Early Model A production tires

[Steve Suttle]

Here's something I've been pondering.
All of the restoration manuals state that '28-29 model As were equipped with 4.50 x 21 tires, mostly, but not always, Firestones.
I've been looking at factory and publicity photos of really early cars, some identifiable AR (no end-bumper bolts) and the tires appear to have much smaller (not as tall) sidewalls than the 4.40/4.50 x 21 currently offered by Coker et al.
Is there any literature or Ford bulletins that indicate perhaps a smaller, e.g., 440 x 21 were used on the earliest cars?
And if so, would the design of AR wheels factor into this?

[Dave Mellor NJ]

The difference in the "AR" wheel is in the hub, which only projects out 1" rather than 1-1/4" as does the regular 28-29 wheel. this wouldn't affect the tire which I believe was 450-21. The late Model T wire wheels also used the same 450-21 tire, I think, even though the hub was different than either of the Model A hubs.

[jpage]

For some reason the Firestone and Goodyear reproduction tires seem to be a bit wider and taller than original tires. I know folks that had them and had a hard time getting them into the fender mounts without letting air out. I had a set of Bedford tires that were much thinner,I think closer to the original tires and looked more like the original tires. Of course they were a cheaper tire but served me well for over 16 yrs.! They also had the fluted tread wall and diamond pattern tread!

[motoringicons]

Yes, the new tires are do not hold the same outer dimensions as the older tires. I have found this to be true with not only Model A tires but also other 20s-30s era sizes. It is hard to find a tire that will fit into a fender wheel well fully inflated.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

For some reason the Firestone and Goodyear reproduction tires seem to be a bit wider and taller than original tires. I know folks that had them and had a hard time getting them into the fender mounts without letting air out. I had a set of Bedford tires that were much thinner,I think closer to the original tires and looked more like the original tires. Of course they were a cheaper tire but served me well for over 16 yrs.! They also had the fluted tread wall and diamond pattern tread!

This has been the subject of much discussion on Fordbarn. I thought the concensus was that the Goodyears are good but the Firestones definitely are too wide. Up to recently you couldn't get 21" tires from Goodyear but they have started making them now.

[Steve Suttle]

My AR has Universal 440 x 21 tires on it and at first they just looked too small until I started looking at the photos like the two I've posted.
I do agree that the Firestones seem rather tall. I have 33 x 3 1/2 on my Model T and even they look too tall when compared to factory photos. If I switch the tires on this Model A, which I don't really need to do as the ones I have are sound, I'll look into the Goodyears as I understand from several sources that Ford did use them in addition to Firestone.
All of this is quite interesting.