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The wire wheels have been redone and are in. Now I need to know what kind of tire to put on. I have looked at many manufacturers and styles and am confused.

I am hoping to get a bit of a consensus here as to what to put on the car.

Radial vs. Bias
Size of tires
Width of whitewall
Manufacturer of tire
Where to buy

Everyones comments and ideas would be appreciated!

Diamondback radials!

I think you first want to consider the kind of use the car will get before you decide between bias and radial. The Caribbean is of course quite the show car and if you're interested in oompetitive showing, then bias is just about a must, and from my own experience with my 56 Carib you don't give up much in the way of handling, though others will say the difference is more dramatic. In bias, Packard like all car manufacturers used multiple sources for tires so no doubt Firestone, GoodYear, BF Goodrich would be OK. I doubt Packard like to buy US Royal due to the GM ownership of same. Size should be 8:20 x 15. Most of the tire brokers will be able to advise on the appropriate whitewall width for the era, and you can also find plenty of factory and era photos from which you could scale the whitewall width against a known dimension like the wheel diameter.

If the car is going to be primarily a driver and not a show car, then radials are no doubt the better choice. Diamondbacks have proven very good, Cokers less so at least in their earlier years when failures were quite common.

Hope this helps you clarify your choices.

My service manual states tire size of 8.00x15. I don't know if that makes much of a difference from O-D's recommendation.

I believe you're right, my 56 Carib had 8:00 x 15. I'll have to check the RPO codes, but I am pretty sure the 8:20 x 15 was the tire upgrade option and given the weight of the car, it would be my recommendation to go with it, if the choice is to go with bias tires.

Good to know. I am in the market for some new tires for my '53 as well. Thanks.

Owen_Dyneto wrote: Quote:

I don't know what "earlier years" you are referring to, but I have had Coker radial wide WWs on my 55 Pat since about 2001. I have driven all over the western USA at freeway speed or higher in 100+F heat and they are holding up well. I'd buy Cokers again. They are NOT cheap, but they are no more expensive than the Goodyear Eagle GTIIs on my 79 Trans Am.

Craig

When I brought up this same discussion on the AACA forum many owners chimed in about the problems they had with tires purchased from Coker. My tires were supposedly made by BFG and when they started to crumble about the whitewall against the rim, Coker told me that the factory in Colombia had to shutdown and they couldn't get replacements. I called every month or so and was given the same story. After almost a year of run-around the one person who answered the phone at Coker's looked up my order and told me they were no longer guaranteed because time had expired and laughed at me. When I posted this over on the AACA forum, there were many negative comments also complaining about Coker tires and service. The manager at Cokers posted a message for me to call him which I did. They finally did honor the guarantee on that tire. Within a few months, the other tires started to have the same problem. I didn't want to go through the hassle again and ordered a set of Diamondbacks thru Mid-Atlantic Packards because they earn a little money on the order. I have traveled many miles on the Dbacks, on long trips and short ones. I have no complaints about their tires.

I can tell you I will never buy anything from Coker again. They don't care much about honoring any warantee.

Great info, guys! I've been considering Cokers as a replacement, now, seeing the postings all of you have left, they are definately off my list!