Tubeless?

[Bob Riding]

I recently gave a friend of mine my old www bias ply tires from my D14 Business Coupe ( I had purchased Coker's Classic 16' www radials - pricy, but what a difference!). He is ready to mount them on his '46 Chevy pickup, and wanted to know if I had used tubes. I couldn't remember, but I know that Coker suggests that you do use tubes, at least with their Classic Series. Any opinions, experiences?

Thanks

Bob

[grey beard]

I have tubeless radials on my '48 Dodge pickup with stock 4.5-inch rims and they work just fine. Many others like myself run this combo with no trouble or grief. My suggestion is to give those 60-year-pld rims the benefit of the doubt and media blast them and refinish so as to get the nicest sealing surface possible for the new rubber. JMHO

P.S. Found a slightly bent rim - after they were blasted and powder coated. Murphy's Law, ya knoooo . . . . . .

[Norm's Coupe]

I would use tubes with the old original rims (even if cleaned up) to be safe. If he has new rims like the Vintique etc. rims the tubeless shouldn't be a problem.

I have three Vintique wheels (both fronts & spare) that are tubeless. On the rears I still have the original wheels so those have tubes in them. No problems with any of them in several years that way.

[Normspeed]

I run 6.00X16 Coker Firestone bias plies on my teardrop. They're on old rims that apparently came off something called a Deutz tractor. I went with Coker's tubes and new rim strips. No problems over many miles.

[Dennis Hemingway]

I am using tubeless radials on my 48 P15 with the stock rime with no problems.

Dennis

[Bob Riding]

Thanks, I will forward on the group consensus.

Bob

[james curl]

I have used P 205 75 15 radials on my stock rims on my 48 P 15 with any problems.

[Young Ed]

I've got tubeless tires on both my truck and car and no tubes. They hold air just fine.

[Plymouthy Adams]

the 16 bias ply 4 inch WWW that are Firestone brand DID come with new tubes...

[Captain Neon]

I may be wrong, but most bias ply tyres won't work without tubes. Radials are designed to go tubeless, but I think old fashioned bias plies need a tube. I had tubes in my bias plies, but went tubeless when I got radials over 7 years ago. The radials work great without tubes, but I had tubes in my bias ply tyres.

[Niel Hoback]

Tubeless tires became standard on new cars about 1957, I think. They were all bias plys then.

[Niel Hoback]

The "R" in the tire size, 205R75 means radial. If it doesn't have an R, its bias. I think.

[grey beard]

There are only two varieties of tire casing - radial and biasply - which refers to the direction of the ply wrap on the tire casing. It's sorta' "either or." If it doesn't say "radial" on the sidewall or have a "P" in the tire size as mentioned above, the tire is a bials ply - "rag casing", in tire dealer parlance.

[BobT-47P15]

The number designations are older......I think those letter series came out

in maybe the 1970s. There were bias ply tires, followed by "belted" tires

with the fibreglass belts, followed by radials with steel belts.

Not sure what your biz coupe takes, Shel. Maybe the 7-10, or is there

a 7-50 or 7-60? Have you checked the choices of size in a Coker or

similar catalog?

[BloodyKnuckles]

Coker Classic bias plies on stock '51 Plymouth wheels, no tubes and over 15,000 miles. The only thing I had to do was install oval brass valve stems.

I'm not sure what year they started to incorporate the "safety" bead into the wheel construction but the '51 and my wife's '54 DeSoto has them.

I love my tires.

BloodyKnuckles