Projects Does Coker Tire own Universal Tire?

I stumbled onto message threads a few days ago about Coker tires having a premature failure rate. When all this went down some years ago, I hadn't a clue of it. Blowouts can jeopardize your life & that of your family, so I took much of it seriously--very seriously.

Someone on another message board implied that Coker owns Universal from Hershey, PA & they do indeed sell a lot of Coker products. Can anyone confirm this? He's almost got a virtual monopoly on the collector car tire market except for Diamond Back & to a lesser degree, Lucas Automotive (their inventory is somewhat limited)

I think this is a case of the damage already done & aside from that I don't really want Coker's name on my tires. There are also reports of incompetent customer service people on the phones, refusing to work with the customers when they have a problem. Not that I'm a purist but I do have principles. I'd rather have Firestone, Goodyear or even an off brand, even if it means going back to bias ply tires when my Wallyworld blackwalls wear out.

Input, please?

 

If you don't want his tires on your car don't buy them go somewhere else it's your choice.

 

For a bloke with high principals and a serious attitude towards safety, why are you running Wallyworlds. Methinks that you just want a bit of notoriety on the HAMB by starting a shit fight re Coker. Do a search cause there are numerous threads re Coker.
IMO, they are great, use them on both my cars
Rod

 

I don't get the attitude combined with lack of knowledge here. Lots of rants about "Coker Tire". Coker is THE, as in "THE ONE AND ONLY" manufacturer of the correct tires for antique cars. I believe most are the original molds. Their bias plys are, and have been used on antique cars for decades. If you buy them from someone else, they were still made by Coker, unless you bought NOS, and then I'd be worried about the age of the old rubber.
Now...about 20 years or so ago, they started making radial wide whites. In my eyes, they were a Godsend. Finally able to drive my old car fast, safe, and long distance without stress. While i loved the look of my 7.10 Firestones on my 55 Olds, they were a bitch to drive. Following road ruts, wandering, unstable sometimes in turns. When I built my 54 Chevy with a modern front end, I immediately bought the new WWW radials. They worked great, made the car a dream to drive.
Yeah, they had problems with the whites turning brown in the beginning, and later some quality issues, but they were still a dream come true, not just for me, but other guys who I know that also really DRIVE their cars.
Coker also sells BF Goodrich radial whites, they dont make them, so if they sell them, are they "bad" too?????
I believe they did a great service to us, and ought to be supported. Yes, I know there have been horror stories about tires being out of round, or belts shearing, but that's been true of ALL tires for history. Coker has usually been pretty good about quality and warranty issues with their tires in my experience though I know some others have had issues.
Been buying from them since I saw them for the first time in Carlisle in 79 or so.

 

Why would you want to run the product of someone who takes absolute pride in his product, has a passion for the cars they are made to be used on, takes an active roll in our society and proudly puts his family name on them?

I believe I would trust and run the product of a man who's entire family's future hinges on the quality of that product rather than that of a faceless corporation that is run by people with no such concerns.

As yet, I have not enough of a car that I can utilise these tyres on but rest assured, when (And if!) I ever do collect enough parts to put together this 28 A RPU with a 401 Nailhead in it I WILL be using Coker's on it!

Doc.

 

I have used and sold Coker tires for years. They are top quality as far as I'm concerned and I sell tires for a living.

People talk about "failures" with their bias whitewalls but fail to acknowledge that years ago when this tire technology was new, those tires blew out all the time. Talk to an old timer and he'll tell you that the old bias tires never lasted longer than 25,000 miles and they had blowouts when the weather was hot. Much of the time when they had blowouts the tires gave a warning with a shake, buldge or some other noticeable change in the car's driving.

The Coker tires I've used seemed to use a more modern rubber compound because they run decent miles. Also, they seem to balance very nicely. Comparing them to the Chinese built radial crap that the discount vendors sell (Walmart, Discount Tire, Tire Rack), I'd say 50 year old technology built by Coker balances as good or better and seem to be more round.

If you want the bias look, the price is old school technology.

Although I'm not crazy about the prices (but I will pay them), I completely agree with Chopolds in that Coker does all of us a great service and we should support them. I want the privilege to buy new white whites with a square bias shoulder.

 

I have used Coker Tires for the last 18 years,both bias ply & radials.

I personally haven't experienced any problems at all.

I have had problems with the whitewall diamondbacks,,the vulcanized whitewall split,,the tire didn't fail but looks like crap. HRP

 

pros and cons with every brand, do a search and you will find plenty of people pissed at coker, but real world, what is the ratio of pissed people compared to happy customer numbers, the guy sells a shit ton of tires.

 

And that pretty much covers it.