VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 Tire Pressure

Hello Everyone

I am living in The Netherlands .
Proper tires for old American cars here are very highly priced so the most people are using light wheels with modern tires.
I like to keep my car looking stock so I found a nice set of original wheels for my 1948 Fleetmaster 4 door sport sedan.
They are fitted with new 700 x 16 Good Year light truck radial tires.
The tires are rated at 2830 Lbs at 85 PSI cold.
The car inclusive passengers and luggage will never be more as half this load.
Does anyone know what the lowest pressure should be for a more comfortable ride?

Jianis

Question - are you sure they are radial tires? 7.00X16 is not a radial size.
The tires for the 1948 originally carried a load of about 1100 pounds and carried 28 pounds of pressure. If it were mine I would try about 32 to 35 pounds and see how the car handles.
The tires are still a lot more stiff than the original passenger car tires so the ride will be hard. Also they are larger so the speedomeer will be slow by about 7 percent.

Hello Chevgene

Yes they are radials for light trucks. They are made for the European market.I know the diameter is 2 inch larger as the stock tires but that is good for motorway riding (lower revs).I know the speedometer is always registering more as the real speed is so I will check it with a GPS.
The car needs a little more work before its on the road then I will have to experiment with different pressures.

Jianis