I ran cheater slicks on a few cars in the 60's and the tread was flat. Makes sense; after all, they are slicks and the more read on the pavement the better, right? I ordered a set from Coker, and one was flat, the other rounded. Both my local dealer and Coker said that more often than not the treads are rounded, and that's because they are nylon. Well, they were nylon in the 60's also! And I believe they advertise these as exact copies (words to that effect). Anyone else notice this about the treads?
Ive noticed the repros being rounded as well. May have alot to do with the fact that most cheater slicks in the 60s and such were retreads? Therefore would have to be flat?
You don't say weather or not you have mounted them yet. Tires will "change shape" from being strapped together for shipping, at the bottom of a large stack, or both, especially in the summer heat. Go ahead and mount them with proper air pressure and bolt them on the car if you haven't, then judge the way they look.
I have the Firestone 8.20-15 and mine are both flat except for the far edge where they meet the sidewall, it starts to roll a little. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=2491&pictureid=73674
FirePig, The Firestone Dragsters were built in new molds based on the original drawings. We did decide to make them DOT legal so we added the tread grooves, wear indicators and side sipes. The face of the tread should be pretty flat, but slightly round on the edges where the tread meets the sidewall. I do recommend you mount them up. As long as you don't driver on them you are welcome to send them back if you aren't happy with their appearance. Thanks, Jess Jess Hoodenpyle Vice President - Sales and Customer Service Coker Tire Company 1317 Chestnut Street Chattanooga, TN 37402 www.cokertire.com
let us know when you make some non-DOTs without the side sipes, they pretty much ruin the 'look' of the tire. i can live with the grooves, though...
Jess, you're the man for replying. They are mounted and not over inflated. My vendor and your rep both said that rounded is normal. I'm talking rounded almost like an innertube. I have a lot of respect for your company and appreciate the customer service, but telling me this is normal was out there in my opinion. We are sending the rounded one back and trying another. If it's the same, I guess I'll get some of your track tires instead. I also noticed that the 8.50 15 is listed as 30.50 diameter, but the one I kept is only 29.50. Maybe the extra inch comes from the rounding
Coker is great about taking tires back if you don't like them or you have issues. The problem is, you end up paying the shipping 3 ways and that's assuming the second set of tires meet your satisfaction.
I used to run Inglewood Cheater slicks back in the early sixties. As I recall, they were very flat with a cross tread and grooves aqround the circumference near the sidewall but then they were retreads.
I have to comment about how impressed I am with Coker's customer service. Jess, the VP who responded on this thread went as far as to leave me a PM that he would personally handle my problem. And, because he considered it a warrantee issue, there would be no shipping charges. My vendor had already arranged that with Coker, but it's very cool to know that there is someone that high up in the company with the foresight to know where his customer base hangs out (HAMB), and to work this hard at protecting their image and reputation.
X2 on that. i had a problem with a pair of Firestone Dirt tracks, one hadn't cured correctly. Jess took care of it right away and made it right at no charge for shipping or anything. Stand up company!!
Both of mine are round. I have only seen one other set like that, all the rest have been squarish. I have asked several people about this including coker reps at various shows and everyone looks at me like I am on meth. I started to think my meth habit was out of hand Let us know what happens.
I didn't like the way the Cokers looked either. But, I don't understand when you say both your tires differ from eachother? Pics?
How wide are your wheels ? in the recomenced area for that tire size? Had a set of 7" wide recaps in the 60s that were very flat acrooss the tread on 5.5 wide 54 Chevy stock wheels.
I have no pics because the rounded one was sent back. To explain; 1 tire had a nice flat drag slick tread, the other was rounded in the middle of the tread, like if you inflated an inner tube. Also made it sit about an inch taller.
I think that's "normal", and the one you kept an odd one. Seriously, there's a chance the one they send to you, may resemble closer the one you sent back. That's one of the reasons I didn't like mine (and all the others like em I've seen since)
Got the other tire from Coker today and it's flat like it's supposed to be! Jess, thx for your concerns. Those of you telling me that they SHOULD be rounded(?).... Why would a slick have a rounded tread, if traction was the intent? Anyway, I'm happy now.
Mine were rounded as well. You can see in the pic that the contact patch was way narrower than the tire, I sold the car shortly after the build so it wasn;t a big issue. Still I wouldnt buy another set . Just didn't like the roundness.
JohnEvans brings up a good point. With slicks having such a "square" contact patch any variance in rim width will have a more noticeable effect on the appearence and contact patch of the tire. Chaz...from that pic yours look like they are either over-inflated or on a narrow rim. If you pull the beads out on a wheel wider than the tire is designed for, the tread surface will look concave. If the tire manufacturor recomends 7"-10" wheels you can figure a 9" rim (measured bead-seat to bead-seat) should have the tread area sitting pretty flat when properly inflated. Don't forget, with our cars being so light proper inflation #'s will be on the low side. B.
Firepig, I'm glad you got your problem handled. Was there any reason given for the tire being this way or any statements about them being corrected? We all agree slicks as most any tire should have a nice flat contact area. Those of us familiar with these Firestone Slicks from Coker since the introduction have seen them look as you described your blemished tire you returned. Mounted or not regardless of rim width or pressure they have a pronounced rounded appearance and limited contact area. This includes the ones mounted for show display by Coker. I have never seen one that does not look this way and that is the main reason I did not buy these tires. If you do a search there are reports of people wrecking their cars as a direct result of using these tires.
I would like to know more. Im running a set of 10" firestone slicks and if I inflate them more than 7 lbs they blow up like a balloon I called them when i got them years ago and said this was normal. The car was still mock up back then. ewf
Ewf, there are quite a few of these threads about vintage slicks and what has happened using them. This is one I started in a failed attempt to condense some of the facts about them into a single thread. set.http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352393&highlight=coker+slicks Myself I have yet to see a directly related wreck in person. However I have seen guys wearing a narrow flat spot in these tires... then see others get on the throttle leaving a show wildly fish tailing in cars that could barely spin a smaller street radial. Nothing good can come from a tire with this little contact area. Maybe enough people have complained and there has been some sort of change. I looked at buying them in person for a long time but never got any sort "real" answer. Like most places these are salesmen you get to talk to and they try sell you no matter what it takes. I was told they have to wear in, pressure adjustment, it was from stacking....but my favorite was the salesman who just shrugged his shoulders at Canfield. I actually saw one guy who had stretched the 10's onto a pair of 15x12 Ansen slots. Even with the amount the side wall was belled out they still had the radius across the contact area. If it has been fixed great, I'm glad it is but it took alot of blems to get there. So what do any other recent purchases look like? Are the ballons still out there or were they all sold already? Did they find that luck of the draw tire to make FirePig happy or has there been an actual improvement for all further tires made?
Any opinions about traction at the strip with the Radirs or Cokers? I don't expect them to hook like a full on wrinkle wall but how do they compare to modern D.O.T. drag radial (ie: E.T. Streets)?
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