Portawalls, the good and the bad

[JACK M]

So, in an effort to put some lipstick on a pig I am considering a set of the fakes for the Jeepster.

Pretty sure it came with whitewalls and mine looks kind of drab.

I have searched these out mostly on Ebay and find that they are ALL coming from Turkey.

My past experience was probably over forty years ago and I didn't like them for a couple of reasons.

They leaked air and they were difficult to get the bead just right.

So, are the ones we see from Turkey any better that the old ones I had?

I suspect that if I were in the market for a Jeepster and it came with these I would be inclined to buy new tires if I wanted whites.

However I really want to sell and I am simply looking at curb appeal.

I am hesitant to spend any more money on this thing (its just economics).

But the Portawalls are about a buck twenty for the wide ones, I guess I could afford that if it were to sell the car.

[lump]

I stumbled onto some old porta-walls years ago, and found that they were very popular with local hot rodders. Yet I have often seen them with bulges and gaps, which made it obvious that they were not true whitewalls. To me, this looked really, really shabby. But at that time in local hot rodding history, these guys seemed to like a little bit of that...they liked the "shabby Chic" look, I think, as it proved that they had period-correct custom-car accessories on their cars. 

 

To ME, if a porta-wall bulges away from the tire and I see it (on a car offered to me for sale), my initial reaction would be that I would wonder what else the seller might be trying to pass off as being better than it appeared to be. But that is JUST ME. 

 

I think your Jeepster looks just fine as-is. But you could always have someone photoshop whitewalls onto a photo of your car, and show prospective buyers that it could be even MORE good looking, with whitewalls. 

 

Just a thought....

[Bloo]

If I ever do fakes again (and I might), I'll paint them. I did it with vinyl dye back in the day, on radials. It wasn't perfect. It cracked. It looked OK from a few feet away. The pattern it cracked in closely resembled the roughness that occurs on wide whites when the white rubber gets old and hard. Quite a few bystanders were horrified, thinking I was driving around on decades-old wide whites. I guess you wouldn't want that, but as tires, they were completely trouble free.

 

There are a bunch of different threads on the HAMB about ways to paint whitewalls, probably better than what I did. I saw more complaints about turning brown than cracking.

 

 

Edited October 30, 2019 by Bloo (see edit history)

[The 55er]

No more port-a-walls for me, cheap-looking and just create more problems, temporary dress-ups at best. Just buy wide whites and be done with it. 

[dei]

My opinion, save yourself a lot of grief.

I bought this car with the port-a-walls already on it and with it not being on the road, can't keep air in the tires for very long!

 

Besides, the look isn't very appealing to me up close...

[victorialynn2]

@JackM, I had some in the shop at one time but not sure if they would have been usable. I am surprised that you haven’t sold this. I had good luck with eBay. I did have to relist the Lincoln 2or 3 times, but most of dad’s cars sold that way. I listed most about this time of year and through the holidays. Maybe people have more time to search after summer?

 

I hope it finds a good home soon as it is very dear to my family. I wish I was in a financial position to buy it back and free your investment up also. 

[JACK M]

I agree on pretty much all of this.

Cant keep them aired, cant keep them tight to the tire, etc.

Yes, temporary dress ups at best is exactly what I was thinking..

If I were to add them I would not try and hide it in the ad. Just thought that they may add a little curb appeal.

I think painting the tires would be even hokier than the portas.

I guess Ill pass.

So, who wants it?

[Paul Dobbin]

Jack.M

I think portawalls are good for museum cars and glamore shots, that's about it.

If used on radial tires, they will cut a grove in the sidewall where the whitewall meets the sidewall.  The also are history if you ever clip a curb.

I had them on my 66 VW Bug and loved the look, but they cost me a set of radials.   

Not all portawalls are equal, I had a set once that sucked the black out ot the host tire and gave me brownwalls.

Now I buy Diamondback wide whitewall radials and find them the easiest whitewall to keep clean.   

 

Edited October 30, 2019 by Paul Dobbin (see edit history)

[JACK M]

Yup, the glamor shots is what I was thinking.

I would probably even mention that in my ads.

[John348]

23 hours ago, The 55er said:

No more port-a-walls for me, cheap-looking and just create more problems, temporary dress-ups at best. Just buy wide whites and be done with it. 

 

I agree 100%, I never rub against a curb with a tire until I had a port-a-wall on! Only time it seems to ever happen, then they are junk