I want to go ahead and buy tires/wheels - need help!

I want to go ahead and buy some tires/wheels for my 52.. where is the best place to get this? I want original looking wheels and good tires.. thanks for the help!!

 

Blake, just a suggestion here. i looked at your site awhile ago and looking at the wheels you have on it, they look ok to me. you might want to think about sandblasting them because i don't think you can buy repop wheels for it. Another suggestion might be to go to a junkyard and find older chevy wheels if you don't think yours are good enough to have blasted. as far as tires are concerned, that's a matter of choice and everyone has an idea as to what they like. If you're wanting to go back with original type tires, check out Coker Tire Co. in Chattanooga, Tn. i've used them for years and they make a really fine product. good luck with the truck.

 

If you want the correct size radial tires , look in the archives as this has been posted many times over .

I'm using Dayton LT tires and they're giving me very good service .

Coker , well , they have shal we say , poor warranty service (read: NONE) and they make crappy tires not really usefull for daily service .

I bought my wide white walls from Diamondback Classis , see www.widewhitewalltires.com

Resist the urge to use Bias Ply typ tires , yes they're original but they're also not really up to to-day's road usage . once you try the correct size radials , you'll never go back .

 

you know, after thinking about my previous post, Nate, you are probably right. We used Coker tires from the early '70's through around '88 or so, but only on older cars that we had no plan to run on a daily basis. we, therefore never had warranty issues. their firestone bias plys looked good and were "period correct". as far as reliability, they got to and from parades and gas stations.

 

Yes well ;

I hate to be a nay sayer but they simply REFUSE any and all warranty claims and there's quite a few out there who've had blowouts @ speed , this is not what anyone wants to hear I know .

If you're making a " Just So " trailer queen showcar then by all means , I'll happily recommend Coker , other than that though....

I know of no one who has had any sucess when put into daily driver service like I use all my various old rigs for .

 

Well, this truck will more than likely only be used for a weekend truck to joy ride in, so I'm thinking about going with Coker Tire... What size tire do I need to look for? I searched Coker tire by my truck year and this is what it's giving me: http://www.coker.com/store/customer/search.php?size=670-15 - I don't know which to get! =)

 

Dadgummit Blake, you're trying to get me in trouble again, aren't you? First off, are you going with 16" wheels or 15" wheels? Both were available for our trucks. If 16", the standard tire was the 6.00-16 6 ply. An optional tire for 16" was the 6.50-16 6 ply. On the 15" wheels, the most popular, and what i will probably put on mine, was the 6.70-15. I'm going to look at a couple more vendors before i get mine. I'm thinking there were 2 or 3 other vendors advertising tires, but i'm drawing a blank right now.

 

I'm going to be using 16" - Was wide white wall's an option back then or what? I can't decide if I want white walls or not..............

 

Blake, i just read on Jim Carter's site that the factory did not offer whitewalls on trucks prior to '55. But that's not to say that the average joe who bought a truck couldn't put whitewalls on his truck later if he wanted to. To quote Nate "who's paying the bills for this anyway?" do what YOU want to do. BTW, I really like your site. Keep snapping those pictures!

 

The archives show ******** Dayton LT215/85/R16 tires.

On my truck has General 235/70R16s

 

Yup , that's it then . they'll look correct and wear like iron .

FWIW , these trucks didn't come with many acessories but plenty of folks added them , wide white wall tires was one of the first things added to in town and high end delivery trucks , of course they wore out years ago when these were just cheap work trucks so few bothered to replace them with expen$ive WWW's , now it's your Hobby Truck , live a little & $plurge ~ WWW's look oh so good and if you buy the ones from Diamondback Classis they'll wear like iron too .

 

similar

i'm wanting to do something similar here in the near future and i am in the same predicament with wheels/tire size. (The archives show ******** Dayton LT215/85/R16 tires. On my truck has General 235/70R16s) i also have the original split ring wheels in a box in my garage, but i don't want to ride them (being slightly unsafe and all) is there any way i can modify the originals, or do i have to save up for new wheels?? thanks,

jon

 

Jon ;

Those Generals are good tires but they're slightly too small diameter so your engine will race as you try to make 55 MPH.....

If the split rims are not badly rusted have them powder coated by a reputable company , including ALL prep work should be -under- $50.00 per wheel . How to tell the powder coater is reputable ? ask aound and you'll soon
find who _not_ to use and the reputable place will tell you up front all prep work including bead blasting is included and they'll tell you they'll re-do them if not perfect at no extra charge . I know a good place in Sunny So. Cal.)

I suggest red wheels as they look sharp but whatever floats your boat as you're paying for it .

then buy new tubes and have them professionally mounted by a tire shop .

I hope this helps......

 

Nate, run tubes? even in radials, or is that just the split rims?
________
Mflb

 

Split Rims

Tubes in split rims only ! .

Originally they rn tubes in the one piece 16" wheels but Tueless tires didn't appear untill.... uh 1947 IIRC so it took several years for every one to get on board ~ I am running no tubes in my Daytons on 1941 Passenger car 16" wheels......

Nary leak , ever .

 

yeah?!?

i thought the split rims were dangerous. didn't you post something about those things popping loose and breaking windows, nate? i'm all about looking cool, but like i said earlier, i'm an idiot when it comes to mechanicin' and i don't want to take any chances.

jon

 

Danger

Waiting on the bus stop is dangerous too ~ if a split rum isn't all rusted away in the lip and it is correctly assembled by trained personell with good quality tires , then no , they're safe , just a PIA if you ever get a flat .

If you know where to find some 16" one piece rims and can afford this then do so ~ I thought you were tight on the $ available .

In either case , _do_ have the rims powder coated as this will stop rust and make any wheel safer .

 

recheck of numbers

k, i just realized my tires are a little different than the ones previously mentioned. i have LT235/85 R16s on my truck. and yeah, i'm definately on a tight budget nate, which is why your advice is sincerely appreciated. is it difficult to find people who will put those split rims on there these days??

jon

ps- here's some pics just because. ha!!


front of old wheels

top of old wheels

back of old wheels


and the wheels i'm currently running

 

Jon- There's not a soul around where I live (Pittsburg Kansas) that'll touch these. And there's alot of old farts here too... I guess we ran out of mother-in-laws! =^) If I never learn another thing, I'll never forget: "Have your mother-in-law inflate your split rim tires!" By the way, "Ugly hub warning!" There's just no way to make the back end of a 3/4 and up look good unless you hide the hubs with a cap! ...and 8 lugs! Do they really think the wheel's gonna fall off or what?!

 

O.K. , I finally got back to this page ! WHEW ! .

Your split rims look to be in _extremely_ good condition . I'd get them re-painted and mounted up if you want to run original typ hub caps .

There's _always_ a place that mounts split rims , you just don't go to that part of town . any place that does Big Rigs will do them for you or , you can get some sturdy 3/8" _welded_ chain and a couple padlocks (some use bolts & nuts) to make dual loops through the center of the rim and around the tire
180° apart so -if- it pops your face won't get scraped off by the flying lockring ~ yes , that's what happens to the -lucky- guys .

I love the last pic as it shows a normal AD working truck , that skid mark used to be on 90 % of them back when they were just ' Old Trucks '