Tires and Wheels Oh my! what type to use?

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Ok, I am at that point where I will be purchasing the tires for my convert. But I need help into finding out what others in this 'rag tag bunch of Houligans" use on their 59 Plymouth's.

Are you running on 14 or 15 inch wheels?

Are you running on bias ply or Radials?

Then what size of tires?

What brand (Coker, Kelsey,,etc) do "all y'all" recommend or like?

How thick should the White Wall part be (2", 2 1/2" ...etc)?

Much thanks in advance..


John Q.

[big m]

John,

I have tried a lot of different tires, prefer the ride of the radials but prefer the look of the bias-ply. Kelsey tires has the Goodyear Super cushion tires that are exactly the same as what was originally offered on our cars from the factory. I believe the width of the whitewall is 2 3/8" but you may want to double check that.

These are bias-ply tires, but they do not tend to wander nearly as bad as some of the inexpensive whitewall tires such as Remingtons.

---John

[rogerh]

I know I had 14" Cokers with 2 3/8" whitewalls. You'll have to ask Ron and Matthew for specifics. I liked those tires...they were of course wider than what the factory doled out..

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Roger, wider is fine with me regarding the tread footprint on the road and the size of the white wall is consistant with what John F. said too. I will send Ron a PM on the thread to see if he can pipe in on what is on his HT SF.

The convert looks good with what you had on it. The Coker's you had were bias or Radial construction?

John Q.

[rogerh]

They were radials. Since you're going with that 440, maybe you want to go wider than I did.
Sorry I don't recall my tire sizes. G78-R14 was the old name, now its all metric.
I don't think you'd like the look of 15" rims.

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Thanks Roger, I thought they were radials but wanted to make sure of it. I think I won't go wild on the width. My speed days are behind me an {so would Matthew if we raced!!} He would cream me in a race but lets not tell him that..

The RB Big Block of mine is just for crusing and I want to pull an airstream behind it some day and figured the 1960 413 would do the trick with no strain on it. I am still running the stock and standard 2.93: 1 open highway gears, so Interstate cruising would be ideal for me to car shows.

Did you buy your Kelsey's from them directly or thru a local tire shop?


John Q.

[rogerh]

I don't know much about tires, John. I bought these from Coker probably around the turn of the century. As I recall, they came UPS from Coker. I don't know what brand of tire Coker used back then, or if its any different for them today. I do not think they were Kelsey tires.
Nor Remingtons. They were a good brand name, maybe Goodrich. You're gonna have to ask Ron K. to have a look.

[hellfirechrome]

Those Coker 3" whitewall are darn fine tires (I've put them on both a '59 studebaker and a '58 bug), but the price is prohibitive at the moment. For now, I just bought a set of near-new Chrome Smoothie wheels with new tires on 'em, for $250. I love the way they look. Blackwall tires though, but that's ok for the time being.... and in my experience the Coker radials are some of the smoother riding classic tires out there, so I look forward to going back to them!

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Thanks for the input HFC, If you could please post a picuture if you will of the smoothies you just picked up. I would like to see how they look.

I will go the Coker route but wanted to see what you are talking about.

John Q.

[RICKYMOPAR]

John, You will be miles happier by running radial tires. I know this being I found this out the hard way, many years ago. bias ply tires now only go on bucket trucks, trailer queens.

[savvy59]

John Q.,

I meant to respond before now but forgot. My avtar has the Coker Modern wide white radial shown on the car. I loved these tires as well. Great performance and ride. These were great when crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge where there are grates that bias tires made you squeeze your cheeks a little tighter and hold onto the wheel in hopes you would not end up swimming that day!!!

The price is $189 now - a bit higher then when I bought them in 1991

Here is the Link:
http://store.cokertire.com/p205-75r14-c ... l.html[url][/url]

I bought mine at Carlisle to save the shipping costs. I also travelled to out of State car shows many times - 9 hour trips with never a tire problem with speed limits up to 70 MPH with a loaded down car. That was Myrtle Beach South Carolina - near your old stomping grounds or where relatives live now?

I changed over in the later part of the 90's when I changed to 16" Fluted Hawk Wheels and BF Goodrich Radial T/As - another great tire in my opinion.

Good luck...

Curt

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Thanks Curt for your comments, I am leaning towards the Cokers. Not cheap but a lot of people like them to ignore their recommendations. Do you wish they were 215 or 225 tires instead of the 205's? Just seem a bit smallish... The 75 ratio seems to be the right number.

My Parents retired to NC (Wilmington NC) 16 years ago, I grew up in the Detroit area until I moved out here in Colorado in 1978 working for Chrysler as a District Sales mgr. I do end up in Myrtle Beach a lot since it is only an hour and 15 mins away from my parents. There are few flights into Myrtle so I fly into Raleigh Durham a lot or thru Charlotte. But Myrtle is a neat wide open party town with a lot of Golf Courses ( I am a lousy golfer!)

thanks again for your comments!

John Q.

[savvy59]

John Q.,

For my car, I am sure that I went with the 215/75R14 tires because they were just a little taller/more tread width etc.
For your car, I would think the 225/75R14 would be the best bet because you want to pull an Airstream at some point.

Check out the differences and you will see the Tread width is wider, the tire is about 1 1/2 inches taller than the 205, and the weight capacity is much higher (about 260 LBS) all considerations you need to make when pulling the trailer.

My vote is the 225/75R14:

http://store.cokertire.com/p225-75r14-c ... ewall.html

The 215 tire:
http://store.cokertire.com/p215-75r14-c ... ewall.html

The 205 Tire:
http://store.cokertire.com/p205-75r14-c ... ewall.html

I don't think this will alter the appearance of the car that much, and if it does you can always lower the torsion bars a bit and just be careful of the spring height in the rear.

Are you using original rear leaf springs that came with the car?

AAAHHH Yes Wilmington - we pass through as well on our way to Myrtle Beach. We were attending a car show called Run to the Sun by the PEE DEE Street Rodders (name of a nearby River right?). It is held in March every year and has about 2,500 - 3,000 cars in a huge Outlet parking lot (Wacama?). We went several years in a row. It is a 9 hour drive for us from Maryland, because there are no straight shot roads to Myrtle Beach. Mty Favorite Restaurant is "Dick's Last Resort" I bet you have been there as you would fit right in with all the Pranks!

Have a great day. Curt

[rogerh]

I'm quite certain i had 225R14's on my convertible.

[Dick Koch]

John - I just went thru a tire ordeal I don't want to go thru again. I have Diamond Back Radials on all my cars except the green Plymouth, It had brand new Coker bias ply on it when I got it. I can't wait for them to wear out so I can put Radials on it. It's all over the road and follows any little ridge they can find. From what I understand Coker Radials are made in Mexico with Obsolete molds that were replaced by U.S. tire companies with new molds. I have 225/75R/14 on my Desoto and Ford Galaxie. 215/75R/14 on my Red & white SF. The tires I received from Diamond Back were Mastercraft brand. I could have specified any domestic brand because they vulcanize the white wall on current make tires. Unfortunately I have had two tread seperations on my desoto and one on the Ford. Even so, I would still prefer Diamont Back over Coker, just not the Mastercraft brand because if I want they will put whitewalls on Michelin tires. Nobody makes the 225/75R/14 anymore except Coker. The price to replace one on the Desoto was $216.00 plus shipping. Because of the cost of wide whitewalls I'm going to use Domestic 215/75R/14 on all my cars with 3/4" whitewalls.
I purchased a set of fake whitewalls but havent installed them yet. Dan has a set of the fake WW on Faulkner, I wonder how they are holding up and looking. I plan on Taking the 225/75R/14 off the Ford and keeping them as spares for the Desoto. I just priced 215/75R/14 and the best deal was Hankook Optimo H724. A set of four for $69.00 each plus mounting, tax, etc. I understand these tires are factory installed on Ford truck and SUV's.
Google them and take a look.
Dick.