Coker tires on a 1957

[dickday0]

My '57 has Coker white wall bias tires. They look almost brand new. The car wanders at any speed. My local Goodyear store put it up on a lift. Front end looks fine, nothing loose or worn.

They are telling me that I need new tires asap. The serial number shows that these were made in 1992. In addition to being unsafe, they are saying that the bias ply tires that are on there are most likely the cause of the wandering.

I have never heard that bias tires tend to wander and radials do not.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

 

[Kwik One]

My '57 has Coker white wall bias tires. They look almost brand new. The car wanders at any speed. My local Goodyear store put it up on a lift. Front end looks fine, nothing loose or worn.

They are telling me that I need new tires asap. The serial number shows that these were made in 1992. In addition to being unsafe, they are saying that the bias ply tires that are on there are most likely the cause of the wandering.

I have never heard that bias tires tend to wander and radials do not.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

They are absolutely right. You can buy radials that look like bias ply if you are concerned about the appearance. Check out Diamondback Classic Radial Tires.

 

[dickday0]

You learn something new every day Thanks for such a quick reply.

 

['Ol Bird Man]

I just bought a set of wide whites for my bird from caliwt.com. These folks make up white wall tires in various widths and the prices are way less than Coker. I modified an '03 retro bird to look more like a '57. The RB had 17" wheels which I replaced with 15" wheels (smallest I could go and still fit over brakes) with a 14" ring to allow for '57 Tbird caps. The wide whites made a big difference in the allusion. The white side walls are vulcanized to the sidewall sort of like a recap. The tires all balanced well with one ounce of weight on the worst tire. Jack

 

[dickday0]

Thank you both for excellent advice. I wasn't sure which way to go, so I let my local tire store make the call. I'm getting Coker radials with the wide white walls. These are not designed to look like bias ply tires. To get those would have meant another $250+ for the 4 tires. When it's sold at my estate sale, I'll let the next owner get the expensive ones

Thanks again.

 

[Birdman57]

Switching to Coker radials solve my problem
Well worth the money