Has anyone tried the Mooneys white wall toppers, I am considering some for my 56" Poncho wagon...would appreciate some feedback on how these have worked for you..right now I cant afford whitewalls but will consider in the future..right now will try them but before will need some info on them...Thanks guys!!
we put some on an early El Camino, we used valcanizing fluid and roughed up the back side and the tire. we let them sit out in the Arizona sun 120 ish until they sat flat. they held and most people did not know they were fake WW. They got dirty and stained faster than real WWs. I would try and find something to give them a thick protective coating.
Easy to spot and look "poserish" to me. Kinda like hemi valve covers on a small block chevy. Wait till you can get the real deal.
I installed dozens of them in the 50/60s. If you want to look best and lay flat simply break the front bead and using no lubricant place the porta-wall over the rim evenly then reinflate the tire using a rubber mallet(cloth wrapped so as not to put black marks all over the porta wall) pound on the piece close to the rim as soon as the bead pops in place. Continue to pound the piece as you fill the tire with air. Important to use no lubricant and keep pounding, then stay away from curbs etc...............This was bias-ply tires radials weren't around in the U.S. yet.
They gotta work better than rubberized whitewall tire paint. I painted the radials on my 55 Pontiac wagon...laid on about 4 coats over a peiod of 3 days...left Omaha for Minneapolis and hit the first rest stop about 20 miles out....EGAD! The radials had worked back and forth, heating the paint which melted and deposited itself in the wheelwells and down the sides of the car. I hear the porta-wall-type covers will work back and forth on radials until they come apart. I'd go with a set of diamondbacks next time.
My mother had porta walls on one of her off topic cars a few years ago(beetle) they actually looked pretty legit, however, they chewed into the sidewall of the radial tire. Not sure if they just arent designed for radials or what. But i would never use them.....
Had Porta-walls on a Classic Morris Mini, They looked good when I had the narrow Bias plys on it, but would not sit right on Radials.
They don't work well on Radial tires because radials have their strength in the tread, meaning the sidewalls flex a bit. Bias plies have their strength in the sidewalls, meaning the tread is the flexy part.
I ran them years ago and remember driving down the road and suddenly seeing a big chunk of whitewall fly up in the air. If you even lightly touched a curb it would cut them and that was the end of that portawall. Wrinkes were also a problem. Don
As already mentioned, I wouldn't necessarily recommend them. However, I did run them on a 51 Ford I had a few years ago and thought they looked decent on an old beater pickup...But, they are no comparison to the real thing and have all the problems mentioned already. I didn't run them long enough to see any of the problems personally. Here are a couple pics.
^^^^^^ Those appear to be on radials and look good ^^^^^. I ran 'em for years and with care had no problems on bias plies. Some put them on the inside on fenderless cars to have two-sided whitwall tires.
Never heard them called toppers but I have seen some that were floppers. I used to find them on the side of the road alot when they were still popular, they used to fly off. When I collected a full set I would sell or give them to someone else.
Yea, the ones on the Ford were on radials and it took me several tries to get them to lay flat. Once I got them on initially laying flat, they seemed to stay that way for at least the time I had them on. I didn't have them long enough to see if they wore into the sidewalls.
These are the Atlas branded ones. Make sure you keep the back of them greased with rubber grease or vasoline otherwise they will perish and tear off and also chafe the side walls of the tyres. Just replaced the front 2 and the last ones were on there for nearly 10 years.
Used a lot of them back in the early 60's and liked them...but yes all the problems listed above "could" be a problem....I rarely had any problems with them....and think they are cool today on period correct cars that used them.... JMHO.. Cheers.........
I have been running them on the '56 for over 5 years, no issues at all. The brand on my car are "Wegu", came from Germany of all places! I'll buy actual wide whites when I can afford them, but for now I'm saving up for paint/interior updates.
Bear-Foot (?), the maker of the "genuine" Port-A-Wall, sold Toppers. They made big whitewalls into the trendy new "inchwalls" with a ribbed black rubber ring installed just like the big one.
Get on YouTube, they got some good demos on mounting. I read that wheel width and tire size can make a hugh difference on the out come.
Until i saw them "in action",..they seemed like a cool item....Nice, until the car is driven....... Gimme the real deals..... 4TTRUK
Your time's worth $$$. Sounds like a lot of wasted time for a mediocre look - and the look is the whole point, no? Maybe look for some used WWWs...? A lot of guys are going back to blackwalls these days and may be selling.
I put my last set on my '41 SD in 1966. I put them on a set of 6:00 x 16 Sears 2 ply tires. They are still there (see photo) I'm not sure what I did to get them to lay flat but I remember it wasn't easy. I think I had to push the inner lip down into the rim so the Porta was sucked tight to the tire. Anyway the worked and they have lasted 46 years on the car. (46 YEARS?!? Holy Crap, Am I that old)