Tires

[joefrazer]

The frame, suspension, steering and rear axle were all painted black at the factory after assembly. This included the shocks.

[darrin145]

I am curious as to why you say not to use tubes in tubeless tires. I've driven thousands of miles with tubes in tubeless bias ply tires for decades with various cars and never had a problem. If it was a safety issue, I don't think national brand tire stores would install them, but they do! Gary.

[rialto]

I believe tubes should never be used in tubeless tires because they cause the tire to run hotter. The hotter a tire gets over it's lifetime the shorter it's life and the greater the chance of failure. I used to work in a tire store. We were very reluctant to install tubes in tubeless tires. This was years ago.

[Terry T]

Tubes were incorrectly installed in my new Coker bias-ply tubeless tires on my Darrin.
I thought that the first flat tire at a car show, after an hour trip on an expressway, was a fluke.
I got the second flat tire at the 2012 National after pushing my Darrin around 318 turns on the Tail of the Dragon road.
Fooled twice, I yanked all the remaining tubes out.
PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

Additionally, when I purchased DiamondBack radials for my Henry J, the company stated categorically not to put tubes in the tires because they can cause overheating.
4,000 miles later, including old 66 all the way to California, no problems.

I guess it can depend on how much and hard you drive your cars.

[JoeKeys2010]

Well I did not have much choice.  I blasted the rims then painted them as suggested, flat black and then Caribbean Coral on the front side and then took them to the Goodyear store to have the white walls installed. The rims had oblong holes and the tire store felt like a valve stem would leak.  So I had tubes installed.  If I had not painted them I would have welded the holes up and drilled a new hole but i did not want to ruin the paint I had just applied.  If the tubes give me trouble (I had new ones installed) I will go back and repair the rims.

At any rate I have them installed on the car but have not driven it yet.  I am very much in love with them and once I paint the car Caribbean Coral they will really stand out.  I'll post a picture or two.

[JoeKeys2010]

Here are some photos. They were taken with my phone so the color is not exactly true.

[montefrazer]

" The rims had oblong holes and the tire store felt like a valve stem would leak."

I'm betting you talked to a younger worker there? Old wheels used a different valve stem. Bigger at the mounting hole.

[joefrazer]

You will need to install truck style valves on your rims. They use a larger diameter mount hole.

[84RabbitGTI]

I had metal ones installed to help prevent them being broken or damaged by the hubcaps creeping around by wheel flex (I assume).  My rubber ones were barely able to stay on due to the hubcap moving against them.  I heard someone say use glue to prevent that, but I haven't tried anything yet.

[JoeKeys2010]

Love the tires.  The car rides and handles great.  I am surprised how well it steers. I feels like it has power steering.  They look so good on the car that sometimes I catch myself staring at them.  They were expensive, but I much prefer the look to a blackwall tire.  Not sure what radials would have felt like but I very much like the bias ply tires.