VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Radials

I just ordered a set of Bridgestones the same size. I ordered them through Tirebuyer. They're not smoothies and they are blackwall. I'm not too concerned about the lettering on the side. The section width on the 195 is a bit wider than the 600x16 so I'm hoping to not have any clearance issues. The "perfect" match size wise would be 185/85x16 but those aren't available in the US.

Two small spacers required. Post photos after the install.

The difference is the advise rim width.

Stock 38 chevy is 4.0

Bridgestone is 5.5-6.5
Diamondbacks are 4.0-5.5

You may need more spacers than I said for that tire. The sidewall will be larger.

195 is 195. That's the section width, width of the tire in millimeters. Any tire with that section width should be the same width. My guess is DB is lowering the recommended rim width in order to sell tires to folks with 4" rims. I spoke with the shop that will be installing the tires and they told me no problem.

http://www.dbtires.com/2011_catalog/2011catalog_Hi.pdf

Look on p.28 aspect ratios

Correction of earlier post

The middle number is what you would be interested in.
All 4 graphs are 215,but look at the difference at the sidewall on 60,65,70,etc.

85 would be different than 95 even if the width of the tread is 195.

The lower the number the fatter the sidewall. 60s are huge.95s are really thin.

In your case the 85s would be thinner than my 80s. You may not need any spacers.

I doubt ANY fendor would take on the responsiblity of changing the tire specs, just in case of an accident. The vendor would say "That's the Tire Companies specs not ours" Some lawyer would have a field day with that for sure.

Your 80K tire has another useful limit, it is the lifetime whether it is rolling or not. Various agencies deadline any tire over seven years old. There is a date code stamped on every tire I have ever seen for highway. I had some 14 inch bias-ply tires on our 68 when we bought it with the warrenty in the glovebox. I compared the date on the warrenty with the date code and had 12 years on the tires. They were good looking tires and road well, with some sidewall weather cracking. I bought a new set of Goodyear radials and the tire store guys in Arlington got a kick out of the 12 year BIAS-PLY tires on the car, they hadn't seen bias- ply tires on a full sized Chevrolet, ever...... but they were also youngsters, under 30 years of age.......

..if you check them with a gauge, you let a small amount of air out. Next thing you will tell me is that the air in your tires is original 1938 air, without any R.A. Isotopes from nuclear bomb testing from 1945 thru 1975...Yeah, I got some of that air saved up from the original tires on my 1928.....

Steve, what you're missing is the tire you bought is a Yokahama 195/80R16. The tire I bought is a Bridgestone 195/80R16. Both are 195/80s. Both have the same cross section, the same aspect ratio. They are the same size. Since the tires are the same size the only reasonable explanation for the differing rim width recommendations is marketing. The only reference I made to an 85 aspect ratio is that a 185/85x16 would be a more exact match to a 600x16.

I misunderstood. I still can't believe DB would take on the responsiblity of changing the rim size.

BTW... the tread design looks nice.

It may be that Yokohama doesn't realizze that there is a 4" wide 16" rim they are thinking modern.

They better be thinking about EVERYTHING. Lawyers love to get big companies with huge cash reserves in court.

Waita minute...I think my back is hurting!!!

Charlie, his tires are probably filled with surplus breast implant silicone, they do that to keep the old 38 tube rims from leaking!

Is that silicone from surplus breasts?

it is surplus silicone breast implant stuff....ing

Sorry for digging up an old thread....


For those of you (Tiny) that have put radials on your '38, I assume you used tubes, otherwise the rims will eventually leak all the air, am I correct?

It has been a few years, is it worth the transition to radials?

I didn't do it, I couldn't justify the cost. $1000 for tires is way beyond the ability of an old blue collar retiree like me to pay. I'll live with the bias tire frailties I guess. Maybe, if the bird of paradise ever craps a dozen golden eggs into my pocket, I can revisit the issue.

Thanks, Tiny.

No matter what, tires are going to cost me at least $600 not including labor....damn...

I like my '37s bias ply 600-16 Coker Wide whites. They look great and drive fine, no complaints. Have radials on my '48 and they are no better as far as I can see.

Good to know, thanks. That's who I will be ordering tires from.

green427.. From your question about radial tires on old cars, I would assume that you are not interested in keeping your car original. That said, I'll share with you over forty years of experience with radial tires on solid I beam axles and IFS vehicles;
Many people overlook the size of their original wheels, compared to the recommended size of the tire manufacture. The majority of the wheels from the '30/40's will be in the 4.5 range, whereas radials usually require wheels/rims in the 5" plus range.
The narrow wheel will pinch the sidewalls in, causing the tire to not run flat/square to the road surface, i.e. only a small percentage of the tread is in contact with the road.
Since the Chevy's prior to '49 have six lug wheels, the wheel problem can be solved by using the 15" wheels from a GM pickup. The pickup wheels will be in the 5'5/6-0" range and have spring clips for the hub cabs.
The steering "wobble/bump steer" problem can be solved by making sure that the front end, steering gears and shocks are in good condition. The alignment also has to be adjusted to fit the radial tire requirements. The addition of a steering dampener on the tie rod, to the frame, is also a must, on solid I beam axles.
For my money I would not run bias ply tires on anything that I planned to drive further than the local store..

Have you read any of my other posts yet?

My main question is regarding using tubes in radials....and I have been doing research on tires for some time now, so I am asking others if they felt it was worth the transition.

Tubes should not be used in radial tires. There is too much flexibility in the radial tires that will damage the tubes and get very hot.

I bought a set of Coker Classic tube-type radial tires, size 600R-16 blackwall for my 1940 Chev 1/2 ton pickup. After less than 100 miles, I had two different flat tires--one while driving on the highway and one in the garage. Careful inspection of the failed tubes revealed a rectangular mark on each tube about 3/16" X 2" right where the tube leak was. Inside the casing of each tire, in a location corresponding to the rectangular mark on the tube was the remains of a foil-backed rectangular inspection label. Because of the relative motion between the tube and the casing, the label "scrunched up" and the foil backing was sufficiently rigid to puncture the tube.

On notifying Coker, they told me that the tires come with a big red warning label on the outside indicating that the inspection labels on the inside of the tire casings must be removed prior to mounting the tires. There may, indeed, have been a warning label, but, if so, I didn't see it when I peeled off and discarded all the adhesive labels stuck to the outside of the tires.

If you buy tube-type radials, make sure the inside of the tire casings are completely clean and free of any inspection labels. Tube-type radials rely on the super-smooth coating on the inside of the casing in order to prevent chafing between the tube and the casing.

Also, tube-type radial tires require radial tubes. I'm not sure what the difference between a bias tire tube and a radial tire tube is, but the radial tubes I received from Coker have the word "Radial" in raised letters on the inflation stem.

Once I learned what the problem was with my new tires, I dismounted all four of them and checked to make sure all inspection labels and remnants thereof were removed, and I replaced all four inner tubes.

I've put about 9,000 miles on the radial tires so far, most of it at highway speeds. After my initial experience with the two flat tires, it took a while to rebuild my trust in the tires, but now I don't worry much about them.

The handling of my truck has been dramatically improved by the radial tires. The truck used to wander on rutted or grooved pavement, but now it hardly even notices uneven roadways and is a real pleasure to drive.

I used to run Columbia brand bias tires from Lucas Tires on my truck, and I'd be lucky to get 15,000 miles before the tread was worn out. At 9,000 miles on my Coker radials, tread wear is negligible--barely noticeable, and it looks like I may get 30 to 40,000 miles out of them. If so, that would make them no more expensive than the cheaper bias ply tires I used to use, and if not, the improvement in handling is worth the difference.

I should add that before mounting the radial tires, I bead blasted the interior surfaces of the rims and coated them with a coat of epoxy resin followed by a coat of black spray paint. This provides a nice smooth surface for the inner tubes to ride on.

Mark

Thanks for the heads-up on the labels!

I put diamond back radials on my 41 handles nice, the front end is new which probably helps I went with 15" truck wheels no tubes and so far have not had to add any air I've had them about 2 yrs. but that is like Charlie says I'm just looking at them. They are 205x15 and couldn't be happier with them, I guess the speedometer is reading in error somewhat.