Radial Inner Tubes - Factory Wire Wheels

[Alan H. Tast]

Follow-up: there were two wheels still giving me fits - one that had the valve stem incorrectly seated, and the spare rim in which the tube got pinched and went flat before I could bring the wheel home. The valve stem issue was easy to fix - deflate, reposition and inflate. The tube required getting another one from Coker and waiting until I could pick it up while getting ready for the trip to the convention in Tulsa. Finally got the tires and rims onto the car this past Sunday morning and drove it to a car show about 8 miles away to evaluate if they got everything balanced ok. Long story short - the car still has a little shimmy that needs to be investigated. I still had some clean-up to do between the spokes and rim once I parked the car so I got my exercise for the day. Surprisingly it came home with a runner-up in class for '58-'64 Stock at a 400+ car show (winner was a stunningly fresh resto of a '58 Dodge Royal Lancer HT).

Walking around the show I saw many of the cars in my grouping with 14" tires and whitewalls were shod with Hankooks, including a '63 Avanti near me that were 205s vs 215s, but he didn't take time to clean his tires. The sidewalls and grooving on them I detest (same way I detest the Goodyear Arriva (?) radials I installed on our hardtop 13 years ago before the drive to the Portland International from Kansas City) - hard to clean, but then again for less than $100/corner for the tires I can live with buying a few bottles of Bleche-White over the next decade or so.

[Blobird]

Interesting and good post Mr. Tast , but there are no pictures of the rims after you have covered the insider with tape, please show us if you have any pictures, thanks.

[Alan H. Tast]

As you were asking...

[Blobird]

Thanks for the nice pictures Mr Tast, now I see that you have taped all the way to the outer edge where the tire sits, and it seems to have worked for you,Good to know. I allways thought it would be too thick with the tape there, but it seems to have worked for you what I can understand.

Thanks / Lennart Sahlin, Sweden

[bulletbirdman]

I know this is an old post but I had the problem of my very pricy coker WW's radials of course just blow out while sitting in the garage, Think about this clean the inside of my re-pop wires and paint with FLEX-Seal let em dry and run tubeless.

[Alan H. Tast]

I know this is an old post but I had the problem of my very pricy coker WW's radials of course just blow out while sitting in the garage, Think about this clean the inside of my re-pop wires and paint with FLEX-Seal let em dry and run tubeless.

I do not recommend running a wire wheel tubeless. I don't give a damn what the repop manufacturers say - there's too many penetrations in the rim for the spokes to leak air, regardless of how (and how well) you can try to seal them - even the repop epoxy-coated wheels have been demonstrated to leak air. Wrapping with tape or coating the inside of the rim is primarily to keep the tube from chafing against the spoke nipples and rubbing holes in them. Take your chances if you want, but you can't fight the laws of physics and nature. And you would be well advised to have talcum powder on hand for your installler - don't be afraid to liberally use the stuff (and keep the inside of the tire dry when using it) to make it easier to set the tube in tire and rim.

[Alan H. Tast]

Better late than never - a few pictures from mounting/balancing and what the original liners looked like.

Original heavy liner shown with tire

Close-up of original liner. Would have liked to used something similar but couldn't find any, hence the rubber tape

Tire and rim on balancer

Checking for balance and placement of self-adhesive weights on the inside of the rim

Clean off the rims and tires after mounting and balancing is done

The talcum power leaves a slimy mess if it gets wet.

Remember - remove the tags inside the tire

Set of wheels and tires ready to go on car

[sarapalms]

Hi Alan
Many thanks.. Makes sense to me.

Steve Edwards

[willcarter]

Just tagging this thread for my own possible future reference; very informative!

[Robert E. Jackman]

I've been running radial tubes from Coker with my B f Goodrich bias ply tires for 32 years without a single problem.
Bob Jackman
member # 4942

[orthodoc]

I am in the process of getting new tires for my 63 with original KH wires.

I have tried clicking the link for the 3M tape used as a liner here but the link has expired and I don’t see it listed anywhere other than “liner tape.” Does anyone have an updated link or 3M number for the product? Not having any luck searching.

Thanks!

[Pcabot3]

I just had my tires/tubes mounted on my '63 wire wheels and used 3M tape purchased on Amazon. The shop used 1 & 1/2 rolls of the 1 1/2 inch wide tape.

[orthodoc]

Awesome! Thank you. I think I’m going to go with the Coker American Classics unless others don’t think the difference in appearance as compared to the Hankooks is worth it.

[Pcabot3]

I went with Coker Tire American Classic Radial 1 inch WW. Couldn't find WW Hankooks.