that IMO would have lit up if they had whites on there. Just a personal thing.

Don

 

Looks like you need to change that avatar pic to this one. which exact tire from db are you using? I want to put some on my 55.