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from above- radials ride harder, are noisier and...
55 PackardGuy wrote:
That's been my contention from the start. A lot of people don't know how good the old bias ply tires were back when, except for wear ch...
And: Driving old cars as orig equiped is " part of the experiance".
Well , not for all of us. I would like the wife and the ordinary person who may never have driven an antique car to be comfortable and confidant upon taking the wheel of my cars for a pleasure drive or in a situation where I am unable to drive it.
O D , what were the price of those tires and what can they be purchased for now. You bring up a good point in the tire life and longevity debate. I will try to add some common sense to the discussion with some ridiculous examples. If you take a 45 year old car to a drag strip in NJ for example it can be raced wide open if it passes tech and is equipped with the factoty seat belts. I have seen belts with frayed stitching and mold deterioration and dryrot which were considered ok for street stock racing. Now take a 73 year old car, reenforce the frame, add modern suspension , brakes, seats, tires , NEW wheels, safety glass, etc etc , and install a 5 pt racing harness and race the car. In 2 years the tires will be out of date requiring replacement and the belts need replacement or recert every 2 yrs also. The major factor for deterioration is moisture and UV light. My strip cars were always stored indoors and showed no breakdown in years and years. So are the regs unreasonable? Why not pay for quality tires once and care for them properly and inspect carefully if they will provide 6 , 8 , 10 yrs or more service? I am not sure of 25 yr bias svc life. What are others thoughts on tire life expectancy? 55 are you looking for tires for a 55 or 54? PS? Driver? Trailer queen?

I guess I have a bias for radials.

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customclipper

To address some of your comments and concerns:

Some harshness due to footprint and often more aggressive tread is almost inevitable with radial tires. These factors probably contribute to noise as well. I lived and drove during the time period when the switch from bias to radial tires was taking place, and trying to get radials to work for those older cars was a problem then, and probably still causes some troubles with our old cars. (Reports of dissatisfying radials are not uncommon.) Not many folks here seem to have experienced the "radial tuned" days, but I thought mentioning it might give some perspective on the issue for younger old-car owners.

If an "original driving experience" is not important to you, and only attempting to meet standards and characteristics of current cars will do, then by all means get whatever makes you comfortable. For me, considering bias ply tires has little to do with original looks or judging or trailer queens. 100 pt resto? You gotta be kidding. Some suspension components do deteriorate as you said, and working on those items is one thing i'm aiming for in my 5-pt restoration. Would original color paint get it up to 10-pt, I wonder...

Safety concerns have been addressed pretty thoroughly, I think. Driving habits and just getting used to how the tires feel and perform will make a big difference. Also, good 4-ply bias tire will take a lot of punishment. Believe me--personal experience--two trips of over 200 miles at highway speeds on my current bias ply tires... built in the '70s. Not recommended, but doable. The tires held up better than the driver, but are just too old to continue this kind of use. (Me too, probably.) I'm just driving around town until I get something new.

I don't believe radial v bias has been or ever will be "hashed out." There are other factors involved, as can be noted in earlier posts by myself and others. These factors are not based only on originality or points. In fact, practically none of them are. Personal preference is here to stay.

The cars from '55-56 that had torsion bars are definitely a different animal, and these cars could possibly benefit from radials more than regular sprung cars--and give a similar driver experience as bias ply tires would. The suspensions are especially good at adapting to conditions--probably including types of tires--without communicating them unduly to the driver.

Yes, I have PS and PB on the car, with 3-spd overdrive. Probably special-ordered that way. Interesting and fun.

Tire companies just love it when they can convince people that cost should be no object if $100 a tire will buy significantly more safety. It doesn't. What it does is fatten company wallets and thin out ours. There's nothing wrong with blems. They can't be sold if there are structural issues. (Lucas seems to be a pretty reputable firm.) I don't think brown spots on the whitewalls are structural. Those tires are just one option out of several others that I found in the $170 range. They were of interest only because of the exceptionally low price-- half what I was ready to pay. (Did you notice they're Radials?) The difference between a set of $170 tires and $270 tires (also considered "cheap" by some) is around $400 last I checked. I plan to use the extra dough to get started on some of the suspension and floor work I want to do. There are always tradeoffs in this hobby, unless you're just made of money.

Did you want to share the brand of tire that has satisfied you?

P.S. I must have wrote this while you were posting the above. Sorry if I haven't covered all the issue.

P.P.S. Seat belts are important for safety than specific brand or type of tire any day. First thing I had installed after I got the car.

P.P.P.S Please see my signature section regarding the "trailer queen" issue.

As I recall they sent me the wrong dia valve stems and i had picked them up locally and never bothered to return them and they were either drop shipped or they forgot to remove the made in Mexico lable before packing and shipping to me. These are still for sale in this same size though the W W wall seems to be 1/8 inch different then listed on my bill.
Sorry bout the stretch on the pix but your software seems to be modifying the photos.

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Thanks. Not really interested in the Mexican bandits. I just thought you were using them and liking them. Must have misread your post. Most interested in what you have on there now and how they're working for you.

Despite being a Troglodyte, I do consider radials a possibility. I'd like to have the same look to the tires as what I have now, just because I, personally, really like the way they look. Some radials can give a very similar look, usually for $300 a pop or so.

Quote:

Because my own personal service life is not that long. (I know that wasn't addressed to me, but it does apply.)

Upon reading your earlier post:

Hardly anybody drives my car, but if they do, NOBODY drives it by themselves. I'm always there to coach. I think this should be the case for any old car owner unless or until the other person has miles and miles of experience under a variety of conditions.

EVERYBODY fastens their seatbelt when they're in my car. Including me.

Well, read 'em and weep. These are all that I found. Boy, are there a lot of tire jockeys out there who claim to sell whitewall tires and don't.

dbtires.com/crossreference.html
lucasclassictires.com/225-75R15-Sierra-15-WW-blem-S22515.htm
bridgestonetyres.com.au/bridgestone-r230
cokertire.com/catalog/product/view/id/97 ... lassic-3-whitewall-tire/category/2/
universaltire.com/l78-15-coker-classic-3-whitewall.html
universaltire.com/l78-15-coker-classic-4-whitewall.html
lucasclassictires.com/800-15-General-Dual-90-3WW-179p.htm
lucasclassictires.com/L78-15-Royalton-3-WW-L78153.htm
summitracing.com/parts/mtt-90000000178/overview/

Some of these are just for fun. I'd love to have Mickey Thompsons, for instance, but they wouldn't look quite right I'm afraid.

I'm leaning toward what HH said earlier. Just get a set of 235 75 15 radial blackwalls for now. With the dog-dish hubcaps, it'll look kind of police car-ish.

Sorry if it's not considered kosher to put all those links in a post.

I'm NOT endorsing any of them. They're just various whitewalls, mostly bias ply, that would be likely to fit my car.

They're all "oversize" for the Clipper, to be consistent with my current L78 15 tires, which look good and fill up the wheel wells nice. Some of the links show the same tires, but from different dealers.

The closest radial tire to L78 size is the 235 75, I believe.

How about black wall tires with a set of porta wall whitewalls?? Interesting discussion on tires.....

John

Hi

My two cents, for what its worth, is buy good quality blackwalls, then fit your wheels with full wheelcovers which look very much like what most cars did when your '54 Clipper was new.

Wide whitewalls were the province of hardtop, convertible and luxury car owners, folks that drove good, sensible, solid-color sedans rode on blackwalls. If they wanted a bit of flash, full wheelcovers were enough.

Steve

Approximate equivalents to the original 760-15 that your Clipper came with:

215/80R-15
225/75R-15
235/70R-15
H78-15

I have no experience with the 80-series, and would avoid the low profile 70-series.