VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 New Firestone Tires

The BFG tires that came on the 41 Kingston Grey Cabriolet I bought a few years ago are well out of balance. More weights on them than a fisherman would use in a lifetime. In spite of all the weights it is still not smooth and I was advised by the tire shop to run the worst two on the back.

This past Hershey I bought five new Firestones for it. They didn't have any inner tubes but when I visited their place at the Moulire GA swap meet they had some. I was told that they had the ones with fat valve stems. So I got a set of them. Still haven't had the tires and tubes mounted. I'll let you know how they work out when I do.

The 41 Coupe has a set of Bedfords on it and they still look good but they don't have much tread left on them. Those were good tires and balanced out real well.

I'm thinking of buying a set of Diamond Backs (DB) for it.

Question: What size DB radial is the closest match to the size of the 600x16s and what would be the size next up If I decided to go to a bit oversize or is that practical?

Thanks,

Charlie

The closest would have a cross section of 6 inches. Other than specialty tires I'm not aware of any radials that are a perfect size match sold in the US. I researched this a few years ago and if I remember right a 165R85x16 would be close. Good luck finding any that size. The DBs being sold as a replacement for the 600x16 were substantially wider if I remember right.

195/80r16 is the closest metric size to 600-16 as far as I know. They are the same outer diameter, and about 1/2" wider. The 165/85r16 Tiny mentioned would be real close too, if you could get any. All narrow 16" metric radials have been discontinued in the US market as far as I know.

Diamondback's current radial offering is a 600r16 of their own manufacture. It is called an "Auburn Deluxe" and looks like a bias ply tire. I have ONE of them here. I bought it for a spare because I couldn't get another 195/80r16. It looks like a quality piece, but I have not mounted it or driven on it, so have no firsthand experience yet.

Hi Charlie,

Hope your are doing well. Your posting is very timely for me also. I am probably going to have to replace the 6.00-16’s on my ”˜37 before next season. The current tires will be 15 years old then and are showing some sidewall checking. They are a set of Firestone bias ply tires I bought from Coker.

Diamond Back does make a 600R16 in their Auburn series that I will consider. The dimensions are pretty close to the Firestones. The diameter is about 1/2” less. The tread width is just over 3/8” wider and section width is about 1/8” wider. So the fit should not be a problem.

Thanks guys.

I'll check out the DB 600x16 radials. I didn't know they made them.

Best,

Charlie

Interesting. I have a 38 roadster fitted with 6.00 x 16 Firestone whitewalls. The local suppliers only had four in stock. Fitted; all good. Driving along; big bang and off the road. A following motorist ran up waving a piece of metal; is this part of your car? Thankfully it wasn't, just scrap metal. Tyre and tube totally destroyed. Rang the supplier who was out of stock so I ordered two to arrive in a month. They turned up yesterday after seven months. Apparently I was lucky because they grabbed two and sent them to Long Beach but with the virus no containers coming in so none going out. I am also told that the virus cut production staff and then there was a fire. Talking about 40000 tyres on back order. We live in amazing times.