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Dear All,

I am getting some new bias-ply tires on my 34. They are wire spoke rims. I have new tires, tubes, and liner. I am going to shop that does high-end cars (like Bentley's, etc). Is there anything in particular I should be watching for?

Thanks,

Tom

I don't see any particular benefit in going to a high-end tire shop, I'd pick one that has the best equipment and is the most interesting in doing the job; perhaps they are the same, perhaps not. If the current tires have been on the car for a very long time, a modern tire changer can put a lot of stress on the rum to break and spin the bead of, and wire wheels don't have the type of lateral strength that modern drop center steel wheels have, especially at 70+ years of age. I've seen spokes snap when doing this. So first I'd have the bead broken by hand, and if you must use the machine to remove the tire, go very gently.

Second, for the front tires I'd try a truck tire facility that has the equipment to balance the wheel, tire and brake drum as an assembly (and of course mark the locations when done so they can be reinstalled in the same position). This is the best way to avoid shimmy, assuming the alignment is correct.

I hope you're going to use tubes with metal stems and nickel-plated stem covers, 1934 was the last year for that feature and many (most) cars I see are incorrect in this detail.

I'm curious, is this an Eight, Super Eight, or Twelve. And what size and brand of tire have you selected. I've been driving for 40 years and tens of thousands of miles on Lester(and the predecessor company, Lincoln Highway Tire) tires, and they've given just oustanding service. The whitewall width of the Lesters is a bit non-authentic; for authenticity the 7:00 x 17 Firestones have the best look, but seem quite undersize. Bedord Cords are almost certainly the best choice for a show car, though i don't know what their driving performance is if that's your intention.

Owen,

Thanks for the comments. I decided to go with Bedford's, and yes I am using nickel stems in the tubes. I also decided to go to a local auto repair/restore shop that has worked on several local Packards.

I will report on the driving characteristics once I get a chance to do some driving.

The car is a super 8 coupe roadster. The tires are old, but they have been off the car recently, when the rims were painted.

Cheers,

Tom

TOM: I am some what sad that my grandson and I didn't get to meet you at Warren. Having said that, we both got to admire your fine Packard close up and take a few pictures pictures.

John F. Shireman

I disagree - the tires you refer to, at least in my case, have a history of poor quality. First of all, in order to get them "round" enough to eliminate "wheel tramp", I had to find a place with the old "tire rounding knife" equipment, and wound up losing over 3/32 in tread before we got them round.

In service, I found them totally unsatisfactory in several respects. First, their tread and side-wall design caused them to "hunt" and "track" any road surface irregularity.

Secondly, because they are of a primitive "bias" design, they "run hot", meaning, normal operation causes them to generate heat internally. At anything over a steady 50 mph they got REALLY hot, even at 32 psi. I had repeated cord and tread separation on several versions of their tires.

Some years ago, I finally gave up and went to radials. It was amazing. I remember how Packards drove during the "bias" tire era. They steered straight, did not "hunt", and I sure as heck drove my Packards fast . SOMETHING is wrong with today's bias "repro" tires.

Bottom line - get some radials. You can get modern radials that LOOK like the old bias tires in terms of white-wall design.

Quote:

And how would you SUGGEST that I get a 1934 wire rim to hold AIR?

Also, why would I drive MUCH faster than 50 mph?

Lastly, I'm going with black-walls, so the look of a WW doesn't matter much to me.

John,

I'm sorry I missed you at Warren.

Tom

Packard 12 Fan wrote: "In service, I found them totally unsatisfactory in several respects. First, their tread and side-wall design caused them to "hunt" and "track" any road surface irregularity.

Secondly, because they are of a primitive "bias" design, they "run hot", meaning, normal operation causes them to generate heat internally. At anything over a steady 50 mph they got REALLY hot, even at 32 psi. I had repeated cord and tread separation on several versions of their tires.

Some years ago, I finally gave up and went to radials. It was amazing. I remember how Packards drove during the "bias" tire era. They steered straight, did not "hunt", and I sure as heck drove my Packards fast . SOMETHING is wrong with today's bias "repro" tires."

Many years difference in our cars but have had same experience trying to find a decent set of bias-ply tires for my V8. Like you, I've always had a tendency to drive fast and drove plenty of Cadillacs, Lincolns, Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles as well as later Packards on the road with bias-ply tires. Bad as my memory may have gotten, I REMEMBER the way they drove and they didn't, "hunt," all over the road, wobble, get hot or regularly separate (except for Firestone 500s in the late to mid-sixties). There's definitely something, "wrong," with modern bias-ply repros AND, in my experience, the more expensive they are, the worse they are. I, too, have given up and gone to radials.

On the other hand, Tom obviously doesn't intend driving over 50 mph for extended distances and has a valid point about the wire rims.

Quote:

I have had the same experience. I owned cars during the bias ply era and pre moving radar era consistently drove 80 and on occasion over 100mph for long distances in a 413 CID 62 Chrysler New Yorker, a 1968 Firebird 350 HO and a 1969 Plymouth with a 440CID engine and the tires seemed to work just fine. My 1947 Packard on the other hand wandered and tracked on every tar strip at anything over 50mph until I installed radial tires. What an amazing difference! I take this car on quite long distance trips of 250-500 miles each summer on busy highways so radials are the safest was to go.
On the other hand if I was just going to use the car for show or short trips at 50mph or less I would probably go back to reproduction bias ply tires for authenticity.

Actually, Packard 12 Fan wrote that - but I agreed with him.