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Diamond Back Auburn Deluxe Radials


74 Apollo

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Regarding the Diamond Back "Auburn" tire which has a more authentic 1930's look than say the traditional 16" Diamond-Back or the Coker radial - I asked last month and they will only be making the 6:50 x 16 size and they will not be available until mid 2015. They asked that potential buyers please call and reserve a set. That being said, you can get a 6:50 x 16 equivelent size with is an applied whitewall to their equivelent modern 16" tire (I bought a set two years ago and was quite pleased). I am not particulalrly pleased with my Coker radials - they eat tubes (heavy duty radial tubes with talc on the casings) - a few times were my fault for not finding all their stickers in the tubes, but the other times have resulted from poor interior design of the tire itself and very fortunately I have not had a flat at speed (but have had plenty of flats otherwise).

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Yes, I bought and installed a set on my 1937 Packard convertible sedan. I installed with no tubes and have been very happy. They look good, have strong side walls with very little flex or bulge, don't look like a radial when on the car. I have installed over a dozen sets of tires from them and always happy with quality and very little weight to balance them. I have installed them on several Buicks, took out the tubes and have never had a problem. Running no tube seems to increase the reliability with no flat tire caused by tube problems.

Steve

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Steve

Which tires did you install on the Packard? I'm guessing it was the Coker radial since the Diamondback Auburn radial is not yet available ( I've been waiting for three years for these things and getting a bit frustrated. ) So you are running the Coker radial without tubes and have had no problem? My ignorance is probably showing but other than dealing with any potential rim leaks ( from a spoked or riveted rim ) I don't understand what a tube adds to the equation.

What I liked about the Auburn was the they did not 'require' another $100 in tubes on top of what is already $1000 in tires.

John

I got a response from Diamondback two weeks ago and they never mentioned that they were taking orders but they did say that the Auburn radial would be available in Spring. I love the look of the Auburn (if that is indeed what they look like) but, as I have an email chain of 'Spring' promises going back two years, I'll believe it when I see some tires on a car! I've almost given up as have the tires on the car that needed replacing two years ago

Brad

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I bought the tires from Diamondback as I have with the other dozen full sets. Several years ago I put on tires from Coker and they required a tube. They took 3-7 ounces of lead (hard to get anymore) to balance and required tubes. I Wasn't happy with them on my 38 Buick coupe. For my 37 Packard I called Diamondback and told them I wanted the widest whitewall on a radial , but wanted to look like bias tire. They made me a set of 215/85R16 tire. I think they were a truck or motor home tire, has old style tread , heavy side wall so no bulge. I have always called and talked with them, most of the time they made the tire or white wall width I needed for each car. I like the original look of a bias tire but love the way the cars drive on radials. I have a friend that had a set of Coker tires on his senior 41 Packard in the same size, but with tubes as required.... well on a 200 mile tour on the freeway the tube must have shifted , let loose with little warning, before he knew it the tire had failed, flew apart and was beating his rear fender before he had time to pull off and stop the car. I put on a set of Diamandback's on his car with no tubes. He has had no problems now for 1 1/2 years. Before that he was having a low of flat tire every 6 months.

Give them another call and they should be able to fix you up, even though it may not me listed in there catalog.

- Steve

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Steve, the Diamond Back "Auburn" is a special tire in an exact 6:50 x 16 size that DiamondBack has been working on.

Diamond back can make you a set of custom whitewalls using a 215/85R16 tire at any time.

Basically we are talking two different things.

I forgot - I also had a Coker blow out on the passenger's rear tire of a 1941 Packard Darrin - one super hot mess while standing there with a fire extinguisher and very fortunately we had just come off a highway exit ramp (again, stickers in the casing had been removed but one had been missed).

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I just called Diamondback. They are in "testing" and they anticipate being able to take orders in April. This is the tire that is on page 22 of their online catalog. It is the "first" tire to be a radial that has a totally bias ply look. It is basically being made for Cord and Auburn owners, though the size fits a variety of other cars (ex. Fords). In the mean time they will make you a 215/85R16 (and have a few other 16" size options options) - I had a set made for a 1936 Auburn 852 Phaeton about three years ago - I added the edge ring = and they were great, though it takes some getting use to the wider tread.

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Guest mclbuick2002

I bought a set of Diamondback WWW radials for my 1936 Buick several years ago. They were the only source of WWW radials at the time.Diamondback claimed they were the equivalent of the stock 650/16s. They were at least an inch wider than a 650/16 and would rub on fenders when cornering.They were too wide to fit in fenders of my 1935. Diamondback took radial truck tires and glued on a wide white wall. Within a year the whitewalls were pealing off.

Needless to say the radials I bought last year for my 1935 Buick were from Coker. They are a true 650/16 as stamped on tire.Their WWW are part of tire and not glued on.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just installed a set of Goodyear 6:50 x 16 Bias ply whites = the tires with all the concentric rings on the face (a Christmas gift from my parents for my 1936 Auburn 852) - the best balanced one has .5 once weight and the worst has 2.5 ounces - and they actually run true as well. Not radials, but I look forward to driving on them. I had a set on my first Auburn 851 (in 2005/2006) and while I only put a thousand or two thousand miles on them I was most pleased.

I have been pleased and not pleased with Coker 6:50 x 16's - I am pleased as the car drives fabulous, I have not been pleased as I have had two tires that I have replaced as they did not run true, and how many flat tires can one have (I think I am on 5 flats now since 2007 on the 1935 Auburn and 1 on a 1941 Packard - and very fortunately all after parking the car, plus a few were within minutes of getting off the highway) and that is with a proper width gutter strip, a radial tube, talc on the tube, and .... I will admit that part of the problem was my own fault via not finding stickers in them when they were in there. That being said, the problem seems to also have been caused by the aggressive ribbed pattern on the inside of the casing (that could be a possible design issue that conflicts with Coker being very clear to run tubes in them).

Also, I have plenty of coker radials in 15" sizes running on cars and also bias ply that I assume are made by Coker - no complaints with any of these.

By the way, I have seen some older DiamondBacks with whitewall issues, though I have not seen any newer sets with problems. As mentioned, I installed a pair three years ago on an Auburn 852 and was super pleased though I did a double check look every time I opened the garage door as the width of the tread always caught my eye.

Today, I saw an advertisement for the DiamondBack Auburn 6:50 x 16 and it said to look in Janiary for pricing and March for delivery.

Edited by John_Mereness (see edit history)
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Guest 60electra225

This seems to be a never ending story on the Auburn tires. Like others, I have been emailing them for about 3 years - ever since they announced them, and it is one delay after another. To hear the news that they are now only going to be producing them in 650 16 (I want 600 16, which was mentioned in their list of sizes) is somewhat frustrating, so I guess I will now be looking for something else.

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