VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Oversize Tires

Has anyone had any experience with running oversize tires. I was thinking of 650x16 instead of 600x16 on a 41. Any clearance problems?

Also, what is the right pressure (PSI) to run in a 600x16?
Charlie

Back in the day it was 28 p.s.i. for bias. I always run 30-32.

I have a friend that has run 650-16 for years on his 41 coupe until he wore them out. Never had a problem with rubbing or touching the chassis in any manner. He has now replaced them, but this time he went to the 600-16.

Did they use 6.50 X 16 on the Station Wagon? If they did there would not be a problem with clearance.

In my opinion the 6.50X16 look too fat, especially with white walls.
The pre-war oversize Chevrolet listed was a 6.25X16. It was half way inbetween a 600 and a 650.
The Firesstones are already somewhat oversized so a 6.00X16 Firestone will make a nice choice.
Station wasgons used 6 ply tires. That was both in the 16" and 15" sizes. The 6 ply was rated for more air pressure and had a higher load carring capacity than a 4 ply 650.
I would recommend carrying what the manual states with in reason. Note on the 16" tires they called for more pressure in the rear than the front. I found my 1939 handles best on the highway with 26 cold in the front and 32 in the rear. Especially it the trunk is loaded. The tread wear has been fine with that pressure.

I must need glasses. 600x16 vs 650x16 difference.

650 is .4 of an inch wider and .6 of an inch higher. How could you even see the difference? That's .400 thousandths of an inch wider. I don't think I could tell the difference unless I had the two side by side,even then I'd have to look closely.

I don't know what you are reading but using the modern Firestone as an example.
6.00X16 = tread width 4.63, cross section 6.26, diameter 27.91
6.50X16 = 5.10,7.00 and 29.10
The white wall on the 6.00 is 3 1/4" and the 6.50 is 4" which looks way too wide for a 1941 tire.
Also the narrow rim pulls the side walls in on the 6.50 which adds to the over sized look.

http://www.splashstudio.biz/PDFs/DB07Catalog.pdf

page 15 shows replacement for both sizes

Steve,
Which 205 did you get?
Thanks,
Charlie

http://www.dbtires.com/2010_catalog/hi/21.htm

205x75x16 The one that says replaces 600x16 The whitewall is really about 3 1/4 inch wide.

Here is the tire chart for Kelsey tire: http://www.kelseytire.com/pages/tirechart2.html
For 1/2 inch increase/ decrease in rim width, adjust section with +/- .25 inch.

According to the chart that SMALLHURST posted ( Kelseytire) a 600x16 is 28.53 in diameter. These charts seem to vary.

The diamondback tires have no information (brand /size) on the outward side of the tire. They are unusual tires. The tires came wrapped in white paper and cardboard in bewteen the tires and then plywood over that. A real overkill in shipping, I like that. Also, the radial diamondbacks run 40psi.

Steve,
I still don't know which one you got. The one under the "600x16 is the same except for width of whitewall (3 inch) and the price. But I assume you got the narrow ones. The blank underneath the "600x16" merely means (to me, at least) that it would contain the same replacement datum. You see?
Charlie

Yes. Mine were suppose to be 3 inch WW but they really measure 3 and 1/4 inch. I've never seen a 600x16 tire that was a radial,and that's what I wanted. So mine are as close as I could find.