[updated:LAST EDITED ON Mar-24-06 AT 10:02 AM (CST)]Since the truck is going back COMPLETELY original, what kind of tires should I get? I'm not sure what 52 chevy 3100's came with back then. Was it the wide white walls? Also, what size would yall recommend that would look really good? I would really love to go ahead and buy the tires, because the ones that are on there are dryrotted pretty bad from sitting over the years. I think I'm getting the "Smoothie" chrome rims... But my main question is, what tire size should I go with and what type of tire since I'm going back to original. Thanks!!!
Well ; Chrome smoothies means it's _NOT_ going to be " COMPLETELY original " In any case it came with 16" Bias Ply truck tires , they're available but kinda $pendy for such a low quality tire ~ they don't ride well , don't have good traction and so on ~ if you look in the archives there's some posts about what size LT radials to buy so they'll look stock whilst giving you vasly superior safety and handling too. Wide whitewalls were always a popular option , back in the day and now too ~ I'm running WWW LT radials and they're standing up really well to commercial service so I don't mind the $250.00 per tire co$t If you decide to run radials , getting the ' just so ' size is important so they look right , I'm sure one of the guys here will know what size I posted before , I'm heading out to Death Valley in a short short and so don't have time to go look . Be sure not to put 16" CAR tires on it , you might not be working your truck but it's a heavy beast and so need good quality LT tires . your local tire shop will lie to you and say " not available" as they'll want to sell whatever 16" they have in stock or can get cheaply for maximum profit but Dayton and BFG , lots of Korean manufacturere's still make and sell the correct radials for your truck . -Nate
What about wheels? What were the stock wheels back then? I don't want to put chrome smoothies on them if it wasn't original. That's all I've been seeing in 2 or 3 magazines so I assumed it was..
I went thru the same process and went with originals to fit the stock original rims. I bought the tires from Kelsey Tires, www.kelseytire.com, 800-325-0091. They know their tires and can help you out. It's been several years but I purchased 5 650/16 blackwalls plus tubes, etc. for about $600. They have other options (whitewall, all-weather, etc.) Hope this helps. Steve
I am pretty sure that in '52 the stock wheels would have been painted black on a standard cab and body color on a deluxe cab. The Hubcap and trim ring would have been painted grey as all the chromium was being used in the Korean war effort. Nate is right, they would have been 16" rims. They would have spring clips for the hubcaps. Originally they would have been bia ply tires with tubes and not white walls. IMHO, only if you were going for a absolute correct restoration would you want to run bias ply tires. You can get tall skinny radials to fit on the original rims that ride and handle much better. Steve O
I just went to your website and looked at your truck. No spot on pictures of the wheels and tires, but from what I can see, you have stock wheels on that truck right now. If they are 16" you have them already. If your hubcaps are painted grey, they are original. If they are chrome, they have been replaced but they are what the originals would have looked like. I mentioned trim rings in my earlier post, but now that I think of it, '52 painted wheels may not have had a trim ring. I am not sure. Good luck.
If you are going stock with the truck and you plan to drive the truck often - I'd highly recommend listening to Nate. Nate is running Dayton LT215/85R16 tires. I live in the Northeast and was told to stay away from Bias Ply tires, because once it gets cold - I would have to find a tire stretcher to straighten out the flat spots. I had my eyes set on some Firestone 4" Wide whitewalls bias ply tires from Coker and a representative from Coker told me I should reconsider and go with radial tires. I ended up with BFGoodrich radial wide whitewall tires. I bought 255/70R15 for the rears and 225/70R15 for the front. Ken
If you buy Bias Ply tires you'll find they don't have good traction in the wet , on anything but perfect pavement and so on . PLUS they get flat spots in the belts from sitting and will go " THUMP THUMP THUMP....." untill they warm up each morning , this means you cannot drive over 15 ~ 20 MPH for the first few blocks . They have poor ride characteristics and don't last as long either ~ Your choice . The size of radials _I_ use malkes them look like original tires and keep the engine speeds low on the highway too . -Nate
I took Nates advice several years ago when assembling my 54 3100. I really wanted to keep the 16" original rims. I went to a friend of mine in the tire business, I ended up with Uniroyal LT215/85R16 tires. These tires have enough sidewall that they can be "pinched" onto the 4" wide rims. I run 50 pounds of air in these d range tires and am very pleased with my final decision to buy modern radial tires. Overall tire height is 30", helps defeat the low rear end just a bit.
RE: CORRECT tire Size That's it ! I bought a set of Dayton radial LT tires for my rig some years back and they're still wearing like iron and gripping the road like asphalt magnets , helping my poor old 235 to wheeze down the freeway @ 65 MPH and stay to-gether with low fuel and oil consumption ~ I highly recommend saving this tire size info somewhere on your truck as sooner or later you'll NEED it . -Nate
RE: CORRECT tire Size Thanks for the help... sort of. I think 85R16's would be quite a stretch to fit the 20" rims on a ton and a half. It does give me am idea on how to proceed. :+
RE: How about the rims A follow up question to this series. So if we go with the modern Dayton or Uniroyal radials, will they fit on our original rims, or do we need to get new rims to go with the tires? Eric
RE: How about the rims I used the original 16" rims Mounted tubeless, had to overinflate to 80+ lbs to get these to seal, even used permatex on one rim to get an air tight seal on the tire bead. holds good air at 45-50 lbs now.
RE: Radials On Stock Rims NO problems ! they'll fit correctly and work just fine , safe and so on . One of the original 16" rims I dug out of the sand in the Mojave desert for my truck was pretty badly pitted , it is very important to clean ALL the rust off the bead area and re-paint before mounting any tires , especially tubeless ones on the stock rims as you'll avoid the common slow bead leaks . On old farm trucks I simply hand wire brush or bead blast untill ALL rust is gone , you can use some Phosphoric Acid to help eat away the rust (never,EVER use Muriatic Acid !) and then paint with Rustoleum gloss paint or POR-15 etc. typ rust preventative paints , I had my wheels powder coated for $35.00 each , look nice and should outlast me . Like the man said , get some D or E rated truck tires , unless you're really working the truck hard you'll never wear them out . -Nate
