Re: Tire Shopping for a '54 Clipper

Posted by 55PackardGuy On 2016/10/11 20:29:30

An Update:

I am quite happy with the radials I ended up buying last spring. 235 75R size, with medium size (about 1 1/2") white walls.


1. The predictions posted on this thread that were accurate:

a. The tires are about the right diameter. The speedo still reads about 10 mph fast, though. I think it's time to calibrate it.

b. They ride better than the bias ply tires did.

c. They handle and brake better than the bias ply.

d . They had a tendency to leak at the beads, but some extra stick-um when they were re-mounted seemed to fix that.



2. One thing that was predicted that didn't happen.

a. The radials didn't break the wheel rims up on hard cornering.


3. One thing I wished for that didn't come true:

a. I couldn't find anything with a wider white sidewall (one that went all the way to the rim) for any reasonable price.


3. A couple of other things I found out:

a. You can get 4 pretty decent white sidewall radials for $500 mounted. Time will tell how good they'll turn out to be. But with the number of miles I drive, they'll do quite well, I think.

b. Buying locally really helped when it came to fitting the tires and re-mounting (free) when necessary. Also, I got a firsthand look at them, including tread and sidewall. Shopping around helped. I wound up buying them from an independent dealer.

c. The wheel in the trunk with the old 8.00 spare on it turned out to be the only Clipper wheel on the car. That probably explains why it had four L78 tires on it, and an old, bald spare. I asked to have the best old L78 tire mounted on that wheel, and it didn't fit! Someone must have put Senior wheels on the car at some point. If so, I'm happy, they're just right. But I have a "space saver" spare! It holds air, anyway.