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Riddle me this.

On a 54 Cavalier, a few weeks ago I replaced all four tires with the Coker radial that looks like an old bias ply.

I had a flat occur caused by the wheel cover creeping around until the valve stem was cocked and caused it to break off at the rim.

Two seemed to do it and two stayed OK.

Right front was the worst right reae next worse.

I have tightened the grip fingers on the wheel cover to where I have to bang them on with a rubber hammer.

They are the correct covers.

I suspect the wheels flex a tiny bit under the weight of this car.

Any expert opinions?

Jim

While not a common problem, it's certainly a well-known and documented one. I haven't heard of it very often with Packard wheels, it's more often cited when radials replace bias ply tires on cars with less sturdy wheels, postwar Studebakers, Fords, and Chevrolets, seem more prone to it. The radial tires transfer considerably more force to the wheels and suspension that did the bias tires; generally that doesn't present any issues but if the tires were also oversize it could exacerbate any tendencies. Your wheelcover grippers could also be a bit fatigued to where they only show the problem now that somewhat more stress has introduced into the wheel.

Some folks have reported success with a bead of silicone caulk on the rim to better hold the grip teeth in position.

Quote:

Back in the late 1970s I became convinced that "radial" and "good" meant the same thing. Had a set of them installed on my 1966 Cadillac Eldorado. That's when all hell broke loose. Or at least the front end of the car did. Ever have a big luxury car go into a front-end shimmy at 55 MPH??? Ahhhh... something to tell your grandkids about... if you survive.

I ended up having to replace upper and lower control arm bushings, ball joints and several other components. and then came the aforementioned creeping wheel covers. After shearing off I don't know how many valve stems from the wheelcover rotating on the wheel (effectively causing near blow-out conditions), I was stumped. I tried all kinds of solutions including bending the gripper tangs on the backs of the caps out farther... and silicone. Nothing worked.

I finally went to Mark C. Bloome (SoCal and NV tire store of those days) and got a friend who worked there to install deluxe rigid metal valve stems on all my wheels. The stems were expensive and installing them was expensive too. But that finally cured the problem... permanently.

Vintage cars with old original wheels and suspensions and geometries not designed to take advantage of radials are... to put it nicely... a dilemma.

Next time you have absolutely nothing better to do, have someone get in your modern car and turn the wheels side to side... lock to lock. And then look to see how the front wheels lay over to allow the radials to moosh into a turn. Now do the same thing with your Packard. Notice a difference? You bet you do. On all automobiles so fitted... whatever doesn't take place in the suspension... often transfers over to take place in your tires... and all that implies-or not.

If you bend your hubcap gripper tabs out a bit, they will bite into the rim more firmly. I have mine bent out enough that I have to use a rubber mallet to seat the caps. They have never moved on me even at 70mph on the freeway.

Didn't some of the rims have darts to help with this?

How about putting some JB Weld on/in the scratch marks, from the hubcap grippers, on the rim to add some meat to grab onto? Would that help, or be just like the silicone?

Having now put 150 to 200 miles on my new tires (and head gasket) the right front remained the big offender.

After the last 10 mile trip, the valve stems were still centered in the hole in the wheel cover.

I did carefully bend the tangs to get a better grip on the rim.

I don't know if the radial tires couple more road vibration through but they seem to run about the same as the fat bias-ply tires I wore out. These tires have a narrower tread than the old tires that were on the car, which were actually over sized.

Jim