VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 50 WIDE WHITES WHAT ?TO BUY?

WELL WENT AND LOOKED AT WHITE WALLS FOR MY 50 COUPE.LOOKED AT COKER CLASSICS. G78-15 bias ply (price not bad)one with 2 3/4 and the other 3 1/4 white wALL.i know from past forum post that 3 1/4 and 3 5/8 whitewalls were used on 50 models then
2 1/2 and 2 3/4 were used on 53 on up i would like to see what others have bought and there opinions on COKER.if any one has pics of their cars with both sizes i would like to see them i have seen various cars this summer with wide whites but didnt take any pics.i have black wall tires on it now but i think the whites would really make it look alot nicer welcome any ideas,pics with sizes of wide whites thanks andy

Careful when buying Coker's. I got 3 round ones and one square one. I have about a pound of weight on one of the rear wheels, and it just looks stupid! Thank God for fender skirts!

Coker is the 900 lb Gorilla in the antique tire business. They sometimes need to pay more attention to their business and customer service. Took me almost three months to get a matching set of '31 Chevy tires. I finally threatened to call Corky on his cell phone. Don't know if the sales/service supervisor believed I could/would actually do it or not. He finally went the few miles to the warehouse and personally selected a tire to match the other 4 that I had. That was the fourth shipment from them just to get 5 matching tires. If you need Corky's cell number it is available with a little work. Much easier if you know a VCCA member that knows him. BTW he recently purchased a '17 or '18 Model D chassis. Don't know for sure what he plans to do with it but he is an old Chevy owner.

Maybe Corky needs to hear a few horror stories to shake up his crew and get them to pay a little more attention to customer service. I would be glad to put in my two cents worth.

Coker has the tires and prices are competitive so are a logical choice. They also attend a number of swap meets where you can receive your order shipping and sales tax free. An advantage if you can use the service.

I spent most of my 31 years employed by a major company in Technical Service so have a bit of experience in what it takes to make customers happy. We and the field sales people were the customer advocates within our company. Found that a little bit of extra effort on the first hint of a problem resulted in the best outcome for all.

In my last case with Coker they ended paying to ship a total of 14 tires and three boxes to get the order right. I paid to ship 5 tires and one box. If everyone was paying attention to their job and the internal process actually worked their cost would have been much less.

Why would you want a G78-15 when a 6.70X15 was original?

I have 6.70X15 Firestones (from Coker) on my 1950. They replaced a set of Firestones that were on the car for over 20 years and 30,000 miles and still looked good. Also the Firestones run a little larger than other brands which make them look nice and healthy ......also the white walls are white and stay white.
Don't by a tire because it is a little cheaper, yo have to live with them for quite a few years.

I have heard and read several horror stories about Coker tires and their service as well.

Gene,have had a set G78 ON MY CAR FOR YEARS AND LIKE the looks and feel of them i have a 670-15 spare in the wheel well and just didnt like the skinny looks of it so just assumed that the 670 reproduction tires of today would have the same style and look andy
i am a bad typer

Naw...your typing is fine and you are doing a good job with it. However, it would be helpful to use periods at the end of each sentence so that your posts will be more understandable and easier for us to read.

Chipper,

I curious. What in the world was wrong with all those tires the you a Coker shipped back and forth? Mercy!

Charlie

There were three problems. Main one was they changed the side walls of a brand of tire to add the DOT information. The first shipment had three of the old design and two of the newer ones. First CS guy (they are also sales) required me to email photos of the tires before authorizing return. Sent all back at request of Coker. Replacement five were four DOT one old style. Sent non-comforming tire back. Received another non-DOT in return shipment. CS people told me that they specifically put instructions about side wall on return order and also request to send replacements. I kept telling them their system didn't work as shipping didn't 1. understand difference, 2. care about difference, 3. didn't pay attention to small print or 4. could not read English or 5. ??? Finally got the CS supervisor to hand select the correct tire (after I explained in detail the difference). Also got one tube out of 5 that was wrong size. Sent it back in separate box. Did manage to get right size tube returned. Finally one out of 5 flaps (these were split rim wheels) was 21" remaining were correct 19". Just sent a replacement flap and told me to keep the 21".

BTW the first CS person tried three times to convince me that the side wall look didn't matter before he finally agreed to take them back. Insisted on sending all 5 back instead of trying to just replace two. He should be glad it wasn't my company as he would be looking for another job. I gave names, dates, details to supervisor. Doubt it did or will make a difference but we can all hope.

Sorry didn't intend to highjack this thread. Hopefully it will be viewed as having some relevance to ordering new set of tires form Coker.

Does that size go for my 51 as well?

Also I have 1.5 miles of gravel road from my house to the highway am I going to really regret white walls someday?

I have four 600x16 Coker white walls on my 37 and am very happy with them. I think I bought them in 2012. Where I live I also have 1 1/2 miles of gravel before I get to pavement but drive a lot of gravel roads and have not had a problem keeping the white walls white or any problem with gravel eating up the tread. I would buy them again.
JMHO,
Ed

am going to lucas tire today and look at what they have.will look at both 670-15 and g78-15.hoping to bring something home today.

WELL drove down to lucas tire in springfield,ohio looked at both tires i was interested in.thought about which i should by for quite awhile.looking at the 670-15 and the G78-15 i decided on the G78 with the 3 1/4 whitewall.reson being the G was a little wider tread wise than the 670 which i think looked better than the original skinny look that was offered in 50.i want to thank all who gave me their opinions and experiences with other tire suppliers.

MERRY XMAS

Let us know how the "Lucas" tires work out. How was the whole transaction overall? Good to be aware of problems with certain individuals/companies; how the situation was resolved - or not - as I certainly wouldn't want all that hassle to put up with!!! Especially up here and having to deal with the tire tax guys at the border. That would likely be a nightmare? I can just imagine.

I ordered Coker Classic wide white radials through a local dealer and am very pleased with them. No drama, period. Improved handling greatly and no more tar line or road rut veering.

Same for me, Dean. I had a good experience with Coker.

The radials do handle nicely compared to bias ply. I bought 5 tires, tubes, and liners for my 32 when restoring 12 years ago. Last year a week before the six cylinder tour one of the tubes split. I called Coker and when I told the salesperson I needed a rubber stem tube for my 32 Chevy he immediately informed me he was out of stock. When questioned if another size might work he replied he had some "center" stem tubes I might be able to use. I then got my education about center stem and side stem and ordered the "center" stem tubes as that's what the 32 takes. It also gave me insight into why the tire guy had so much trouble mounting my five original tires as they all have the "side" stem tubes. I'm sure they would have exchanged them had they been informed however my tire guy was not up to speed.

I am frankly surprised that you have not had more problems with the side stem tubes. Ford and others switched about that time to side stem wheels. Center stems presented a problem with wire wheels. Much easier to add air without trying to fit the air chuck between the spokes. The center stem didn't require assembler to know which way to position the tube as either way was the same.

At times, there is a "happy medium" between tire and rim.

When confronted with "a pile of weights" on the rim, we would remove all weights, mark the current mounting relationship of tire to rim, then break down the bead, so tire was free to move.

Tire was then rotated 180* from original tire to rim location, then rebalance the tire/rim.

Less weights would be the final result.

I have about 12,000 miles on the tires and did get an extra tube knowing there will be a problem. It's even more of a problem to add air when the stem is turned to the inside. Luckily they are rubber stemmed.

I have seen a Chevy this past summer that had what the car dealers used as porta walls ! I donn't think they wood work on radial tires . When I was a kid I once had some white wall paint . Looked good from afar but once I parked my car the curb did a job on them !

You mention Porta walls. In 1961 I bought a new Corvair Monza coupe. it had black wall tires. I put Porta Walls on it and took it out for a drive. They thru through the tires so out of balance on that light front end, it was jumping up and down I had to remove them and live with the black walls.