Tires

[DarthRaiderBob]

I have a 51 cranbrook and my wife just ran across a set of 7.10 15 tires with wide white walls which I'm looking for. Would these be okay on my car? It does have 15" wheels. And currently has 215/75r15 tires on it. The speedometer is all wonky so not worried much about that.

[Booger]

They might be fine for cruising and look good. youll feel the difference between a bias tire and a radial the way it handles

[DarthRaiderBob]

2 minutes ago, Booger said:

They might be fine for cruising and look good. youll feel the difference between a bias tire and a radial the way it handles

Thanks, we don't do alot of highway driving, mostly just cruising to shows and such. Think I might just grab them up. I love the look of wide whites and for 150.00 I don't think I can pass them up.

[Sniper]

They may affect the speedometer reading

 

215's are 27.7" tall

710's are 29.08" tall

 

So you speedometer will read slower with the swap

[DarthRaiderBob]

5 minutes ago, Sniper said:

They may affect the speedometer reading

 

215's are 27.7" tall

710's are 29.08" tall

 

So you speedometer will read slower with the swap

That would be even better because right now it's reading faster. Win-win I say. When the speedo says 95 and people are passing like your standing still lol

[Los_Control]

For the price you can not complain. ..... I wonder how old they are & how far you want to drive on them .

 

If you search for "porta walls ..... Wide white substitute you can add to your existing tire.

 

They look ok, not the best ....but they were available back in the 50's for those who could not afford wide whites.

So a set of porta-walls would look period correct on your radials ..... depends what you want.

[Sniper]

I was looking at the cost of new 710-15's, they rival the Michelin Pilot Sports I put on my BMW ?

Edited May 16, 2023 by Sniper

[DarthRaiderBob]

Just now, Los_Control said:

For the price you can not complain. ..... I wonder how old they are & how far you want to drive on them .

 

If you search for "porta walls ..... Wide white substitute you can add to your existing tire.

 

They look ok, not the best ....but they were available back in the 50's for those who could not afford wide whites.

So a set of porta-walls would look period correct on your radials ..... depends what you want.

My father-in-law actually has those on his Harley, I thought about it. I'm going to message the person who has them and ask some questions. Our longest trip last summer was a little over an hour to the rockabilly ruckus in Ohio. Doubt We'd go much further than that with it.

[DarthRaiderBob]

1 minute ago, Sniper said:

I was looking at the cost of new 710-15's, they rival the Michelin Pilot Sports I put on my BMW ?

Yeah, I've priced new as well. Not in my budget.

[Los_Control]

3 minutes ago, DarthRaiderBob said:

Our longest trip last summer was a little over an hour to the rockabilly ruckus in Ohio. Doubt We'd go much further than that with it.

I guess thats really not what I mean.

 

There is a date code or birth date on every tire .... required by DOT for decades.

Rubber gets old and starts to disintegrate .... de-laminate ... Call it what you want ..... 10 year old tires are not safe on the highway.

 

I will not argue, their are many running tires 10 years old. They use them for show ... they trailer their cars to shows.

 

For a driver I would not consider the used tires.

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

2 minutes ago, Los_Control said:

I guess thats really not what I mean.

 

There is a date code or birth date on every tire .... required by DOT for decades.

Rubber gets old and starts to disintegrate .... de-laminate ... Call it what you want ..... 10 year old tires are not safe on the highway.

 

I will not argue, their are many running tires 10 years old. They use them for show ... they trailer their cars to shows.

 

For a driver I would not consider the used tires.

 

I agree entirely,  I would never buy tires that were more than a few years old to actually drive on, but 3 or less years old, I'll grab them up. I'd definitely check the date code, and even if you don't, the shop you use definitely should. 

[Bryan G]

I don't let dates worry me on bias plies. They age in a totally different way vs radials, and I wouldn't trust one of those past about 8 years these days. I went through a couple sets of used 10-15 year old 6.00-16's on another car I had with no issues. My current car runs some 8.20x15's that, judging by the date code, are over 50! They lose less air in a year than the tires on my late model truck lose in a month. Anyway, if those tires come close to the original size for your car, grab 'em.

[D35 Torpedo]

Date codes are a way to sell more tires. 

[Dan Hiebert]

So, to answer your question, 7.10x15s are OK for your car.  I don't know off hand what the original tire size was on '51s, but there is a good chance that is the original size tire for your car anyway, or really close to it.  7.00x15 was the original size on our '48 D24.  You will have different handling and ride than you do with the radials, but it's hard to beat the WWW bias look.  I was awfully fond of the bias plies on our D24, but they were not a good match with the general condition of roads in this area.

[Local2ED]

18 hours ago, D35 Torpedo said:

Date codes are a way to sell more tires. 

 

Wrong.

Couple years back went to a car show about 70 miles away.

Drove on the highway there just fine as usual.

Coming home on the highway started to feel a slight vibration that got worse the closer I got to home.

At that point I got off the highway and was taking local roads, no more than 30mph, to get home.

Right rear tire blew out .

The treads looked like they had a lot of miles left on them but the belts shifted, the vibration I felt, and the tire probably overheated and blew.

When I checked the date codes the tires were 7 or 8 years old, which I had bought new and didn't realize I had them on that long.

Bought five new tires after that.

 

[Bryan G]

41 minutes ago, Local2ED said:

 

Wrong.

Couple years back went to a car show about 70 miles away.

Drove on the highway there just fine as usual.

Coming home on the highway started to feel a slight vibration that got worse the closer I got to home.

At that point I got off the highway and was taking local roads, no more than 30mph, to get home.

Right rear tire blew out .

The treads looked like they had a lot of miles left on them but the belts shifted, the vibration I felt, and the tire probably overheated and blew.

When I checked the date codes the tires were 7 or 8 years old, which I had bought new and didn't realize I had them on that long.

Bought five new tires after that.

 

Curious: were those bias or radials?

[Local2ED]

8 hours ago, Bryan G said:

Curious: were those bias or radials?

 

They were a modern well known brand of radials that I have used on many of the old cars I have owned and never experienced a problem with them with over tens of thousands of miles driven on them spread out over several vehicles.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I have never had a radial tire fail that did not warn you well in advance that they were compromised and about to go.....

[Sniper]

34 minutes ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

I have never had a radial tire fail that did not warn you well in advance that they were compromised and about to go.....

 

I had a Pirelli P Zero let go on the highway.  Put me in the ditch, no warning.  No Pirellis after that,

[Tom Skinner]

My first 1948 Chrysler had the original bias tires on it, I bought it in 1973.

I then proceeded to drive it 11 more years. No problems, they were Kelly Tires. They were 36 years old when I sold the car.

My newest 1948 Chrysler I bought in 2007, I bought new bias tires from Coker - Bridgstone Wide Whites.

Still driving on them, no problems. I don't listen to everyone jumping on board to replace their tires every

seven or eight years. My pick up truck has 302,000 miles on it I am going on my 5th set soon. I average 60,000 miles per set (Cooper Brand)

Matters not, I drove Highway, back road, gravel road, dirt road, just inflate them properly (I keep mine just below MAX within a few of LBS).

I either lead a charmed life like Sgt. Saunders in The TV Show Combat from the 1960's or all this replace your tires all the time is BS.

Tom

[Plymouthy Adams]

like all things, inspections, maintenance and common sense go a long way....in the absence of this, the lobbyist will tell you what you need...?  I just replaced a set that was many and I do mean many years  old, no crack, no weather checking but at last they start to separate internally...did I know they were on the way out , heck yeah, anyone but a Shriner in a clown car would have known....!  Even at that, there was no external check, cracks or splits anywhere.  

[Bryan G]

As I said before:

RADIAL tires: I will not trust a modern one more than 8 years, from repeated, personal experience with multiple brands. Older ones? Sure. I've seen 70s-90s radials last and last. Not the new ones. 

 

BIAS tires: run 'em. 

[Ernie Baily]

Hello, I have a 48 Plymouth Special Deluxe 2dr Sedan, When I bought the car just a little over 40 yrs ago, when I was cleaning out the car I found a bunch of factory delivery tickets under the back seat and one of them matched my car. It had alot of info regarding my car including the tire size(6:70x15) and the tire manufacturer (Goodyear). I had joined the Plymouth Owners Club and found out the Jim Benjamin sold Goodyear Collector tires' So I bought a set of tubeless 6:70x15 Goodyear Super Cushion wide whitewalls(3 1/2" wide, the correct width for that car). I'm now on my third set. My car is very original and they ride great, but they do track the ribs in the highway a bit. They work great and give me the ride and appearance of the original car. The tire selection is all your own. Just do what you feel is right for your car.  Enjoy the Drive!

[Local2ED]

Couple years back picked up a 1967 Chrysler Newport from an estate sale.

Hadn't run in don't know how long, but had been garaged.

Got it running right away and drove it around town on the bias-ply tires that had very good thread on them but had no idea of how old.

The more I drove on those tires the more tread pieces I would hear and see flying off the tires but the tires never went flat.

I put rims and radials from another car I wasn't driving at the time just to play around with the Chrysler Newport.

I didn't plan on keeping it so when I sold it I switched back to the bias-ply, several missing the tread, and told the buyer once again they were going to need tires.