Ok, after research, i really want to get some firestone white walls for my steel wheels. Who on here is running them and what do you have to say?? and when it comes to looks, is there a big difference between the 2.6 and the 3.2 white wall width looks wise?? I saw them on Sac 'Kustom's Grym' and Gambino's 'FU54' (seen below) and they are some bitchin tires. they look cool. here is gambino's FU54 and kinda my inspiration. and here is the look im kinda goin for to give my 53
if you like radials you'll hate your firestones. you cannot beat a set of stones for that era correct look. width of the whites depends on what era you're going after. either look proper on a 53. these are the 3 and a whatevers...
yeah, well i got the radials because i figured since it would be a daily driver thats what i should run, but now i find out that a ton of people run bias plys daily so that changed my thoughts. I got an old pair of steel wheels that i want to put some bias plys on for shows and stuff and have the radials for my everyday driving
i just got the 2 3/4 for my '54 coupe. i like them. only have about 150 miles on them. but some of that was in the rain. more fun, less fun, depends on how you like to drive...i think they ride nice. just can't turn 'em into a corner like radials. but my new motto is a beastie boys lyric; "let go, let yourself go, SLOW AND LOW, that is the tempo..."
Funny. I just snapped the picture above before my daily commute. It's raining right now. I drove these same tires all winter as well. No problems. And plenty of fun.
I love my stones and drive on them daily, rain snow or shine, as long as theres no salt on the roads. They have been on my car now for over 6 years and 30k miles. I wrongly blamed them for a front end hop I had for the first few years which was fixed by balanceing my right front drum. I am ready for a pair of fronts sometime this summer.
Great pics... As to your question, the difference in whitewall showing is ~20%....enough to notice IMO.... Good luck... Cheers.
I used to run Firestone Gum dipped wide whitewalls on my car. I hated the way they rut tracked. Plus when cold they have flat spots that take a while to heat up and go back to being round. They also didn't corner well and would squeal on moderate cornering. With bias ply tire you need to plan your turns well in advance. I still have wide white walls but they are Goodrich Silvertown radials. They are a great tire and perform so much better. No more rut tracking and they corner great.
Personally,I'd find some adds for 53 Vics when they were new and see what white wall they had on them then. That way you are era/period correct with the white wall width. http://www.oldcarandtruckpictures.com/Ford/1950-1958.html Scroll down a ways to the 52/53 models
Im running Firestone 7.10 15s on my '53 Merc. I have the wider ones on it. they drive MUCH better then the Coker brand ones, plus they look way better too! l love them personally, and in the rain they arent as bad as you would think as long as everything is aligned right.
i cant speak of mine flat spotting, but the did squeal something awful and did not corner well. i bought them september last year. i must admit i didn't play around with tire pressure and i just found out that i was running them a little too high. could have had something to do with it.
I love my "stones". Yeah, my car's a 4-speed and it's a real handfull on wet roads, but I love the traditional look of the Firestones. I had Goodrich Silvertown bias tires on the same car earlier and they were impossible to balance, rode rough, wore unevenly, and the whitewalls "yellowed". Three years on the Firestones with no problems! Jim
I ran bias-plys all over hell on my Falcon, no less--'63 Sprint with a V-8--and they were fine. They wander a bit, but if you're actually awake when you drive--and if you actually know how to drive--then you won't have any problems. Wide whites on a '63 aren't exactly era-correct--which is one reason I switched to skinny-white radials (the other being cost) but they looked super bitchen and they ran fine.
When you are talking about Firestones and Goodriches are you referring to Cokers with those brad names on them? I live on 2 miles of dirt/gravel road. The way Cokers are constructed in a short time I end up with white walls from the rim to the tread. What white walls just have the white rubber only where the white walls are?
I am also looking at some 6.70x15 stones...jegs has them for a really good price. However I noticed the firstones are alot taller thean the other brand 6.70s? why is that? Also, how will they run if you lower the front and back with dropped springs and dropped coils? Will they rub?
will they rub on what? depends on the application, no? my car is lowered 3 1/2 inches in front with dropped spindles, and 4 inches in back, half with springs, and half with blocks. they don't rub.
I have super slide posies going in the back...I'm thinking about a 4 inch drop in the rear, standard rear axle and 3 inch drop coils in the front. Just wanted to see if anyone had any rub issues. With that size and style tire.
They drive like a dream, everyone said that they were horrible, not so, 75 on the freeway, no problems. 6.00x16 fronts 7.50x16 rears
I have 6.70's and I have always felt that they drive just fine now that said learn from my dumb ass and make sure your front end alignment is dialed... mine destroyed two firestones by eating the inside edge of the tire with in a couple hundred miles!!!
Firestone Champion Deluxe (3.xx WWW) 670-15s all the way round on my '50 Fordor and would not have it any other way. I ordered them from Wade Wallace in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and thay were delivered the next day to OKC,OK. You can feel the road more and they will drift a little in grooved lanes occasionally but they drive really good and I have not experienced any of the complaints listed here. Nothing else looks right on the car by comparison. If I want radials and a new car feel I get in my wife's Toyota...
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