Technical Wide Whitewall inserts do they work

Has anybody used the whitewall inserts that go go inside the rim. Looking to see if they work or just flap around? Thanks

 

Widely referred to as Port-A-Walls. Yes they will flap around unless glued down good.

 

Port-A-Walls are like toupees for tires; they look like the real thing from a distance but will let you down at the worst possible moment, that moment being in front of a large crowd holding cameras.

If one lets go at highway speed you will swear it sounded just like a small atomic bomb, when you stop to see how much damage it did to your ride you will speak in tongues for the rest of your life.

Can you get Port-A-Walls to stay on if you use enough glue? Yes, but only three out of four will cooperate, that fourth tire will, when you least expect it, blow the fender skirt clean off the car and into oncoming traffic.

 

Port a wall,was a fairly good dress up when they first came out. Time has changed in a number of ways ,the biggest being the highway speeds
= an how old the things are=fail now days,age n speed is not a buddy.
Under 50 mph back in the day,was all good,and they were new. Today they don't like speed an are old an frail.
A great idea at the time,remember it's not that time any more,want the look ya gotta pay for real WW.

 

Had a buddy try some once. Never fit right and ended up in an expensive fix when one let go. Definitely not for me.

 

...........and don't even think about trying to use them on radials!

 

We called 'em "slap-ons" 60 years ago, and they haven't gotten any better.

 

Back in the 1950's while working at a service station nights after school I installed several sets of the Port-a-Wall. Not on my car. They never would stay on the tire very long. Even at low speeds they would work off the tire. I have seen them work off the tire just sitting for awhile!

 

I ran some free ones on a beater F1 on radials for a while, but they are definitely cheesy. I never lost one, but pretty sure they flapped going down the highway too.

51 Ford by guthriesmith posted Dec 10, 2009 at 5:58 AM

 

Back in the 60's I was given a fairly new set of tires that were black walls. I went to Western Auto and got some port a walls and ran them until I scraped one off on a curb. Back to Western Auto where I found some white tire paint. I then painted white walls on the tires. The only problem is that in time the paint yellowed and the only fix was to re-paint.

 

It's like putting a roll of quarters in your pants pocket before you hit the disco.

 

They make a nice sound as they come off and whizz past your ear as you do 50MPH in a roadster.

 

Eventually they will resistible this. HRP

 

Ask him how we know!

 

I would say they work better and were intended for Bia-ply tires, seeing that Bias ply even blackwalls are pricey, just get some Krylon fusion white and have it with paint.

 

They dont always seal very well either.

 

Actually, this one matches the rest of the car perfectly.

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had them on my 55 Metropolitan rag top in 1965 That was the only set I ever had though.