Build your own radial wide whitewalls..???

[BobT-47P15]

Has anyone heard this before?? Lifted this comment from the ForwardLook forum.

"I talked to a Diamondback rep at Hershey a couple of years ago. He told me

that they would apply their wide white walls to any new tire you chose, in

any www width you chose. Including Michelins. They would pick up the tries

wholesale, apply the www, and sell them to you at the ordinary retail price.

You can have any quality tire you want."

And a further comment about tire quality:

"Here's the deal: all tires are not created equal, whether they are bias or

radials!

On my daily driver (a retired CV police car), I replaced the tires that came

on it (cheap replacement tires), when they wore out, with a set of quality

Michelins of the exact same size and same inflation pressure. The difference

in handling was so great that I almost lost control due to oversteer on the

first few sharp corners I went around. The new tires had very stiff

sidewalls compared to the old mushy sidewalls of the tires I replaced. The

old tires were so soft that they would twist on the rim in a corner,

requiring more turn of the steering wheel compared to the new Michelins. Now

the car handles much better and rides smoother. The initial "oversteer" was

me, not the car, because I had to re-learn its handling characteristics all

over again. The bottom line is that much of the difference of personal bias

(pun intended) on this radial vs. bias tire issue is due to the quality of

tires chosen. Most of the WWW radials out there that we use on our old cars

are built for their looks and ability to hold air, not for their handling

qualities or tire life. If you want good handling, buy GOOD tires."

[Normspeed]

Bob, regarding handling I couldn't agree more. I once put a set of new Yokohama LT radials on my 86 Bronco. Handling on that vehicle was never great, but with the Yokos it got worse. They were also impossible to keep balanced. I would take it in every 5,000 for balance and rotation and every time all 4 tires would be way off balance, leading to all kinds of jitters and shimmys. I finally dumped the Yokos before they wore out and got all new Michelin LTs. I saw the same dramatic improvement in steering response you mentioned, and I've yet to get a vibration off these tires after over 20,000 miles with regular rotations. I had similar results on a Volvo, switching from Pirellis to Michelins. When the bias plies wear out on my P24, it will be Michelins for me, whatever the cost.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Amen on the all tires not equal. I have only been disappointed one time in the line of tires I buy as replacements..I got the LT series tires for my Ramcharger..they are mushy mushy mushy..I do not have a firm ride like my previous tires had..it makes this truck almost unsafe to tow my car trailer...I do not have many miles on these and thus feel that when it comes time they will go on another of my vehicles with less gross weight and just buy new tires for the Ramcharger. I know that there is no way I will buy a Goodyear..nor a Firestone...now when it come to some of the high spped tires..I had Avons on my turbo car..very soft compund but handling was superb..I found overall performance, long wear, daily driving and cost..that B F Goodrich TA/s were the better tire.

[Johnny 5]

BF Goodrich is making modern wide whitewalls now. I just saw a really nice 1940 Ford coupe with a set in Street Rodder.

[bob westphal]

The most recent issue of Cars & Parts (if I remember right)has an article that goes over making white walls out of lettered tires. Its really quite simple. Any lettered tire has a large white rubber strip under the black sidewall. All that is done is to sand off the black rubber on the sidewall in the area you wish to expose. Check it out.

Bob