Hello everyone! I am brand new to this forum, I hope I am posting in the right place. Just picked up a 51 Chevy 3100 and want to put some heavy white wall tires on her. I have been reading for days on this, so much that my eyes are crossed now and I have joined this forum just to ask these questions. I am currently running 215/65 R16 in the rear and 205/70 R15 in the front, no problems. I am looking to do a radial preferably minimum 4” white wall. It does not seem that there are many white walls for 16” rims so I am ok with purchasing all new 15” smoothie rims. I have read many forums, been to Coker, been to diamond back, saw Cali tires, saw the now apparently closed hurst racing tires with ww, talked to local shops (im in Chicago) and have done everything in between. I know there are blias plys but read many negative things about the ride. I am however just putt’n around in this truck, no highway driving at this point as it is still original motor and 4 spd. Do they not make a radial 4” white wall for these size tires? I am also looking for the largest safe tire size I can do on the truck, it does have a 2-3 drop. The bigger the tire I can get on front and back without rubbing or issue, the better. Not a huge deal on tire size, even if I don’t do staggered as I am obviously here for the look over performance. I am however wanting to do the same white wall width all around for aesthetics. Please also help with rim size recommended - width, offset, backspace, etc that you have done on this truck. I have done everything but get under and measure the wells. Yet still I don’t see a 4” radial ww tire out there that is available in really any size much less the size, or close to, that I would need. Please help gurus! If you send a pic of your truck with WWs please state the wall width for reference. Thank you in advance!
black walls look good.... wouldn't you want to match the whitewall on the front? it looks weird with a 2" ww on the front and 4" on the rear. guess another advantage to running them old shitty bi-ply'es.
Yes, leon is right, it looks great on blackwalls too. If you really want to go the whitewall route and keep it radial I´d go with 205/75 15s all around and not bigger. Maybe 225/75 -15 in the back if you want a rubber rake. I think 65 or 70 series tires look kind of goofy on these old trucks, they need high and skinny tires. The same with extra wide whites. They only look really good on luxury cars like 50s Eldorados and Roadmasters... they are just too massive for a little truck. I think you could find a 235/75-15 tire or a 820-15 or a L -78 15 with 4" ww, but as said before, they would be too massive. It it were my truck I´d buy 7.50-16 firestone pie crust blackwalls and call it done.
Given all you have done, and all the vendors/makers available, haven't you answered your own question? I don't think anyone makes a 4" www radial.
Hey Rusty, It seems all the old guys have gone to bed already so it is up to me to uphold old traditions that have been slipping lately, and I'm in the mood. On the leading page under HAMB it says new guy introductions. Your supposed to do that before posting. Also tradition, newbys get flamed!! This is a HOT ROD site, if you put whitewalls on that you're a poser. Take the $1000 you would spend on wheels and tires and make some horsepower. Get a V8 and a proper 4 speed or at least some speed equipment for the 6, cause split manifolds sound cool. When you've got some power to burn the tires off then you can ask us what kind of foo foo tires you need. OK? It's past my bedtime too. Red not Rusty.
I don't think any of the outfits that do wide white radials go that wide on any size of tire. One thing guys wanting gangsta width white walls don't seem to understand is that or the real customs from the 50's the custom car ran the white wall width that was the new hot lick on the new cars of the year the car was built for the most part. Your truck is a 51 so the width that was available in 51 on the cars works. If you were doing the build to appear as it might have been finished in say 1958 you would want the width of white wall that showed up on 58 model new cars. My 51 Merc had 2-1/2 or so wide white walls on the front when I bought it in 1962 and 4 or more wide white walls on the back and the rear whitewalls really looked dated at the time. Actually they were dated as they were old recaps that had probably been capped more than once.
but say ya wanted to do a 51' in 53' style. Which 4" wides came standard on 53 ford crestliners. or you could get some cragers and a 8 track. man i do wish i had that old 8 track i had in my old dodge swinger, to be honest.
Call Diamond back. They'll put whitewalls on any tire. So you can help design whatever you want through them.
Yep and they can supply tires not listed in their catalog. All wall treatment is done in house, they do custom work as well as what you see online. It is more a matter of what you want to spend than what you think you can buy.
I'm assuming you did all your 'research' on line - if not, ignore the rest of my response. Back away from the computer and call Diamond Back or any of the other manufacturers and talk to a real, honest-to-goodness human being. I found the people at DB will bend over backwards to get you what you want.
I really doubt Diamond back does 4" whitewalls,the radial tires are just to low in profile,btw,there is nothing wrong with bias ply tires,I had Coker 4" Bias ply tires on the rear of my Deuce pickup with no problem. HRP
...here's my Chevy with Cokers, 205 front, 235's rear,..rear whitewall is 3", fronts are like 2 &1/2"...I like big n littles, think it looks ok with the difference in whitewall size...any wider ww mite look too much...
Thanks for the help guys. I didn’t realize how many negative responses I would get against doing this. I see these trucks all the time with white walls, didn’t know there were haters out there... @red, thanks for the initial burn. I’ve got a 67 nova that I roast tires on. THIS is just to mess around in and essentially pick up parts for the Nova in. I will eventually get to HP on the truck but for now just messin around. @Pat and pork. Called DB, the largest they do for my size is 3.5” they won’t do custom bigger. @Hotrod primer sweet truck man. you find the bias to be ok? Comfortable? @Rusty thanks for the pics man, that does look good.
Think about it a minute. In order to have 4" white walls the tire would have to have at least a 5" + side wall. That doesn't sound like the description of a radial suitable for a car or pick up. Your use of the word "hater" is not appreciated here. After posting on this no BS site expect constructive criticism. Or don't post.
Imagine there being a HAMB wall. Like down south. To get over, do an intro. Otherwise, there is no voting. (er, 'posting'.) As for the term 'hater', a certain element uses that one...a seemingly nice young man called me that awhile back. He looked, 'happy'...
Wow... you guys. I am ok with criticism. Everyone has their opinions and likes, of course. I came here for advice on my question. Someone saying the current black walls look good is not helpful and/or relevant. I am obviously wanting a certain thing. You’re not going to change my mind against it with YOUR opinion. The word hater is in the dictionary. Not slang. So I don’t know how else you would like for me to say it. Not appreciated here? Is there a forum with less females in it?
We're not haters. We're just accustomed to giving answers to questions you never asked. Take all your replies and just eat the meat and throw away the bones. But it never hurts to hear alternative suggestions and opinions from the Peanut Gallery. There's some thought given for every post, some with sugar coating, some not.
No I know, not ALL of you. Just the ones that have a negeative opinion against what you want to do. I am sure everyone in here has SOMETHING on their car that not everyone likes. I’m sure I’ll hear from the peanut gallery on my last comment. If this is all you have then you’ve been smelling to much parts cleaner. Go back under the hood... Back to tires. Anyone else out there have any real advice or previous experience with WHITE WALL TIRES on a Chevy 3100?! I never understood why it always turns into a verbal war. It’s like YouTube...
If U run different size tires in the front & back (big & little) the width of the whitewall needs to be in proportion to the tire size. My '56 has diamond backs w/ big & little & the '55 has big & little black walls. Same width whitewall on big & little looks weird!!
Thank you, helpful! I am starting to learn that about the Big and little and proportioned wall to fit. What size walls are on your 55 that you have in the pic? Looks good!
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