American Classic bias-look radial tire

[jdwilker]

Has anyone tried this tire on their '57? It seems you hear both good and bad about any tire supplied by Coker, but I'd be interested in hearing about your experience with this particular tire on your '57.

[jdwilker]

Well, it seems no one has tried these tires, so at the risk of revisiting an old subject, do you run radial tires on your '57 and what brand do you prefer?

[RICH MUISE]

Redundancy is ok here.....only so many things you can talk about when it's limited to one make and one year! Interestingly enough, even though we've talked tire sizes many times, I don't recall any threads on tire brands for the radials most of us run.
Mine are Hankooks, but far from a stock looking tire which it sounds like what your looking for. I went with them because they had the range of front and rear tire sizes I was looking for. I've got some handling issues at higher speeds which probably don't have anything to do with the tires, but at this point, the tires have not been eliminated as the faulty component, so the jury is still out on them.
My reasoning... Years ago I bought a new '93 Ford Ranger...came with Firestones, and the truck handled great. A few years down the road when it was time for some new rubber, I "upgraded" to Michelins. They were ok on dry roads, but totally destroyed the handling of that truck on wet roads.

[lalessi1]

Don't laugh but I am running OHTSU tires. They were the cheapest I could find at $65 each. 225/60-15 radials. I figure I will burn them off the car or get a different size after "testing them". I have Hancook on my other car and I am happy with them, very cost effective.

[hiball3985]

Redundancy is ok here.....only so many things you can talk about when it's limited to one make and one year! Interestingly enough, even though we've talked tire sizes many times, I don't recall any threads on tire brands for the radials most of us run.
Mine are Hankooks, but far from a stock looking tire which it sounds like what your looking for. I went with them because they had the range of front and rear tire sizes I was looking for. I've got some handling issues at higher speeds which probably don't have anything to do with the tires, but at this point, the tires have not been eliminated as the faulty component, so the jury is still out on them.
My reasoning... Years ago I bought a new '93 Ford Ranger...came with Firestones, and the truck handled great. A few years down the road when it was time for some new rubber, I "upgraded" to Michelins. They were ok on dry roads, but totally destroyed the handling of that truck on wet roads.

Rich, what was the tires that failed? I've been thinking about switching to Hankooks, I haven't seen an negative reviews on them yet.

[djfordmanjack]

I am also interested in the new bias ply look Coker Radials, but so far none of my close friends has used them, so I am lacking a good opinion also. I have Coker American Classic Wide Whitewall Radials on my 57 Ranch wagon. 195/75-15 and 225/75-15
The car handled like a dream before ongoing restoration started.

[RICH MUISE]

Jim...they were Hankooks, but definetly not a tire fault there...badly out of alignment. I think any tire will blow once you wear the inside edge down past the steel belt, lol.

[hiball3985]

Don't laugh but I am running OHTSU tires. They were the cheapest I could find at $65 each. 225/60-15 radials. I figure I will burn them off the car or get a different size after "testing them". I have Hancook on my other car and I am happy with them, very cost effective.

I won't laugh because I have Kumho's on mine for the same reason but plan on switching now that everything is sorted out and running fine. I'm stuck with 14" wheels so there aren't many choices.

[hiball3985]

Jim...they were Hankooks, but definetly not a tire fault there...badly out of alignment. I think any tire will blow once you wear the inside edge down past the steel belt, lol.

Thanks Rich, now I recall it was your alignment issue.

[Jeff Norwell]

I have a few friends that run them on non-57 cars.No complaints so far.All my tires are from Coker and I never have had any problems.Many get some of their Bia-plys and there are tread defects and simply out of round.Coker is pretty good on returns as long as you do it ASAP.
Saying that.... hopefully I would like to run the Excelsior tire that looks better(IMHO) than the Coker American Classic(again just my opinion)To run the Excelsior.. you need a 16 inch rim...and I am settled on a 49-51 Shoebox rim that was used in 6 cly. models with overdrive.(Wagons too,I believe).They were a 16 inch rim....but they are pricey... about $50-80 a rim if you can find them.The excelsior are not cheap either.... but, I believe in riding on good rubber.
But back to the original question.... I think they are a good tire and have a period look.
I am sure this is not helping you out...hahaha

[BP57CUSTOM]

I am running Goodyear Viva 2 radials on my 57 , they are 215/75x15 on 1953 Ford rims. They look and handle well. I am happy with them.

[Lucky'57]

I bought a set of Coker Classic radials (215/75R x14) for mine, I upgraded to the beefier 1980 Granada steel wheels as there was some concern that the stock wheels might not be up to the challenge of the radial side forces and could create leaks. Only had one blowout on the rear wheel so far (passenger side) with less than a couple hundred miles on it, not much clearance between the inner fender lip, the fender skirt and the sidewall on this side (+/- 1/2"). The sidewall came in contact with either the lip or the skirt while I was on cloverleaf (I may have been going a little faster than the speed limit) and, being a very thin sidewall, blew it out. Amazing how thin the sidewalls are, like about 1/8" thickness. In hindsight, at close to $250 a pop, I would have opted to keep my original wheels and just put some tubes in on install. Still my plan once summer is done here. I took the skirts off as well then checked and changed out the axel bearings, noticed that the bearing the previous owner had installed on that side was about 3/8" narrower than the stock replacement. That would probably have allowed the wheel to move that much closer to the lip. Go figure. Note to self, slow down on the cloverleafs...

PS - I had a lot of help from the fellas here regarding size selection and the Granada wheel issues. See this thread on tire sizing... http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=5503.msg42956#msg42956 and this one on the stock versus Granada discussion... http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=1856.msg44153#msg44153

By the way, those tires sure ride nice. Like a rocket sled on a rail.

Oh, one more thing, many of the fellas here have cut part of the lip to fit the wider tires. Something to consider if you have that option.

[wildhog]

Jeff I have the four 16 inch rims off my Aussie Mainline, that I have been holding for you, also one 14 inch solid wheel for Jay.
You boys better hope the price of scrap metal doesn't go up!!!

[wildhog]

I have had 2 sets of Coker ww radials on my 57 Sunliner one set had air bubbles in 3 of the tires just in the wide white walls. I probably had about 2,000 miles on them and they replaced them. All I was out was the mounting and balancing. I really like the looks and ride.

[Jeff Norwell]

Jeff I have the four 16 inch rims off my Aussie Mainline, that I have been holding for you, also one 14 inch solid wheel for Jay.
You boys better hope the price of scrap metal doesn't go up!!!

Ha ha ha ...I know I know.... work has been incredibly busy at the moment..the last 2 weeks..... I will try and give a call Tom!....I got a lot of loose ends to tie down...I was speaking with Jay..I know he wants that solid as I want those Aussie units..Tom..I will try to call you very soon