TIRES FOR 810

I've posted on this thread before but......when i purchased my car it had a perfectly good set of bias ply Firestones. The wheels were light weight originals that had been repaired...mostly. I eventually tracked down four heavy wheels in excellent shape and since Josh Malks was high in radials I figured I'd go for broke (literally) a put radials on my "new" wheels.
Not quite four years and less than 1500 miles later one of the radials came apart on our way home from last year's Reunion. Several thousand dollars of fender repair and a new set of Firestone bias plies later I am perfety happy with how they ride. I don't drive my car hard so the handling is just fine...for me.

I have had a couple sets of Firestones on my 1941 Cadillac and then I switched to BF Goodrich and was much happier(nicer ride and quieter, plus whitewall held up better). I also have had just about every brand of tire on dozens of cars, plus we get stuff all the time via www.significantcars.com . Personally, if I were to buy a bias ply tire for a Cord, I would by the Goodyear diamond treads with the art deco style whitewall with the ribbed whitewall. I put a set on the Auburn sedan and loved them (new owner loves them too) and I just put a set on the Phaeton I am restoring.

sorry about the double posting

Here is my two cents worth to the tire discusion
My wife and I were planning on taking our 37 Cord to New Zealand and were going to be driving it on both islands. I decided to replace the 4 road tires before the trip. What to put on? The Cord came to me with Firestones belted. Should I go more Firestones ( I like the look of them on the car) ? Or should I go with radials. A few years before I had purchased a 37 Cord for a museum that I volunteer for and it came with radials. So I brought that Cord home to my house and switched the wheels and tires with my belted tires so I could test drive my Cord with radials. The radials were Diamondback and the wheels that they were mounted on were modern replacement wheels without tubes. My driving impressions with them on my Cord were that the steering was harder at low speeds, the car felt more sure of it’s self on the road, it cornered better and I found myself driving harder into curves simply because I could. I had to mildly adjust the rear fenders so the radials would not hit them when on my Cord. My decision for New Zealand was to put on the car a new set of Firestone belted. My reasons were I was concerned that I would be temped to over drive the car and being on all strange roads it would not be a good idea. Also my concern was that I have original heavy duty wheels on my Cord and I thought that if I over drove the car I could crack a wheel and maybe a even a front hub. And there was a question of, do I put tubes in the tires as I would be using original wheels or not. If no tubes, would the tires hold air for 3 months that it took for the car in a container to get to New Zealand and if the tires were flat what would the warehouse do, maybe just drag it out on the flat tires. The belted tires I feel ended up being the best choice for me, they were a known factor and I had a good handle of there adhesion properties to the road. In New Zealand we had many days of rain, a lot of that in mountains and hills on narrow roads with many switchbacks. The belted tires did not hold well in the tight wet corners, but I knew their limit. We went 2,000 miles in NZ and no tire or wheel problems.
My wife and I were planning on taking our 37 Cord to New Zealand and were going to be driving it on both islands. I decided to replace the 4 road tires before the trip. What to put on? The Cord came to me with Firestones belted. Should I go more Firestones ( I like the look of them on the car) ? Or should I go with radials. A few years before I had purchased a 37 Cord for a museum that I volunteer for and it came with radials. So I brought that Cord home to my house and switched the wheels and tires with my belted tires so I could test drive my Cord with radials. The radials were Diamondback and the wheels that they were mounted on were modern replacement wheels without tubes. My driving impressions with them on my Cord were that the steering was harder at low speeds, the car felt more sure of it’s self on the road, it cornered better and I found myself driving harder into curves simply because I could. I had to mildly adjust the rear fenders so the radials would not hit them when on my Cord. My decision for New Zealand was to put on the car a new set of Firestone belted. My reasons were I was concerned that I would be temped to over drive the car and being on all strange roads it would not be a good idea. Also my concern was that I have original heavy duty wheels on my Cord and I thought that if I over drove the car I could crack a wheel and maybe a even a front hub. And there was a question of, do I put tubes in the tires as I would be using original wheels or not. If no tubes, would the tires hold air for 3 months that it took for the car in a container to get to New Zealand and if the tires were flat what would the warehouse do, maybe just drag it out on the flat tires. The belted tires I feel ended up being the best choice for me, they were a known factor and I had a good handle of there adhesion properties to the road. In New Zealand we had many days of rain, a lot of that in mountains and hills on narrow roads with many switchbacks. The belted tires did not hold well in the tight wet corners, but I knew their limit. We went 2,000 miles in NZ and no tire or wheel problems.

Tim, I think that is the secret - on a car you can run tubeless the Coker tires should work very well. My opinion is that the inside of the tire casing is too aggressive a pattern for tubes (I run radial tubes in everything as they tend to be a heavier duty tube and have had zero problems with any other type/brand of tire.

Tim, I think the problem is the tubes, not so much the tires. I understand the Coker radials are designed to use tubes and I don't know what the difference in tire design is. I think it was Harry Golden that ran the Cokers without tubes and never had a problem (although the Cord Gods really looked out for him) and I have heard of a couple of people that used other tubes in their Coker Radials and didn't have any problems.

Since I had two of them blow out at speed I'm not taking any more chances with them.

May you have many more miles of "Effortless Motoring"!!!

I guess I’m one of the lucky ones. I put Coker W/W tires on my Cord in January, 2008. I also purchased Mike’s heavy duty wheels; understanding that radials put more strain on the wheel. I don’t use tubes. Air pressure about 39 psi. I now have 11,865 miles on the tires. That mileage includes the Cord Convoy and several 1000 mile CCCA Caravans.

Out on the AACA website the name Coker cannot be mentioned, for rear of a lawsuit. They are known as 'the tire company'

I too had Coker radials. Rear tire disintegrated on the way home from Reunion last year. Beat the hell out of my fender. Tire was just under four years old and maybe 1500 miles. I'm riding on bias plys again and feeling safer. And kudos to Hagerty. Covered every penny of the repairs without any quibbles

I will 100% endorse Curt's recommendation: I have installed several sets of the Diamond tread Goodyears with the ribbed sidewall (available in a whitewall or blackwall) and have been most pleased - I currently have a set going
onto my current restoration too. And, was just on the phone a week ago with a friend who swears by them on Cords - agrees that they are a fabulous look matched to a fabulous road tire. I buy from Kelsey Tire though all be it have bought countless sets of tires for non ACD cars from Lucas and Universal, plus Coker.

I run black-wall Good Year diamond treads on all my Auburns. Lucas tire has them . There are factory pictures with that tread design. ACD used other brands of tires as well.

I get this photo out every now and then (this was right after the part about standing there to see if we were going to have a fire or not too).

Diamond Back, Yes.
CORDiallyMike

Jim did not tell you about his torn up front fender.

Been where Jim was via his Coker radials - flat on way home from ACD Festival with tread separating from sidewall. Multiple flats over time of which a few were my fault via hidden labels in casings and as to others I thought the tire casing pattern inside was too aggressive and was eating tubes. And two that had to be replaced for being near square. I now have diamondbacks on car - a Toyo with a whitewall applied - super nice. They now also have a "Auburn" brand tire at Diamonback, but have not heard from anyone who has really driven a distance/time.

I had the Coker Radials on my Westchester. I had one totally disintegrate at 75 mph near Toledo. Coker just said I needed to replace the tubes every two years. I changed the tubes. Had a rear tire go flat on a show field and the a second tire blew again at 75 mph. All within a year. Coker would not stand behind the tires. I threw the remaining tire away and will not put a Coker back on my cars.

Just my thoughts.

I've got Coker Classic radials with 3" wide whitewall on my Cord 812 Beverly and I like the look and feel. I put these on last year as they were recommended by a friend that owns a large tire business in the DC metro area, and I wanted radials for the road feel while driving. I've been happy so far.
I also have Diamondback radials with 3.5" wide whitewalls on my Glen Pray Auburn Speedster, and they look great and drive superb as well. These came with the car, so I didn't have anything to do with picking them, but the 3.5" wide whitewall I think is striking. Some photos.

-Michael

I like the 6:50 x 16 Goodyear tires with the ribbed whitewalls - a well built tire that I have been impressed with on road via multiple cars. I get them through Kelsey and I saw Universal was was also handling. www.kelseytire.com/pages/antique&classictires.html

As to Radials - I would try the Diamondbacks.

I thought the Coker radial tended to have too aggressive of a pattern on the inside of the casing and seemed to be hard on tubes.

Thank you Mike and Gary. All good points. Based on your suggestions, I will most likely keep the tires as is in "rolling" condition until all the details are wrapped up. I finished the brakes, clutch linkage, installed the Startix, and gas tank is installed. II am installing the fuel filter and electric gas pump. I will be ready to install the wiring harnesses (piece of artwork) , get the engine fired up and install the dash instrumentation. I will most likely need guidance on the transmission selector. Interior feels like it is a long ways away.

Good point made by Mike. Also remember that any radial tire has a recommendation to replace it at around 5 years irregardless of miles because of ply separation between the radial ply and the body of tire. Bias ply tires do not have this separation issue.


Gary Parsons

Buy tires when you are there, not getting closer. Time seems to fly and before you know it your almost there turns into 2 or 5 years and
now you have old tires again. Have seen it happened many times. Just a suggestion.
CORDiallyMike

What are your intentions for this car? If you plan to make a driver then some owners feel modern tubeless radials are the best way to go. If you plan for a best of show type judging then bias ply double wide whitewalls. They are probably going to cost around $2000.00 or more because they are old and very rare. Some like the Coker tires and some prefer others. Some cars look very nice with a black wall tire too. Others will chime in with what they use and hopefully WHY they choose them.


Gary Parsons

I am getting closer to get 1752 on the road. I am looking at tires for the Cord and am leaning toward the wide whitewall. When I purchased the car, it had a set of Denman wide whitewall 6.50 x 16. These tires must be from the 1960s. Any advice is appreciated.
Bill Heisler