Let's talk tires...

[Fid]

If I'm not mistaken, someone told me coker tires are coker tires regardless if they say "Goodrich" or "Goodyear" on them. I bought four 640 BF Goodrich Silvertown WWWs from Coker for my '53 Henry J back in 1992. They look nice and ride nice but if you drive the car on the freeway it shakes like a dog sh*ting a peach stone and it's those tires. They badly disfigure at speeds above 50 mph.  I put a set of coker (also BF Goodrich Silvertown) 590 WWW on my '52 J in 2001 and they're fine. Car rides nice and no problems at higher speeds.  I've had the ones that shake balanced multiple times and it doesn't help.  The rims are  nice and straight, not bent. If I swap tires between the cars, the problem follows the tires.  So with coker, it might be hit or miss.  I've heard good things, I've heard bad.  I think their focus is making the tires look original and authentic and that driving on them at higher speeds is not something they care about.

[Weaz]

Well, to confuse matters more, I got my Diamondback catalog, and they pretty much say that the rim problem is bunk. That there are no bias rims, or radial rims; just old rims and new rims. The safety of radials outweighs the "myth" that radials will crack or twist the rims. They do have some nice looking tires. I guess I won't count them completely out... yet.

I have more catalogs and wizened Kaiser owners to hear from in the near future, so the quest continues.

[Gordie]

If the tire says Goodrich than they will not be Coker tires but Goodrich.  Coker Tire is a distributor and sells many brands of tires and they have a few of their own branded Coker.  I bought a set of Goodrich Tires for my Kaiser once and by the time I got back to California I had two big bumps in two of the sidewalls.  They took care of the problem with two new tires and I never had a problem since.  They also were the only company with 12 inch whitewalls for my Playboy and I never had any problems with those.  If you can get the correct Goodyear tires I would sure go with them over Goodrich.

[Fid]

Thanks for the input Gordie. I don't remember who told me, but someone said that Coker bought the old molds from BF Goodrich, Goodyear etc. and makes the tires themselves.  I don't know how credible that source is / was.  People say a lot of things that aren't true. Of course, I could go to Coker's website and see if I can ask.

[HJ-ETEX]

What I had heard tends to agree with what Lowell said (Coker bought the molds). One thing you need to understand is that recently manufactured tires (as opposed to new, but have been sitting in a warehouse for 7 years) are flexible. Tires get stiff as they age so they ride rough and balancing doesn't do much to fix that. Starting sometime in the later 1990s, tires were branded with their manufacturing date. ABC had a story a month or so ago about discovering tire shops selling new tires that had been manufactured some 7 to 10 years ago.

[54 Kaiser]

Well, to confuse matters more, I got my Diamondback catalog, and they pretty much say that the rim problem is bunk. That there are no bias rims, or radial rims; just old rims and new rims. The safety of radials outweighs the "myth" that radials will crack or twist the rims. They do have some nice looking tires. I guess I won't count them completely out... yet.

I have more catalogs and wizened Kaiser owners to hear from in the near future, so the quest continues.

Diamondback details the process in their Catalog. They take brand name tires and - from what I read - vulcanize a wide whitewall onto the original tire. A lot of the work is done by hand and it's labour intensive. But they claim they do NOT have problems with detachment of the whitewalls.

I believe Diamondback can give you wide whites on modern high performance tires.

[jmxkf1]

I just got tires from Pep Boys: 215/75/R15 radials.  Skinny whitewalls on a '53 look fine, for under $300.  Cooper trendwest model is the make.  Made in USA.  The old ones were Guardians polyester bias ply WWW from Sears.  They were date stamped    April 1978.   

[kndllmtt]

ABC had a story a month or so ago about discovering tire shops selling new tires that had been manufactured some 7 to 10 years ago.

Yeah but those where at Sears. If anyone has any question about when a tire was produced any tire within 2000 has 4 numbers stamped on the tire that give its birthday. For example if the number is 4207 that means it was produced in the 42nd week of 2007. Tires start to get really stiff after 3 years so they should be avoided.

[Kenn Evans II]

I got a good set from Kanter and epoxy coated the interior of the rims to run tubeless ww radials. I did balance my rims with a self adhesive weight strip and this helped in the discovery of one bent rim.  Also if you are mounting your own tires the valve stem is a larger diameter than the new cars.


I have used Por 15 chassis paint on the interior as a sealer and no complaints.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Hi,

From a judging perspective, Goodyear tires--6.70 x 15 for a 1951 Kaiser--were the assembly line tire K-F used, with (it seems) B.F. Goodrich and Firestone as secondary sources if Goodyear had supply problems.  Any other brand or size would be considered incorrect for judging and points should be taken off.  Same goes for radials vs. the older bias-ply types.   That said, there is no question that radials will give you better handling on bad roads or in bad weather, but do you want to take your Special (with its vacuum wipers) out in a heavy rain or snowstorm?   I've had 6.70 x 15 bias ply type--with tubes--out in various weather over the years and didn't seem much worse than with radials in the everyday driver.  This of course is only one person's experiences...how you drive, where you drive, etc will affect the outcome.

It should also be noted for those interested that the full stainless wheel discs standard on a 1951 Deluxe are listed in the K-F parts book as "optional" on a Special and a 1951 issued Confidential Bulletin shows a set of the big covers as a factory installed option on Kaiser Specials delivered retail at Willow Cottage (see Confidential Bulletin #71, 10/31/51).  I had them, with goodyear whitewalls on the Business Coupe when I had it and it really looked sharp (the way a good salesman would set it up to impress customers).

[Logan]

I'm satisfied with my bias ply.  I had a 66 Pontiac that also had bias ply and never had any complaints.

[Burt]

Outside diameters of tires change as one moves from one type to another, belts, bias, radial. That outer circumference of the tire will effect the gear ratio.
I'm a fan of the white walls.
Radial tires DO put more stress on the rims. rims rust over the years, rims can break, especially old rims and radials.