Hey guys I finally found a set of 18” wide five wheels for my 34 3 window project. I’m going for the old dirt track look or at least something with a little more aggressive look. I know about the Firestone dirt track 8.20x18 but can’t find them in stock and for the price that they are I have read bad reviews on here about them being out of balance. I saw some one else just asked about 18” tire options but that was more for the skinny spoke tire look. I don’t mind the look of some of the bias light duty truck tires but having a hard time finding them in 18”. So if you guys have come a cross something or have experience with a tire that might work could you let me know. Thanks.
Hey sorry I finally got time to get some pics of the wheels. Maybe my post was confusing as to what wheels I was referring too. Here are the wheels I would like to run. 18x4 rear and 16x3.5 front. Since I posted the question I did find a few tires that I like the look of. Anyone run these sta light duty truck tires? I can find how many ply they are just curious if they will ride rough.
Had some of those a while ago - sold them to Enbloc who ran some 18" Blockley tyres on them I think. https://www.blockleytyre.com/product/600-650x18
Years ago I had a 28 roadster with the 18 KH high ground clearance wheels on it and was facing the same dilemma I bought some Lester 7.00x18” blackwall tires from universal tire and a grooving iron from speedway I followed the sipes as a spacing guide and ended up with a pretty good looking “dirt style” tire for a reasonable price Can’t find a good pic finished, but here’s a pic of the tread of a 7.00x18 Lester showing the sipes l found on ebay
Really? I’m aware of the divco wheels, but did not know there was such a thing as an 18” wide five. Gotta be pretty rare I’d guess.
I have only ever seen one, and that one was too rusty to use. Even so, I wanted it, but could not get it off of the milk truck. I went back with a hub puller, but the yard was cleared.
Take a look at the Firestone Balloon Tires 7.50-18. I picked up a pair for my '34 as an alternative to the 8.20-18 dirt tracker I currently run on the 18 inch wires on the rear. I love the dirt trackers and had no issue with them but wanted something different to run on my steel wheel/high clearance wheel set that I'm planning to run when the car is back on the road.
18" wide 5's that are not circle track wheels are rare as lips on a chicken! I have a set of 2 for the back of my 30' Chrysler coupe project that were never mounted. Military vehicles used them, government vehicles and other commercial applications. Mine are olive green with military writing on the inside hoop. I also had one rusted/beat to shit one that sold on ebay for $900 about 8 years ago!
Hmm I like this idea. Thanks everyone for the input. I’ll post pics when I get them mounted and mocked up on the car.
Finally found a pic of the grooved Lester on the back of my old roadster at the time these tires were about $75 each.
Good looking tire, unfortunately not $75 each anymore https://www.lucasclassictires.com/700-18-Lester-Blackwall-72595L.htm
Looks good! Was looking at the tire groovers on speedway. They have an expensive $500 one and a cheaper $125 one. does anyone have experience with either. I would obviously prefer the cheaper one if it work good.
The cheaper one was probably about 50$ I think at the time It worked great and was very easy to use Using the sipes on the Lester tires as a guide made it really easy also I think the first one took an hour or so and the second one went much faster. I had never done it before and was really happy with the results
I have a cheaper one and I like it. It works well just have to remember to get extra blades for it. Especially if the tires have seen any road time.
The Jalopy Journal
