Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

All the literature that I have found seams to point to 700-15 for the woodie. Does anyone have any other info. Thanks Dell

G'day Jon,

According to the Model Info page here on PackardInfo, for a '48 Woodie it's 7.60 x 15.

A couple of sources I have indicate that, with the exception of export models, 7:00 x 15 is correct for the 2201/2293 Station Sedan.

The 1948 Databook specifies 15 X 7 - 4 ply for the Station Sedan.

Get a set of Bridgestone 7.00 x 15 R230 LT radials, or the Yokohama equivalent, identical specs the latter, also available at a hefty premium from Diamond Back in South Carolina, if you feel the need for added whitewalls, which many owners in the day thought gauche, tacky. The beauty of these tires is that they come in our 7.00 x 15 bias ply size, and so look right in your fender opening, while giving you all the advantages of radials. Remember, Packard built cars, not batteries, generators, motor oil, brake fluid, tires.

Diamond Back offers, last time we checked, whitewalls vulcanized on Yokohama 7.00/15 bias-sized LT radials, as well as the usual SUV metric radials, which most people use despite not looking right in the fender openings. Only one car in 20 or 30 at any price level had whitewalls in the '30s, '40s, and dear few had fog lights, but that doesn't stop those today allegedly concerned with "is this correct" and scoring points. That the CCCA, PAC and others award perfect scores to 1946-47 cars with whitewalls unavailable when new underscores this mentality. Or gloss-painted engine accessories which were originally matte or semi-gloss black.

Don't take any nonsense about "truck tires" from the same people running 225/235/15R metric SUV tires on their Packards, since big SUVs are built on pick up truck chassis.

Michelin also offered 7.00/15 LT radials per above, identical specs, until the early aughts. Unfortunately, only a few savvy 1941-on Cadillac, Buick, Packard owners knew about them, there otherwise a small market, so Michelin bowed out.
If we don't patronize Bridgestone, Yokohama, we'll be dead in the water, forced to buy bias plies people in a third world wouldn't use, or else metric SUV tires which simply don't look right.

Again, as per Diamond Back, you can vulcanize a wide whitewall on anything, but a good design doesn't need tacked on ephemera, most high-end, top-line cars were free of such dreck originally. Similarly, you rarely saw fog/driving lights on cars in the '30s, '40s, but tell any of this to gotta have it clubbies today and watch the fur fly.

"According to the Model Info page here on PackardInfo, for a '48 Woodie it's 7.60 x 15"
looks like the Model Info page "info" for Woodie tyre(tire) size is incorrect.

Checking some of the other entries for 22nd and 23rd Series most show 7.60 x 15. BigKev, where did that "info" come from?

Thanks for the help guys!

I think Oz is right, since the 288/327 junior tubs were originally so tired, 7.60/15 a popular size for mid-range cars in the late '40s, shared with Hudson and others.
Check with a knowledgeable, longtime tire shop and see if the above 7.00/15 radials i mentioned will work on your wheels. Part of what gave Packards the best chassis in the industry was having sturdy wheels. So better to over- than under-tire, especially given the bathtubs' heavier weight, and that they were marginally tired even when new.

I recall seeing the corresponding 1947 Cadillacs to my '47 Super Clipper had but a 4.5-inch-wide wheel, while my car has 5.5-inch width wheel. That's what Packards are all about,
lost on most people as they headed for the hipper, slicker marketing, styling of GMobiles while Packard, spoiled by wartime profits from open-ended contracts from a seemingly bottomless Federal government, understandably focused on more lucrative jet engine contracts instead of capricious retail customers and whiny dealers, increasingly phoning in the cars, limping along after GM, East Grand otherwise toast by the '40s, being run by the B-O-P men recruited in '34 to show them how to cost the 120.

Crewe knew how to focus on aero engines while marketing boutique cars. Packard, well: Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

See if your woody'll take a set of Bridgestone R230s. It should handle very well -- better than before.

FWIT I think the Station Sedan looks good with WWW tires. I do not care for the wheel shrouds. I am extremely pleased with my Diamondback radials, I recommend them to everyone I talk with.

A Recent Photos photo illustrates your taste quite nicely, a '48 Station Sedan sans fender skirt and with www tire.

(o{}o)