Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Packard V8,

When I first got my car on the road I put a set of the appropriate Coker WWWs on it, ordered at great expense and against the advice of my old-time (older than I am), "tire guy." On my way home from the car's first highway trip, I stopped by his shop to see if they could be made round enough to use on the highway (he has a, "trueing," machine). He advised that two of them would require more tread shaved off them than he'd personally feel comfortable with in order to true them. I bought a set of P235/75R narrow whitewalls for roughly about 1/4 of what I paid for the Cokers. Fortunately, a fellow with a mid-fifties Cadillac traler queen wanted the Cokers and didn't care whether or not they were round. He was happy, I recouped most of the price difference betwixt the prices of the two sets of tires and charged the remaining loss off to the cost of my continuing education and have been motoring, happily, for going on three years now on the radials.

Even years after school is over - it costs money for most of us to get, "smarter."

Here is a useful tool. I have one. Even if one is not inclined to jerk around with wheel alignment on their own it's still great for checking and diagnosis. Rather cheap too.

Easier to use 2wo of these but one will do the job by-itself. I have one and use it 2 or 3 times a year for check-up and adjustments. It's kinda funky looking and mounting to the hub mite require some ingenuity over what the manf'er designed into the toool but it really is a a great instrument. NECESSARY for caster adj/checking.

http://cgi.ebay.com/TRI-ANGULINER-CASTER-CAMBER-GAUGE-WHEEL-ALIGNMENT-TOOL_W0QQitemZ390042261875QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item390042261875&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A13%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

In fact, that reminds me. I need to get to ebay to buy another one. One for each wheel is easier than Xfering from one side to the other. tHE MAGNETIC ARE BETTER THAN THE funky C-clamp and spring mounting type.

Hello to all. My name is Rusty Small. I just joined and I want to add some information to the mix.

Kelsey Tires, the exclusive distributor of Goodyear Reproduction tires, has just introduced a line of Wide Whitewall radials that fit what you are looking for. They are manufactured BY GOODYEAR!!! They carry a full treadwear warrenty and are made in the USA! Here is Kelsey's website Kelsey Tire

No, I do not work for Kelsey, but I have been able to do group buys and get tires at a reduced rate. Please feel free to contact me about any questions that you might have on these tires. And as always, they have the classic Goodyear bias reproductions available as well.

When I bought my '47 Super Clipper it was riding on G78-15 remington belted tires vintage 1975. I thought about buying blackwall 700-15 Yokohama or Toyo tires but bothe were made with raised lettering on both sides which I didn't really want. I bought a set of blackwall tires 235/75/15 radials made for Canadian Tire Corp. for about $65 each. They are blackwall with very small raised lettering. I am very happy with them. Not correct for show but for driving car like mine they are perfectly fine and besides I prefer blackwalls on a 41-47 Clipper body style.

About a year ago I had to work out the same problem for another brand car (1951 DeSoto).

The solution - you need to buy either the cheapest tires on the market or the most expensive.

Let me explain. The cheap tires are considerably narrower than expensive brands and fit our old cars better. I bought Marshal 791 Touring A/S radials from Walmart. Size P225/75R15. These are the closest to the original 7.60X15. They are about 2 1/2" narrower than a name brand tire of the same nominal size.

They fit the car well and look natural in the wheel wells. They are better tires than anything available in 1951. The only problem, they don't have wide whitewalls (I put the blackwalls out) and if you look close you can see I am driving around on Walmart tires.

I would use them on a Clipper sedan I wanted to drive every day. But if I had a perfectly restored 400 hardtop I would shell out for the correct reproduction wide white bias ply tires.

That is what I meant by either the cheapest tires on the market or the most expensive.

Thanks, everybody, for all of the great responses!
I talked to my mechanic yesterday (He has the car
and all of my books). He went through the 1955-56
Packard Shop Manual and found that the tire size
for the 1955 Packard Patrician is: 8.00 x 15
and that the rim size is: 15 x 6L

None of the comments in this thread mentions the
aforementioned rim size. Also, is there a
trustworthy conversion table that converts the
above tire/rim sizes over to the current formula,
which I assume is metric?

Finally, there was mention of Coker, Firestone
and BFG. And, also, of using original mold tires.
Can I assume that one of the above suppliers would
have original mold tires with the appropriate white
wall treatment IN STOCK? Also, which of the above
(or other) suppliers is the best? Also, when my
car was new in 1955 it had a wider white wall than
was issed for the 1956 Packards. I prefer the nar-
row width white wall that was on the 1956 Packards.
What is the width of the 1956 white walls (I believe
it is 2.5 inches but am not sure).

PJ
Did you see this post today.

https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=2582&forum=8&post_id=26499#forumpost26499

I don't know this gentleman in KC area but his tires look nice.

DanL

Quote:
G'day Rusty,
aboard PackardInfo. If you have a Packard could you please consider including it in the Owner Registry together with a pic, any known history and how you acquired it?

Sorry Oz,

No Packard finding a home in my garage. My ride happens to be a orphan musclecar, a 1969 Hurst/Olds. I started out wanting to find the correct tire for my car, which is the Goodyear Polyglas GT F60-15. I came to know John Kelsey because he is the exclusive distributor of all of the Goodyear reproductions. I began doing these tire buys for friends of mine in the Pure Stock Musclecar Drag Races Pure stock website and it has grown.

Why am I here on the Packard site? Because I love automobile of vintages, sizes, and brands. I may not know everything, but I am not afraid to ask questions. Please ask questions of me so that I can help you.

Thanks for the welcome!!!!