VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Trucks and Vans Where to find tires for my 1950 1/2 ton?

We're on the east coast and it's about time to put some tires on our 1950 3100. We have purchased from Coker on other projects, but before we pull the trigger this time, I'm wondering if anyone might recommend any other vendors that might have tires for our truck?

Thanks!

Ben, are you going with radials or regular? I drive my truck a lot and went with BF Goodrich radials that can be purchased almost at any tire shop.

NOte that your 1/2 ton truck used the same 6.00X16 tires as the passenger cars used prior to 1949. The original truck tires were 4 ply and the truck had 6 ply for greater load capacity. Seeing you don'y carry heavy loads the 4 ply will be adquate and give a better ride.

Thanks Oscar!
We are definitely looking for a radial tire, but we are interested in tires that have "period correct styling." We are also looking for a white wall tire. Coker has them, but the white wall seems quite wide so we wanted to see if there were any other vendors out there we should consider.

I guess before we go too far we should make sure that the white wall tire was even an option on the 1950 3100?

The Coker white wall is a 3 1/4 inch white wall. Might you know if 3 1/4 inch was the standard width?

Thanks again!

White wall tires were not available as a factory option in 1950. They could have been dealer installed. I can't recall ever seeing white walls on a truck prior to 1955.

For a radial tire I would recommend Diamond Back Classic Radials. The website is http://www.widewhitewalltires.com/faq.htm

Chevy50Jim

I have a 37 pickup and have whitewall radials on it. I learned the hard way that Diamond Back Classics are the best choice. I first had Cokers on the truck. For some reason it is hard to keep the Coker white walls white. They become cream colored very quickly, even parked in the garage. I was not satisfied with them and got rid of them. I bought some Diamond Back Classics. I found the 225/75R15 is the size that best matches the original tires. The tire is a little wider than your original, but will work fine. The whitewall is 3 1/4" wide. They also have 16" white wall radials. They stay white and sharp looking all the time. I clean them about once a year. The ride of your truck will improve with the radial tires.
Joe

Thanks for all the info guys. I will definitely check out the Diamond Back Classics.

Putting on the gloves to battle with the wife over the white walls...

Much apreciated!

I recently bought a set of diamondback wide whites for my '50 and love them.

Here's a link to the pics I have posted on Classic Parts's forum if you're interested.

http://talk.classicparts.com//photos/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=5385

Thanks guys!
Ken, that's a nice looking truck!
Might you be able to confirm what size tire you went with here? Joe had mentioned using a 15 inch tire on his '37, but I think our '50 needs 16" tires.

Can you tell me which model Diamond Back Classic you went with? Was the white wall 3 1/4 "?

Thanks again!

Thanks Ben on the compliment. My truck has the original 15" wheels on it. They were optional equipment for the '50 model. RPO 288 - 15" wheels with 6.70X15 tires.

I went with Diamondback 215/R75/15 tires with the 3" wide whites.