Port-a-walls

Anyone have luck with using port-a-walls over normal size radial whitewalls? My Lincoln has 1 1/4" whitewalls and I would really like 3 or 3 1/2" WWWs. I hate to spend $1000 for new tires when the PO had these on it and they don't have but a few hundred miles on them. I know people have an issue with the low profile tires holding them right but my tires are 225/75R15 so there is plenty of sidewall. Really looking for someone that has mounted them and ran them for a while to chime in.

 

Id like to know this as well. I really don't wanna paint my tires again lol

 

check portawall.com and threads here warning of failure. look OK if you do not drive at any real speed or rub against a curb. seek out threads here and local tires shops for cutting/grinding your whitewalls larger.

 

I had old portawalls on my 58 chevy years ago. Due to age they dry rotted. They never had the true white look to them, always a little grungy. Tires were bias ply, they really sucked. I got fed up with the lousy look and shitty ride. Put radials with wide whites on, car rides like a dream. I built this car 29 years ago and the only game in town was a NOS set of portawalls. Could not find wide whites back then. One more thing, porta walls NEVER want to lay flat against your tire, and are usually never even-gap between wheel and edge of tire. I think they suck and would not use them again!

 

White Krylon Fusion spray paint works well if prepped right and masked well.

I would also sand off the text on the sidewall to improve the look even more.

 

my avatar has portowalls on them. they are floppy because they dont flex like radial tires do. i use them for mock up stuff and keep my real ww tires clean. has anyone tried to rubber cement them on??

 

X2 They were junk back in the 50's, I can't believe they are still making them. Really bad idea.

 

I have had a set on my 54 chevy for a couple of years and no problem,just make sure they are just the 2 inch and not the 3 for they will rip with radials,and don't drive over 40mph the first 50 miles,i drive my car every day,they look alot better than paint which i used also,but you have to keep touchin them up.

 

Got lights in the wheel wells and Porta-Walls, burns cheap gas and never stalls....Schlock rod. From and old Rock & Roll song.

 

From what I understand they are designed for bias ply tires and don't work well with radials.

 

Check out You Tube - several videos shows how to install them with radial tires - installed correctly with the right size radial tire they will work - but you get what you pay for.

 

OK - I guess I have to spend a butt load of cash if I want the look, it just sucks because the narrow whites are brand new!

 

someone called them flapper walls due to the flapping they due at high speeds.

 

So far so good on my pickup, I have them on radial tires. Took one 100 mile trip with no problems. But truck has a top speed of only about 50 MPH.

 

they were not worth the 5 or $10 in the 60's
problem is getting them mounted decent
partially seat the bead and drive then in toward the rim and have them turn out OK
a lot of work even for a 18 year old kid

 

This is probably not a helpful post. I ran a couple sets of Port-a-walls back in the hobby days when wide whites simply could NOT be found, before Lucas tire started offering a lot of sizes and way before Coker started making a long list.

Few years ago I purchased a very rusty '57 Imperial coupe parts car to get the 392 hemi out of it. It had an old set of p-ws. Here is a perfect photo representation of the story of port-a-walls in my opinion!

 

I put a set on my Fury and got about 2K miles out of them in one summer before they flew apart. I would never run a set again, when the one came off it could have done some damage to my fenders.

Consider sidewall grinding to make your current tires into wide whites, there's a lot of threads on the subject and it does work, I've done it. I tried Krylon Fusion and I wasn't impressed, it looks good but goes to hell fast when you drive on it. If you want to paint them on, I've done it a few times with Snow Seal, the white elastomeric roof coating, that stuff stays flexible and as long as you prep well and give at least 4 coats, it looks nice and holds up. That's what the guys on eBay sell as white wall tire paint, but they put it into a pint can and charge $30 for it when a half gallon is $11 at the hardware store.

 

Snow Seal! That might be an idea since I have a couple of gallons I just bought for the vintage trailer I am restoring. Do you paint the exsisting whitewall too or just around it?

 

Maybe not quite HAMB friendly but, I just installed a set of Portawall on the trailer I pull behind my Harley. Weather permitting I will be towing my trailer to Vintage Torquefest next week. I 'm wondering how these will hold up on these small tires. I guess only one way to find out.




(The blue on the trailer is a picture frame wrapped in a blanket because it wouldn't fit inside the trailer.)

Doc

 

I painted over the existing whitewall, using the outer edge of the current whitewall as a guide, to make it consistent. I spent the time to sand off all the lettering and shit that'd be underneath with an 80 grit pad on a DA, looks a lot smoother that way although you wouldn't have to.

Plan on putting on at least 4 coats, it's going to look like dog shit after the first two but you gotta power through, you've been warned. And clean the hell out of the tire surface with lacquer thinner before painting, I mean really, really clean it. If they're clean, they won't yellow out, but if there's any of that brown mold-release oil in the tire yet, it'll brown up the whitewall.

If you do it and you end up still getting some brown showing through, you can clean them with Westley's Blech-Wite, but you have to use a fairly soft brush to scrub them with to keep from wearing through. An SOS will tear it up.

I've done several sets this way with great results, just plan on spending some time on it, I've probably got 8-10 hours in my last set but they turned out great, on used tires I've got less than $50 in a set of wide white radials that look like new.

 

They still suck after all these years.

 

Thanks for the advice. Option #2 will be to buy two new WWWs. I did some research and it seems my Lincoln would have had 8.00-15 which equal 235/75R15, not the 225/75R15 it has on it now. I just happen to have two very nice 235/75R15s with the 3" WWW. So after I take some measurements I might just buy two new 235/75R15s and make it a set. I should be able to sell the 225/75r15s for almost enough to cover two WWWs.