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

All the above give good advice. Avoid tubes. They increase tire temperature, add to unsprung weight, and are wholly unnecessary so long as you sand- or beadblast the wheels, make sure the rivets are tight, then paint or powdercoat the smooth wheels. Powercoating's nice merely as it's tough and holds up especially well.

Both Bridgestone and Yokohama still make LT radials in the bias ply sizes of 7.00/15 and 7.50/16, the former being what i use on my '47 Super. The only hitch is that your '47 junior takes slightly smaller tires than the senior Clipper, so you may have to settle with one of the "close enough" metric-sized radials.

BTW, all Diamond Back does is buy Yokohamas in the case of the two bias-sized radials mentioned above, or metric-sized radials for owners of other old cars that don't use 7.00/15 or 7.50/16, and vulcanize a whitewall on the side, for considerable cost.

Since your car's a '47, and NO 1946-47 cars regardless of make, model, price range, were delivered with whitewalls, for the sake of historical authenticity, leave the whitewalls to the suburban concours d'nonelegance crowd. A very, very few '47s were delivered during the last month or so of the model year with whitewalls, but 1941-47 Packard Clippers are one of those rare cars that look internationally, timelessly bespoke off the factory line, so why bugger them with whitewalls? You'll "see" the car better without them. Less is more.

If you're forced to buy one of the metric-size radials, because of their wider profile, talk with other 1942-47 junior Clipper drivers to make sure you get a size that doesn't interfere with lock-to-lock turning, or chafes against the inner rear fender, etc.

And, when you mount the tires, don't use or let the tire shop use soapy water to help them slip over the rims. Use talc. Why introduce more moisture into that environment than already exists in the air?

Quote:

Well...




If they didn't sell them, they sure advertised them.




I'm of the opinion that not all Packards need to look like they are destined for the Funeral Service Industry. I like WWW's on early post war cars. So I guess that makes me a concours d'nonelegance suburbanite. That's OK with me.

The tires I want to replace are L78-15, which are like 235/75R15. But, the specs for the 1947 Deluxe Clipper called for 6.50x15 tires, which are equivalent to C78-15 and 175/75R15.
Now, I am not sure what tire size to buy. Is it normal to have such oversized tires? What would be the benefit?

L78's are huge. If memory serves, those are what tuna boats like early '70s 5,000-lb. Lincolns and Cadillacs took. 235s are huge, used on 5,500-lb. SUVs, won't look right on your svelte Clipper. They're way too wide and would likely interfere with full lock to lock turns, and rub the rear fenders on, for example, a freeway on or offramp at speed.

235s won't look right, that's for sure. Perhaps some junior 1942-47 Clipper drivers can advise. Your wheels are 5-inch by 15, 1942-47 senior Clippers on the 127-inch wheelbase use 5.50-inch by 15.

However, 1941-47 Cadillacs on the standard wheelbase use only a 4.50 x 15 wheel, and these are heavier cars than corresponding senior Clippers, let alone your junior. This spec underscores how well engineered Packards are. Since such 1941-47 Cadillacs originally rolled on 7.00 x 15 tires, i'm wondering if you could use Bridgestone or Yokohama 7.00 x 15 bias-sized LT radials like some of us senior Clipper drivers use. Until 2003 or so, Michelin also offered 7.00 x 15 and 7.50 x 16 radials, the latter ideal for many larger Packards, Cadillacs and other CCCA Classics of the '30s, as many owners could tell you.

If you don't care about authenticity or understatement, you can buy these with a whitewall vulcanized at a stiff price from Diamond Back.

Nearly added the phrase "regardless of some ads" to my above post. See now i should've. We've all seen people paint otherwise nice cars garish colors like the lipstick red seen in the above magazine ad, forgetting such hues had no bearing on reality and were simply meant to arrest the page-turning public's attention.
Packard was in business to sell cars. You do this by offering people what they want, or think they need. Too often we see every conceivable factory and dealer option tacked onto unremarkable cars. You can't add elegance, understatement. Not all women can pull off the little black dress. Some need distractions, all the help they can get. So it is with automobiles.

Equating blackwalls with "funeral cars" shows a limited range of field, but to each his own.

Your Packard Clipper is a fine automobile by any yardstick. Less is more. No tubes, no whitewalls, no funky external metal sunvisor, no fog/driving lights, no gimracks. Try it. You can always ad that effluvia later if you feel deprived. But this leads to my May 9th post on the General Forum "This ad would've made all the difference," contrasting Packard's inept marketing of their fine junior models from 1938-on compared with the skill Rolls-Royce/Bentley marketed their increasingly rationalized fare.

The Packard suffers from no space for modern wide tires. Take careful measurements of the tire OD and compare to the original tire OD. If you go too small OD the engine will be screaming its guts out at freeway speeds. The long stroke Packard 8 does not like that.

If you get modern Metric radials of the correct OD they will not fit under the car. Do not trust the interchange lists and take your own measurements. The OD and the tire section width are the critical dimensions. The section width is the maximum width across the tire sidewalls. If you mount the tire on a wheel rim that is different from stock the section width of the tire will change. A 1 inch increase in wheel rim width will increase a tire section with by about 0.5 inch.

The 700x15 radials (made for trucks I think) were about right dimensions for my 1950 Packard. I paid Diamondback the extra for the proper wide whitewalls. The Diamondbacks do not say "Yokamhama" or anything else on the outside. They grind the lettering off when they modify the tire. The only disagvantage besides the cost is the higher than normal recommended inflation pressure. That makes the ride a little bit harsh compared to the Packard's original soft ride. However the radial handling makes this OK with me.

Read my post regarding the Diamondbacks. I measured all the dimensions of an original spare, and compared them with the Diamondback 7.00 R15s. This seems like the ideal tire for my '48.

With radial advantages too boot.

I prefer the extra wide whites, too, the wider the better.

I always hated those cat whisker things on the front fenders and have always wondered what the car would look like with veritcal catwalks rather than the horizontal bars.