1957 Skirts don’t fit after new Coker tires

baby bird

baby bird

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Thunderbird Year
1957
Bought new Coker tires 205 75 14. Same tires that were on just wanted new ones. Now the fender skirts are to close to the tires the sides even hit the skirts. Is there any rims that would recess the tire so it is in from the wheel well. I have seen the posts on adjusting the locks but that will not work. The old tires worked fine And the new ones are the same size but appear to wider once installed
 

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Use the four digit model year on future posts i.e. 1957. This has been updated.
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baby bird said:
Bought new Coker tires 205 75 14. Same tires that were on just wanted new ones. Now the fender skirts are to close to the tires the sides even hit the skirts. Is there any rims that would recess the tire so it is in from the wheel well. I have seen the posts on adjusting the locks but that will not work. The old tires worked fine And the new ones are the same size but appear to wider once installed
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My 56 tires are 1 size larger than reccomended, would rub on sharp cornering. Removed 1 skirt & ran that way for 2 years & no one noticed. Ended up removing both & like that look.
 
I could be mistaken, this is based on what I've heard people say about how these tires are made..... that they take regular tires and vulcanize a new "outside" onto them which contains the wide whitewall material. If true it would mean the sidewall is a bit thicker then it would otherwise be for that size tire and would suggest these tires are more likely to rub. Again, I don't know if what I've read it true but it seems like it could be.
 
Running the same tire on my 57 with no issues. You must run 33-35# pressure in those tires.
rubbing on both sides or just 1??
 
I pumed them up to 42 psi and still have that issue of rubbing. Going to call coker now and see if they can answer the question. Plus when balacing the tires they took a lot of weights. Might say something about the quality
 
baby bird said:
I pumed them up to 42 psi and still have that issue of rubbing. Going to call coker now and see if they can answer the question. Plus when balacing the tires they took a lot of weights. Might say something about the quality
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You might take a look at your wheels to make sure there isn't a bend in them that would cause it to rub in one area. Balancing involves both the tires and the wheels.
 
NTouchOne said:
You might take a look at your wheels to make sure there isn't a bend in them that would cause it to rub in one area. Balancing involves both the tires and the wheels.
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They touch all away around. The old ones which were cockers did not rub. Same company and same tire. Just called Coker wating for an answer. Maybe should have went with Diamond Back
 
I had a similar issue after adding wire wheels and www tires on my ‘57. Turned out that rear spring/shock mounts were reversed by whoever worked on it before I bought it. Might want to check that out. Also, are you sure they are rubbing on the skirts or just the skirt retention levers? I also made a tweak to those that helped with rubbing on tight turns. Finally, is your rear ride height correct? I believe there is a spec for this in the service manual, if not, check the Concours manual. Let us know what the solution is.

Neil
 
Cuul59 said:
I had a similar issue after adding wire wheels and www tires on my ‘57. Turned out that rear spring/shock mounts were reversed by whoever worked on it before I bought it. Might want to check that out. Also, are you sure they are rubbing on the skirts or just the skirt retention levers? I also made a tweak to those that helped with rubbing on tight turns. Finally, is your rear ride height correct? I believe there is a spec for this in the service manual, if not, check the Concours manual. Let us know what the solution is.

Neil
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I will. Coker is taking back the tires and sending me 4 new ones. Nothing else changed from the old tires which were Coker and the new ones. My old ones worked fine.
 
baby bird said:
I pumed them up to 42 psi and still have that issue of rubbing. Going to call coker now and see if they can answer the question. Plus when balacing the tires they took a lot of weights. Might say something about the quality
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That's one of the reasons people don't like Cokers. Poor quality
 
Bond007 said:
Yes, I have heard several complaints in the last year or two.
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The price doesn't justify the lack of quality control but they make tons of money selling the vanity factor. As I said in another thread I just put on Porta-wall wide white inserts at a fraction of the cost. Almost what they do by vulcanizing them to the original core in the process. It's not a show car as far as judging but could almost pass as one.
 
Thanks Hele, I have seen that fix but it will not work in this case. The tires are just ready to touch the skirts on both sides. Tires are too wide for some reason. I have been looking for new rims that would have an offset on them. That would be a positive offset of .25 would be great.
 
Just purchased new powder coated 14” 5 1/2 with 5 by 4 1/2”stud holes. These rims have a positive offset of .50 inch. Hoping this will move the tire in closer to to axel and eliminate the tire rubbing on the fender skirt. I bought new Coker tires 205/75/r14s and the new tires were to fat to allow my skirts to be put back on. I had the same Coker tires on but wanted new ones. The other issue I had was all 4 rims were not true enough to balance the new tires correctly. Hoping the new rims work out. i will let you know. This is an on going story. Coker has sent out 4 new tires to replace the new ones they sent me. This gets to be exhausting.
 
baby bird said:
I will. Coker is taking back the tires and sending me 4 new ones. Nothing else changed from the old tires which were Coker and the new ones. My old ones worked fine.
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You have to be lucky to get a response from Coker, 3 out of 4 new Coker tyres on our 57 developed bulges these were returned to the supply company here in NZ nine months ago!! To date zero response. Good luck.
 
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