Whitewall Tires

[bird 60]

Hi Guys, I'm getting ready to purchase Radial whitewall tires. Can you please give me an idea on the top brands for comfort & handling. I'm told that Diamondbacks are really good. Some input would be gratefully appreciated.

Thank you,

Chris....From OZ.

[Guest]

Hi Chris
I have 225/70/14 BFG Silvertown's on my 60 J handles really well

Richard

[Dakota Boy]

that's a sharp-looking car with those wheels and tires

[Dan Leavens]

Chris hope your getting ready for the upcoming holidays. Diamondbacks are ones that some members like and the other kind are Cokers. I have Cokers 225 /2.5" whitewalls radials on the 58 and they vastly improved the" rideability" When the other tires go on the 60 ( Imports ) I will put the same ones on. I don't know how pricey they are in your area??

[Penelope]

Chris, I bought American Classics from Antique Tyres in Brisbane - good service & fantastic ride!

[bird 60]

Whitewalls

Hi Dan, with your Cokers, are they manufactured in the States or Mexico? or is there no differance.
The cost here in Oz is around $350 each, but with the U.S. $ & ours being almost at par I might import them from the States after I look into the shipping costs.

Chris....from OZ.

[bird 60]

Tyres

Hi Bill, with the American Classics, what size are they & what did they set you back?

Thanks

Chris

[Penelope]

Hi Bill, with the American Classics, what size are they & what did they set you back?

Thanks

Chris

Hi Chris, 215 70 16's as I bought them at the same time that I updated wires to the LA Custom 100 spokes. I did both cars and from memory it was approximately $3200 per car. Resultant stance and height is the same as original and backspacing on the wires is spot on. Huge difference in driveability...

[bird 60]

Thanks Bill, but at this time I'm holding onto my 14'' wire rims. I'm thinking 215/75R14 or 225/75R14 either Coker or American Classics.
Anyone with any other thoughts?

Thanks

Chris....From Oz.

[tbird430]

P225/75R14 is closer to the 8.50x14" which came on MOST 1958-60 T-Birds. The 8.00x14" was used on the plain non-optioned cars w/o AC, w/o skirts, w/o full wheel covers, etc.

This bigger tires carries the weight of these BIG Birds better & improves the handling somewhat. Plus, the bigger tire fills up our wheel wells and looks much better IMO...

-Jon in TX.

[DKheld]

I've had Diamondbacks on my Tbird for 6-7 years and about 6-8k miles. Only problem I've had with them are the whitewalls absorb rust from the wheels and wick it up as a brownish spot on the whitewall. It cleans right up with the Castrol superclean product they recommended. They also recommend HAND mounting to keep from stretching the whitewall. Couldn't find anyone that wanted to hand mount them. The store I took them to mounted the whitewall side first then used their machine on the back to stay away from the sidewall. No problems so far.

Mine are the older style tread that is more of an all season tread than a street tread but have not noticed any unusually loud noise from the tread. I would buy from them again. They actually had to send 2 replacements as UPS ran over 2 of them with a truck or forklift before they were delivered. Very easy to work with - they sent the new ones before getting the old ones back and sent an RMA tag to stick on the bad tires - no extra cost to me - just a little extra wait time which was not their fault.

Hope that helps.
Eric
registry 5347

[scumdog]

Hmm...I'm glad to see I'm not the only one to have a slick like the Torres Cabyon or Exon Valdez has run aground under my Y-bird!!! heheheh!!

(well, in my case it's actually a few spots)

And I have w/w tyres on my 'bird and the sides are marked 'M+S', what does that mean? - Mud + Snow?

[bird 60]

Thanks guys, at this point in time I'm leaning towards Coker P225/75R14, unless someone can persuade me not to.

Thanks for everyones suggestions.

Chris....From OZ.

[YellowRose]

Whitewall Tires

Yup, Tom - M+S = Mud & Snow!

[scumdog]

Yup, Tom - M+S = Mud & Snow!

Dang!

I guess they're an open-tread design and wear faster?

I HAD noticed they make a noise/hum when driving over really smooth surfaces at about 30mph - as most of our roads are made with a really co**** surface which makes for 'tyre-roar' with almost any tyre I don't have to worry too much about the 'noise/hum' thing!!!