Which radial to choose? [Archive]

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randy

01-23-2004, 05:26 PM

I'm in a bit of a quandry over which radial white will grind out to make a decent sized (2+ inches) white wall.

There's a place in town that can grind a white out on a machine for like 6 bucks a tire, but the guy told me that not all radials will have white beneath the surface all the way to the rim & the treads. I'm planning to get new skinny white wall, radial tires & have them ground a.s.a.p, but I don't want to get a set only to discover the white doesn't "go" all the way "out". He told me that I could take a razor blade and shave some of the black off to see what's beneath, but that's not an option if I buy them new.

So...who's done this with success? Given the recent tech articles, this topic seems to be hot.

Is there a particular brand of tire that is preferred? What brand could I buy new & not regret it after the grind-out?

Thanks,
randy

randy

01-24-2004, 12:22 AM

Anyone?

-r

Munson

01-24-2004, 12:33 AM

I also will be shaving radials for my 59 p/u. This will be great info for me as well.

Thank you
jm

Mike

01-25-2004, 11:05 AM

There is a guy here in Phoenix that does that. His name is Doyle Killabrew and his business is called Mobile Tire Customizing. He was at Viva Las Vegas a couple of years ago. He has done two sets of tires for me. I don't have his number with me today, but I can post it tomorrow.

All narrow white wall and raised letter tires have a layer of white rubber underneath a layer of black rubber. This layer of white rubber is larger than what what the narrow white wall or the raised white letters show, but the layer of white is just poured into the mold, so it will not have a clean edge and it usually does not extend all the way down to the inner bead if the tire. Because of this, if you go to far grinding off the black you end up srewing up the tires. That's why when you have white walls cut, you usually come away with a nice wide white wall and a small ring of black between the white wall and the wheel lip.

However, there is a way around this. Doyle can lay down pigmented ruber in different colors, white, black, red, yellow, blue (he can make you a nice set of red lines if you want). I can attest that this method look really good, but the texture of the white wall will not be smooth. So on close inspection, you can tell that it was laid down.

On my '63 Impala, I wanted 2.5" whitewalls that extended down to the bead, so he used that method. He also used that method to put 4" white walls on the black wall tires (no hidden white layer) on my '52 F1 pick up. I ran those tires on the Impala for over three years until I decided to change the look of the car. I have been running the ones on the truck for nearly three years. I have been very happy with both sets.

Incidently, one of the tires on my Impala was mismatched from the others (Goodyear I think)and the white on it did extend all the way to the bead (Doyle says that this is very unusual). Unfortunately, the only way to tell if a tire is like this is to grind it down and see. If you do this and discover that the white doesn't extend down, well, then your screwed.

Also, check out one of the early issues of CK Deluxe (#2 I think). There is an article in there with good pictures and all showing how Doyle cut the white walls on Scooter's '55 F100 pick up.

Munson

01-25-2004, 05:27 PM

Thanks Mike,
I'll be looking for the ph# to be posted.

Do you know what the shaving and inlaying costs?

Since I have a truck maybe to get big enough tires for my 8" rims I will need to have him inlay the WW?

Is this done on the rim? on the car? or an unmounted tire?

j

jeff

01-25-2004, 05:58 PM

i think that white letter tires have more white in the walls. i say that because i have noticed white lettered tires on cars where people rub against curbs and the black wears off. seems like a lot of white? kind of just a guess though.. the only bitch about shaved tires is they dont stay clean for shit. you can clean them up nice, but they get dirty fast. -jeff

wingnutz

01-25-2004, 06:09 PM

Here's my favorite radial...! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/engines/eng34a.htm

"OOOOPs" you mean radial tire...! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Chili Phil

01-25-2004, 09:12 PM

Man, you're telling it like it is there, Jeff. I had some shaved tires a few years ago and they were a bitch to keep up. I went to bias ply but I drive in the carpool lane at 75 85 a lot and they were too thrilling for me. I bought radial wide whites and although they were stupid expensive, they make the car. On the 225x15 the whitewall is 2/58".

Munson

01-28-2004, 06:38 AM

fyi,
Doyle @ Mobile Tire Customizing (623)930-6553 Glendale, AZ

kustumizer

01-28-2004, 07:46 AM

every tire i grinded i havent had a problem with, most of them didnt go all the way down to the rim though. White lettered tires will give you more of a whitewall. Hope this helps. nate

kustumizer

01-28-2004, 07:48 AM

also, if you go higher in the tire size the whitewall gets bigger, ive done 13 inch tires and after i ground them out i only had about a 1 1/2 inch whitewall, ive done a 15 inch tire and got a nice 2 1/2 whitewall. nate

Mike

01-28-2004, 08:54 AM

Munson, thanks for posting Doyle's number. I only have internet access here at work and I spaced on bringing his number in.

Also, as for cost, Doyle charges by the width of the white wall on a per inch rate ( I forget exactly what that rate is). Both sets of tires that he did for me ended up costing about $100 per set.

hatch

01-28-2004, 09:00 AM

I used to cut whitewalls for a living with a portable machine like Doyles. There is no way to determine the width of the hidden whitewall area before you cut it.....A combination of cutting and adding white liquid butyl is how it's done.

I have never seen white that came close to the wheel...always a black ugly gap.

tld92019

03-02-2006, 07:08 PM

Where can I find a shop in LA or Ventura counties that shave skinny whites?

SnoDawg

03-03-2006, 06:02 AM