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1950 Bias White Walls


beerczar1976

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I know the bias vs. radial discussion has been beat to death. For the sake of discussion, I'm sticking with bias ply. Now for a 1950, what is the better white wall width to go with? I've seen sizes and pricing vary pretty greatly from 1" on up to 3-3/8". Pricing w/shipping from $185 to about $250. Thoughts? The Goodyear Super Cushion Deluxe's look pretty nice with a 2-3/4" wall, but are also the most expensive. Coker Classics with a 3" are the cheapest. Coker B.F. Goodrich seem to land in the middle price-wise but are all about $214. Thoughts?

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I have driven the Coker and Universal(apparently one and the same). For some reason the Coker rides better from my experience with bias ply tires.    For your model Buick, what WW size was offered for that year?  Purchase a tire to match the same WW width.  

 

I agree Buick 5563 concerning the width of WW.    

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, beerczar1976 said:

Yeah, went with the 2-1/2" sidewall vs. the 3" or 3-3/8". The Special, being shorter wheelbase than the Super or Roadmaster, I thought the wide whites would have been definite overkill.

 

 

For me, anything over the 2 1/2"  is not appealing to my eye. What you have on the Special  looks right, feels right and is right. Just one man's opinion!  Enjoy!  

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  • 4 months later...

…. Rivdrivin that's because it IS the correct original look and ww-width…. wide n high like a pair of spats …. in 1950 narrower white walls for the most part had not caught on … for 1950 fords, chevy's , plymouths etc wore pad moon hub caps and black side walls … Buicks, Caddy's, and the top shelf offerings from Chrysler and Lincoln wore the wide and high look which went well with those big 8.00 & 8.20-15's  ….

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The new tires took me right back to 1965 when I put four narrow white Firestone Deluxe Champion narrow whites on my '50 Special fastback.

 

This car came up for sale a little over a year ago and I think is my actual car with those tires still on it.

00i0i_9W4Qlimk5LH_600x450.jpg.0a479776c883c83f0d6c275faa096425.jpg00Q0Q_eBO6EUvxtDM_600x450.jpg.c1169f3116226da4ee5d99944b30c9d7.jpg00707_gqVUKHULJ09_600x450.jpg.4b528db4718dc4546ae037a3bfa9784d.jpg

 

The location and history all pointed to it being my old car.

 

In 1965 you saw the straight tread Dennan's in wide white at car shows. The Double Eagles, US Royals, and the like were usually on hay wagons in my area. So, half a century ago they were the hot set up. OUr old cars are our window in time. Most of us weren't there to enjoy the window when new. One just picks the window they like.

Bernie

 

Oh, those were 7.60X15's. We sold the caps for $12 each. I more than doubled my investment.

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  • 2 weeks later...
4 hours ago, FLYER15015 said:

 

 

Anyone know what the thing in the middle of the grille is ?

Fog light ???

 

 There were not many of those.  In those long ago days, someone needing a push start was almost an ever day thing. That is a tall after market bumper/grill gard.

 

  Ben

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  • 2 years later...

Talking about resurrecting a thread! Well here it is.

Many opinions but not definitely a straight answer. So what is the correct W/W width for a 1950 Super, model 51 tire size 760.15?

Don’t want any points deduction when the time comes to enter for a Junior Award.

 

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Hello I think these are 3 1/2 wide on the 49 Buick convertible,white walls were standard equipment on all convertibles and estate wagons.in 49 The whitewalls got smaller as during the 1950,s I seen era advertising showing what looks to about 4 inch white walls on late pre war and early post war Buick’s The size looks good on your car .Cleaning the rear ones always challenging I pull the skirts and jack the body up surprisingly how dirty they get when you drive them.😀

1FDFB9CA-4C1D-4F9C-B9F4-4C97C5CBC591.jpeg

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Best I can tell 1960 Corvair Monza was the first production vehicle with the narrow (with black between the whitewall and rim) whitewalls ..if you don't count the '57 -'58 limited production Cadillac Eldorado Brougham.

In 1961 varous new vehicles had both the wide and narrow whitewall.........but by 1962 every factory delivered whitewall was the narrow version.

There are various versions of the narrow whitewall,  just like the wide white,  that varied in width over the years.

By taking a good photo of a factory correct white wall (blow it up), and knowing the rim size, you can do a good guess on the size of the white wall using direct proportion measurements.

 

Here is an example... the wheel is my '39 Century which has 15 inch wheels.   Using a known dimension (the outer edged of the red rim measures 16.5 inches)    I printed a full page photo of the wheel.

From the picture the wheel measured 5.625 across and the white wall was 1 inch.

using this method from a photo I get 2.9 inches for the whitewall and my actual is 2.75 so this method is within  .15 of the actual size.

 

 

15 in Buick.jpg

Edited by Barney Eaton (see edit history)
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Here is a photo of the tires on my 1949 Super 51. I've had the car since 1978. The black tire is a U.S. Royal that came with the car, probably from the factory. It is a 7.60 x 15. The distance from the wheel to the inside edge of the rib is 3-1/4 inches. I installed American Classic radials on it a few years ago, 760R15. The whitewall measures 3-1/4 inches, the same as on the old U.S. Royal blackwall. The tire height is also about the same as on the old one. Whether you go with bias ply or radial, for your 1950 Super, I would suggest purchasing tires with the 3-1/4 inch whitewall.

IMG_20200308_173156136_HDR.jpg

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My '39 with Coker tires.......as noted above the white part is 2 3/4.........  what do you think?    Too narrow?

 Like your wife asking "does this dress make my butt look big"

1939 Buick 004.jpg

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1 hour ago, BuickBob49 said:

Here is a photo of the tires on my 1949 Super 51. I've had the car since 1978. The black tire is a U.S. Royal that came with the car, probably from the factory. It is a 7.60 x 15. The distance from the wheel to the inside edge of the rib is 3-1/4 inches. I installed American Classic radials on it a few years ago, 760R15. The whitewall measures 3-1/4 inches, the same as on the old U.S. Royal blackwall. The tire height is also about the same as on the old one. Whether you go with bias ply or radial, for your 1950 Super, I would suggest purchasing tires with the 3-1/4 inch whitewall.

IMG_20200308_173156136_HDR.jpg

I also installed the American Classic Radial with 3,1/4” WW on my 54 Roadmaster size 800x15 when the correct WW size is 2,3/4“  but I wanted the radials that I could not find on that size. All brochures and paper ads shows the 50 with this wide WW. I think I would go 3,1/4 WW if they make them in bias ply 7.60 x 15. I have to check. Thanks for the Blackwall comparison.

814CC3DC-E6E3-4B10-8604-C943D279B02B.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Barney Eaton said:

My '39 with Coker tires.......as noted above the white part is 2 3/4.........  what do you think?    Too narrow?

 Like your wife asking "does this dress make my butt look big"

1939 Buick 004.jpg

That’s the same wheel, hub cap and trim ring configuration for the 50 Model 51, looks nice but I think I would go a bit wider on the WW. These are the correct WW width for the 54 but like I said, I could not find a 2,3/4 on a radial with bias look. 

 

3 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

Diamondback will put whatever size whitewall you want on whatever tire you want. Buy a blackwall bias-look radial and have them put the correct whitewall on it.

Will check into that!

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