Darrin tires

[Erl]

I need to replace the current tires on my Darrin.  The tires are cheap 2 ply bias.  The car wanders all over the road with only 9700 miles.  My experience with other antique vehicles has shown that radials are a big improvement.  A company called Diamond Back sell radials with the white wall that will fit.  Another company, Cooker Tire, sells a similar product, but not a radial.  Does anyone have experience they can share?

Edwin Erlbacher
Dallas TX

[joefrazer]

Radials will eliminate the road wander but will also introduce stiff steering at low speeds. I had them on my car and swapped 'em in favor of the 5.90x15 bias plys that the car was originally equipped with. I have heard from folks who've used the Diamond Backs liked them, but my personal experience has been with regular name brand radials.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Please remember that for judging purposes, if the tires are not the original size and brand (Coker's won't cut it in the new judging system) and (if so equipped) the whitewalls are the wrong width, points will be deducted on the judging field.

[Gordie]

Coker Tire and Lucas both sell the correct brand tires for the Darrin's.  As joefrazer mentioned the correct size in the owners manual calls for 5:90 X 15 4 ply.  The factory photos show about a three inch white sidewall.

[blackcat429cj]

I still have the original from my darrin.

They are goodyear 590 X15 with embossed goodyear in the white wall.  I will double check the ww width but if memory serves it was between 2 1/4 and 2 1/2

Mitch lewis
car 173 

[HJ-ETEX]

ERL: Your tires are probably old enough to vote. As tires get old, they get hard and don't follow the irregularities in the road as well. Your tires may not show much tread wear or checking, but if they don't bounce, they will make your car ride like a log truck. ALSO, don't try to use a larger tire on your Darrin. Look at the clearance between the front tires - especially the driver's side - and the foot boxes in the fiberglass tub. The Darrin I was first shown this on didn't have enough clearance to slip my index finger between the tire and fiberglass.

[Fid]

My '52 Henry J Vagabond had a brand new set of radials on it when I got it.  It was very hard to steer. I chucked 'em and went with 5.90s and they're fine. I don't drive it every day and I don't generally take it on long trips so I didn't see any advantage to having radials on it.   Of course at that time, it was a four cylinder without overdrive so it shook like mad at 65 mph anyway.  Radials won't cure that.  Of course adding a 6 cylinder engine with overdrive was a little more expensive than swapping tires but I'm sure it contributed to the car being much smoother at hiway speeds!  She tools along at 70 mph no problems when I drive it across to burbs to cruise nights etc.   Good to see you on here Mitch - I'll look for you at "Back To the 50s" in June, I'm planning on taking Edgar Kaiser's J there this year.

[blackcat429cj]

I was able to check the original goodyears yesterday - the whitewall width is 2 1/2 inches.

[blackcat429cj]

My '52 Henry J Vagabond had a brand new set of radials on it when I got it.  It was very hard to steer. I chucked 'em and went with 5.90s and they're fine. I don't drive it every day and I don't generally take it on long trips so I didn't see any advantage of having radials on it.   Of course at that time, it was a four cylinder without overdrive so it shook like mad at 65 mph anyway.  Radials won't cure that.  Of course adding a 6 cylinder engine with overdrive was a little more expensive than swapping tires but I'm sure it contributed to the car being much smoother at hiway speeds!  She tools along at 70 mph no problems when I drive it across to burbs to cruise nights etc.   Good to see you on here Mitch - I'll look for you at "Back To the 50s" in June, I'm planning on taking Edgar Kaiser's J there this year.

What brand were the radials?  I have heard of driveability issues with coker radials.

Lowell - I sent in my registration for the car.   Should be a good time as always.

[Fid]

I don't remember what brand of radials they were and I regret that I just let them go without checking.  My brother-in-law mounted the new ones for me and I told him he could have the old ones. His shop is in Northfield so he likely sold them to a farmer to use on hay wagon or something. Oh well, you live and learn. With the non-radial tires, it definitely steers much easier and they seem to be fine. I have Coker 6.40s on my '53 Henry J and they've gotten pretty bad. It shakes quite a bit when you get to speeds over 60 mph and I've swapped the tires between the cars and it is definitely the tires that are causing this despite having swapped rims and having had them balanced numerous times. They're 20  years old so I'm sure that doesn't help either.   With Coker it's kind of a crap shoot as to what you're going to get but the 5.90s on my '52 J have been very good as far as ride is concerned but the thing I don't like about them is the whitewalls faded to yellow right away and I can't get them white again no matter what I clean them with.  Todd Spreck, the fellow who bought that Aloha green J which I believe you owned or worked on, put a set of Diamond Back radials on his '51 J. It's a six without OD and I've not yet asked him how he likes it. I'll check next time I see him - he drives that car everywhere in the summer time. He'll have it at "Back to the 50s" and I think he always tries to stop by your booth.

[blackcat429cj]

Lowell,

I owned Todd's aloha green henry - I rescued it from a SD junk yard about 1976/77 - it has very low serial number - 299/313 on the body number.  I traded it to Brian Warhol for a 54 Manhattan.

When I found it it showed 45000 miles on the odometer.   Only had a heater - no vent package for options.   I added the vent package, radio, turn signals and wheel convers.

That green is so bright - very few pictures ever did the color justice.

[Fid]

Mitch, Todd has not gotten that Aloha green car on the road  yet.  I'd like to see it sometime.  He recently sold a low-numbered Aloha green '51 but it was totally gone, nothing left of it. Now he has the one you had and that brown (I think it was Caribbean Coral) one with the Finliner tail lights on it.  That's the one he drives a lot in the summer. He said he was going to rebuild the engine in the Aloha green one. I guess he got if from someone in Little Canada.

[blackcat429cj]

Yes - Brian Warhol sold it about 3 years after he got it - it was in storage ever since.

The exterior body was good on that car,  it had a basic floor replacement - but would be a candidate for  a correct floor pan replacement - it did have 1 rocker panel replaced.   

[joefrazer]

I use Summit Racing - they carry all of the sizes KF used in both bias ply and radial. While their prices are the same as Coker or Universal tire, there's no shipping charges so buying five tires can save you almost $150. summitracing.com

[MilesP]

I have Diamond Backs on both of my Kaisers and have had no troubles I am very happy with the tires they are cooper tires with a white wall applied you can't go wrong with them I only drive 10 0r 15 miles a day so no benefit with radials but when i went to HOA or nationals the 51 did fine