VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 Need new white wall tires, Coker, or lester, or

Firestone, or BFG? Suggestions? 5.50/5.25-18

I did drive the car 3-4 miles at low speed after jumping it,and the flat spots on the tires from sitting flat for 7-8 years would launch you out of the seat if you went faster than 15 MPH.

So, I need new tires. Soon.

Thanks,
Doug

Well...

Im not gonna comment on whether you need new tires or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if the new ones do it too. It is a characteristic of nylon bias-ply tires. When I was a kid, my dad had an old truck that didnt get used much. It would sit around 6 months to a year without getting started. When you would try to drive it... BANG! BANG! BANG! because the tires had flatspotted. He said it had "square wheels".

The day came that those old tires, while they still had tread, had become so hard and weatherchecked that they needed to be replaced. The truck got 6 new tires. A few months later.... BANG! BANG! BANG!......

The flat spots will sort themselves out if you drive it enough, but If you are going to let it sit that long, best to put it on blocks.

Sorry for not answering your question, If you want super-wide whitewalls, Lester usually has the widest. I think all available brands these days are owned by Coker in some fashion or another, except Diamondback, and they dont have 5.50/5.25 x 18. Best of luck, and let us know what you pick!

Check out Coker, Summit, & lucas tire you will find what you need. What year and model are you working on?

I would prefer one of the two brands that you originally mentioned.

I have had three sets of Lesters on my '35 Std. Coupe and
have never had a problem with 'flat spotting' after storage

I can recomend them!

The problem with the tires (they were Lesters), was they sat flat, airless, on the rims for 9 years. Beyond any hope of ever being round again.

I bought four new Firestones. Didn't have any issue with lester as a Company, but wanted a different look on the tire.

Doug

I have used Firestone for on mine for over 40 years. I have never had a flat spot on them. Even after setting some time. Just lucky or moved it just enough; I don't know; but proof is in the pudding.

1933 Master with 525/550-18 tires.
I did a post on this not long ago. For safety sake I wish the old nylon Sears tires were still available. The flat spots went away after tires heated up and I always felt safe. I bought a set of Coker brand tires and found the sidewall strength was not great enough and checking as best I could the ground contact area it was only about 60% of the old Sears tires. Never felt safe to me. Now I have a set of Denman tires which was a big improvement over the Coker's but I would probably go for Firestone or BFG next time.

I didn't know Demans were still available. Was a popular tire back in the '70's.
I have been happy with the Goodrich and Firestons that I had on my cars the last 35 years.

Re Denman tires, you are probably correct Gene. I believe my Denman invoice is dated 2001. Time flies. I do not know if GM had a preference back in the early 30's but I have always associated Firestone with Ford, I guess because Model A's came with Firestone tires and I think Firestone was a close friend or Henry.

True about Firestone and Ford in the late twenties and early '30's
From about 1937-1941 Many Fords were equipped with "Ford" brand tires also.
GM generally stayed with Goodrich and US Royal and Firestones in the '30"s and '40's.
Chrysler porducts used Good Year as did GM in the early '30's.

If you have an original style metal spare cover check the dimensions of the tires you plan on buying.

Some of the newer tires seem to be running larger then the original dimensions and will not fit under the original metal spare covers. Almost like they have taken larger sized tires and marked them with smaller size numbers.

Example: I am not sure of it is an optical illusion or what, but the Lester 525/550-18 looks much larger than other 525/550-18 tires I have seen. I have never compared the diameter, width, or tread width to other brands.

The last set of tires I bought for my 1933 Master, to many years ago to mention, were whitewalls and they will be the last whitewall I get for any of my antique cars. To many issues to include yellowing of the whitewalls. My other issue is I have never seen an original picture or graphic of a 1933 Chevrolet with whitewalls. Were they even an option? The other issue is the modern whitewalls are now so wide it looks like you are trying to turn the car into a classic Auburn, Cadillac, etc, which it is not.

The Lester 5.50/5.25-18 tread width is almost 1/2" greater than the Firestone 5.50-18 from actual measurements I did on both tires.

The advertised tread width on both tires is the same, though, at least on the website of Lucas Tire in Long Beach I got the tires from.

The tread face width on the Firestones was about 4.12" and the Lesters was close to 4.5".

Doug


Doug

The correct size for a 1933 is a 5.25 tire. In the later years it was combined with the larger 5.50 which is 1/4" wider. I assume that Firestone is in keeping with the 5.25 demensions. Note that the wider 5.50 tire may not fit inside of metal tire covers or side mount wells.

I recently replaced all five tires on my 33 Chevy. After doing a lot of reading and looking, I went with the Goodrich Silvertown whitewalls. The car has been in my family 40 years and has always had wide whitewalls on it.

For the spare tire cover, it now will not fit my new tire. It is not the width, but the height. The new tire is about 1/4" or 1/2" taller than my old tires, which were Bedfords. Those are no longer available for my car. They had been really good tires, didn't turn yellow.

The one thing I found is tires, especially whitewalls for the early 30's and 20's cars are getting harder to find from different manufacturers. You can get them, but in limited brand choice. There are some really good tires made for cars with larger tires, especially 50's and 60's cars.

I like the looks of the Goodrich. I have friends that use Lester tires and had really good luck with them also.

I am probably going to remount one of my old tires that wasn't that bad on another rim and use it with my spare tire cover.

I had a bad experience with Coker tires. The whitewalls turned yellow within 2 weeks. Also they were losing air at a rapid rate. This happened with two sets one after the other. What a fiasco. I went to Universal and bought a set of Lesters. They have been fine. Universal tells me that the problem is caused by the natural rubber tubes. Somehow they are not compatible with tire rubber. Universal sold me Butyl tubes which have been fine. So my advice is to make sure you buy butyl rubber tubes.

larrym33
Try deflating the spare before fitting the cover. It will be a nuisance if you are unfortunate enough to need to use the spare unless you carry a method of reinflating at roadside.
Tony