Tires

I'm starting to tire shop so I will have new rubber on the road come good weather. Anyone have a suggestion where to look? Bias vs. radial? White wall vs black or red line? How about what came on it originally for size? I have a '59 Star Chief 4dr. sedan.
I am headed to Carlisle at the end of April. May be able to find something there and save some $.

thanks

Pending on what you're looking for you have several options. The original bias tire size is 800-14. The approximate equivalent in radial is 215/75R14.

I would stongly recommend getting radial tires. The last longer, wear better, have a better ride, and don't get flat spots from storage.

You can get a traditional looking white/wide whitewall tire from Coker Tire or Diamondback Tires. The cokers cost a bit more but the diamondbacks are very similar in style and quality for a bit less money. Both companies also carry redlines

Black walls can be found just about anywhere since it's standard now a days.

Radial would be the obvious choice I suppose for a "driver". Coker seems pretty pricey.

I want a white wall but what would the original white wall width be? 1"?, 2 1/2"?

I'd go with the 2 1/2" personally. That's what I'll go to once I wear out my current tires. Right now is just the standard 3/4" I think.

I didn't want to pay that much for white walls so I paid $80 a tire for 215/65? I think BFG Radial TAs. I think they look great on old cars.

wydtrac.....The original tires were 800/14 UniRoyals. The optional whitewalls were 2and 1/4". Cokers bias tires are also 2 and 1/4", and their radials are 2 and3/8". I have the radials on mine and you can't tell the difference. 1/8" is not noticeable......John

I have the cookers (cooker classic) radials - 215/75R14 - they are exelent. The car came with a narrow white wall - it was ok, but i ordered new tires along with the car, since i did not know the condition of the old tires. The old ones turned out to be OK, but one was trashed by a fork on a forklift when the car was taken out of the shippingcontainer.
The new ones arrived on a later container. To make a long story short i am very pleased with these tires, and it looks fantastic. They give a exelent ride, and i have tested them to 120 mph with no problems. I did not get around to lifting the car, so it was stored on the tires all winter, and this has left no visible or detectable flat spots.


I don't know the price in U.S., but i'm pretty sure that its alot less than i pay - after all they have to travel a long way, and someone have to make money on the way, but around here they were roughly 200$ each (i just paid around 135 $ each for michelin energy tires for my volvo (195/65/15 - most common size around here), so compared to this it's realy not bad for a highly specialized product.

My only regret : they are hell to clean - anyone have some good adwise on how to do it. I've tryed different cemicals and cleaners, but not really found the answear.

Scotch brite pads (The green ones). Brings them right back to white everytime.

Thanks for the tip - if it's that easy i feel really stupid, considering all the different stuff i tried. I'll try it out soon (weather is crappy here now).

I stumbled across it a couple years ago. I had tried, bleach, tire cleaners, etc and they never got bright white. Saw the pad on the shelf and figured "what the hell." Just about lost it when I realized it was something so easy.

I just got some scotchpads - found out we stock them at work. I am going home in a few hours, and then it's time to try it. I tried different bleaches, hydrocarbon solvents and the whole lot. It seems that some of the dirt would dissolve, but the solvent evaporated befor you could wipe it all off.

Did it work!?

Thanks alot !.

I must say that it works amazing - especially along with a little bleach. They are now truly wide whites - instead of white greys...

This is definatly good advise.

I only got around to try it yesterday, and it exeded even my best expectations.

Now, there is only one regret regarding this - when you take a spin to enjoy your work, the centrifugal force sends the dirty water from the edge of the rim, drawing black lines on your nice white stripes - i guess you cant have everything .