old-tank Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 I thought that I had found the near perfect tire for my 55 that is driven all over the country. My original 55 dating back into the 1960's always had blackwall tires since that was all I could afford. So now with a different and collectable car I will have wide whitewalls. The first ones were L78-15 which had the correct diameter/circumference. They looked good but were too wide (hit more bumps) and too heavy (unspring weight). Then Sears offered Allstate wide whitewalls in the correct 7.60-15 size. Terrible tires: hard to balance, whitewalls turned yellow every 200 miles and after a 3000 mile trip 3 of the 4 tires had bulges external and internal. Then I found Coker tire. Their BFG WWW tires in the 7.60-15 size served me well through 5 sets (drove to National meets showing in 400 point judging until a Senior award) averaging 5 years and 25,000 miles a set before worn. Until the last set which was balder than my head at 3 years and 15,000 miles. Since I was not showing the car anymore I switched to radials (225-75R15). I ordered a set from Coker, but they were 3 years old when I got them so I sent them back ($$$). Then Diamondback radials turned out to be a good choice. The first set was constructed on Firestone tires: good performance for 5 years and 30,000 miles before a tire failure. The next set was constructed on Toyo tires which were fantastic. 6 years and 36,000 miles before a tire failure. Those Diamondback tires were the DB2 line which they don't make anymore. They offer their proprietary Auburn line (but back ordered due to shipping delays from Taiwan) and the DB1 line constructed on a Nexen tire. I had reservation about that cheap tire, but needed some since the car was not drivable. Review of the DB1 225-75R15: as expected beautiful tires and they honored my request for tires less than 6 months old and custom 2.5 inch white walls. Now this is where they fell short. Standing an unmounted tire next to the old Toyo and pushing down in the center of the tread area they deflected into a depression and the sidewall flattened at the bottom compared to the old Toyo that barely deflected. (should have sent back those flimsy cheap-ass tires at this point). Mounted there was very little out of round or lateral run out. Static balance with weights on the inside like I always do it took 1.5 to 0.75 ounces to balance. Driving: at my usual inflation of 35 psi there is considerable understeer in corners that quickly transitions into abrupt over steer with lots of 'tail wag" and there is a least one tire out of balance. I am going to experiment with tire pressures, but it looks like dynamic balance with weights on the outside may be need or go for road force balance ($$$). Maybe blackwalls are not a bad idea since I can't see them when driving . 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Hankook Kinergy ST in normal 14" and 15" sizes with factory-made whitewalls, just that the whitewalls are not 2.5" wide. P28 of the 2021 Master Catalog. S-Code 1024739 Lots of choices for local tire dealers, even new car dealerships (everybody feeds out of the same warehouses, usually). No experience with these, but some in another forum like them, at least the Optimo whitewalls from prior years. Possibly only downside is the 8.5/32" starting tread depth, but with a very high treadwear rating? FWIW, NTX5467 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avgwarhawk Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Willie, If the shop has not already done so, assure the tire is mounted on the rim correctly. The yellow dot on the sidewall is to be by the valve stem. If there is a red dot ignore the yellow dot. Align the red dot to the valve steam. Rebalance. If the weight requirement to balance is still to much have the tire changer spin the tire 180 on the rim. Rebalance. All else fails. Demand a new tire mounted on the rim. These things you probably already know but I can assure you not many tire changes have a clue to the dots on the sidewall or how to handle a tire requiring many .oz of weights to balance. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 I don't like off shore products much. Having said that, I did buy China made tires to get the whitewall I wanted. For the '50. Shurtrac. [sic?] White is about 1 1/2 inch. Not pricey, less than $100. I have been satisfied so far. They were on the car in OKC. Ben 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avgwarhawk Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 As a side note, I have run Nexen on modern car. It was a good tire. Nexen are OE for some new cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted November 1, 2021 Author Share Posted November 1, 2021 Changed pressures: 30 psi, worse handling and balance no better 40 psi, better handling but balance worse and much harsher ride. 16 hours ago, NTX5467 said: Hankook Kinergy ST in normal 14" and 15" sizes with factory-made whitewalls, just that the whitewalls are not 2.5" wide. P28 of the 2021 Master Catalog. S-Code 1024739 Lots of choices for local tire dealers, even new car dealerships (everybody feeds out of the same warehouses, usually). No experience with these, but some in another forum like them, at least the Optimo whitewalls from prior years. Possibly only downside is the 8.5/32" starting tread depth, but with a very high treadwear rating? FWIW, NTX5467 I recently put Hancook tires on my 76 Olds and they are fantastic tires as far as ride and handling, but there are brown stains all over the whitewalls and every tire my dealer ordered is like that...seems that the warehouse does not know how to handle whitewalls anymore by allowing the black portion of tires to contact the white during storage. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted November 1, 2021 Author Share Posted November 1, 2021 2 hours ago, avgwarhawk said: As a side note, I have run Nexen on modern car. It was a good tire. Nexen are OE for some new cars. Modern cars have modern size tires and that is where the technology is directed. The step children of tires started with bias ply and now tire sizes for old cars. No new car or truck has used the 225-75R15 tire in 30 years so most available might be junk. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 My resistance to buy foreign products has changed significantly in the past couple of years. Some say that items in direct competition with US manufacturers has been subsidized to pay tariffs and increase quality for reasons other than profit. My experience shows the price and quality is there. There are people in positions with much more influence than my few hundred dollars in tires or tools that should be addressing those exact concerns. I am looking at the Vitour white walls for one car right now. They appear to be coming from South Africa. If I am not happy with them they can go on a trailer. On the yellowing, I use the new Westley's cleaner and have a tri-folded piece of #800 sandpaper in my tire wash bucket to get that white back up nicely. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avgwarhawk Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 I have done well with foreign car tires with exception of one set. The run like they are square. Horrible tire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 Never make the assumption that a tire with an American brand name is USA made or that a tire with an Asian brand name is made in Asia. It has not been true for a very long time. Tire production facilities both here and abroad hire themselves out to many different companies. Until you look up the factory code on an individual tire, you just don't know. 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 18 hours ago, Bloo said: Never make the assumption that a tire with an American brand name is USA made or that a tire with an Asian brand name is made in Asia. It has not been true for a very long time. Tire production facilities both here and abroad hire themselves out to many different companies. Until you look up the factory code on an individual tire, you just don't know. Yep. Now if only I could REMEMBER to print out one of the lists I have found on line. Where do you go for this info, Bloo? Ben 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 4 hours ago, Ben Bruce aka First Born said: Yep. Now if only I could REMEMBER to print out one of the lists I have found on line. Where do you go for this info, Bloo? @Brian_Heil posted a link to this one last year: http://www.tiresafetygroup.com/tire-dot-plant-codes-sorted-plant-code/ 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 @Brian_Heil posted a link to this one last year: Well, that's quite the list! Thanks Brian and @Bloo for the research details. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 IF Tire Rack sells the tires you might be interested in, in their "Specs" section for each tire and size, they list the "Country of Origin" for that particular tire size, brand, and model of the tire. FWIW, NTX5467 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 A few years ago I purchased a set of tires for our VW Vanagon Camper. All of the four tires came from four different countries. It was something like the US, S. Africa, France, and Canada. Really strange but it is very telling on distribution networks, and that was a number of years ago. Hard to say about logistics in today's world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexRiv_63 Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Paying attention to this thread as I have the same tire concerns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 On 11/3/2021 at 1:20 PM, Bloo said: @Brian_Heil posted a link to this one last year: http://www.tiresafetygroup.com/tire-dot-plant-codes-sorted-plant-code/ How many scrolled through the list and only looked at tires made in the United States, just ignored all the other countries? I have my hand up. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted sweet Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 dead link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 54 minutes ago, ted sweet said: dead link Try it again. It is working for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted sweet Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 nope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 3 hours ago, ted sweet said: nope I suggest you try from another computer or else possibly clear your cookies. That link still works fine for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 Just worked for me Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 19 hours ago, ted sweet said: dead link Try again with another copy/paste http://www.tiresafetygroup.com/tire-dot-plant-codes-sorted-plant-code/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 Weird. Both links work for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 Didn't try either one, but sometimes, it can be the particular browser that might be the issue. OR just one particle in the link that is not correct, sometimes. No sense "sweating it", just try it later or do a Google search for the main website which posted the information. Enjoy! NTX5467 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 (edited) I did a Google search for "dot tire source codes" and came up with many sources for the information. 2-place codes are the earlier codes, which are to be replaced by 3-place codes, if not already done. Enjoy! NTX5467 Edited November 14, 2021 by NTX5467 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 Tried balancing again: dynamic balance and tried to put the weighs in the center of the rim as close as possible to the outside. Never could get repeatable results so I relented and had the weights installed outside ON MY NICELY PAINTED RIMS. Marginal improvement, so they recommended road force balancing. After already spending $150, i will not spend an additional $125 on those junky tires. Time to call Diamondback to see if they will pay to attempt to salvage those tires or replace them or refund. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexRiv_63 Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 2 hours ago, old-tank said: Tried balancing again: dynamic balance and tried to put the weighs in the center of the rim as close as possible to the outside. Never could get repeatable results so I relented and had the weights installed outside ON MY NICELY PAINTED RIMS. Marginal improvement, so they recommended road force balancing. After already spending $150, i will not spend an additional $125 on those junky tires. Time to call Diamondback to see if they will pay to attempt to salvage those tires or replace them or refund. That sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avgwarhawk Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 3 hours ago, old-tank said: Tried balancing again: dynamic balance and tried to put the weighs in the center of the rim as close as possible to the outside. Never could get repeatable results so I relented and had the weights installed outside ON MY NICELY PAINTED RIMS. Marginal improvement, so they recommended road force balancing. After already spending $150, i will not spend an additional $125 on those junky tires. Time to call Diamondback to see if they will pay to attempt to salvage those tires or replace them or refund. Ask for a new set of tires. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 Maybe you could try a static balance with the wheels and tires mounted on the car. You could even pull the tires from one end and see how the wheels do alone, then try one tire. If you think something is suspicious rotate the tire on the rim and redo. I have spent time balancing wheels that were made that way. I always liked my own triangulated bubble balance jobs. Those spinners never impressed me. Time to go outside the box. In the end at least you can say "These tires are bad and I'll tell you why." 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank DuVal Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 3 hours ago, 60FlatTop said: Maybe you could try a static balance with the wheels and tires mounted on the car. OK, I thought static balance was something that was not in motion, like the bubble balance. How do you do that on the car? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 Put the wheel on the front, loosen up the brake, turn wheel and find the spot that always stops at the bottom, add weight at the top. Adjust as necessary until the wheel never stops at the same spot. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 (edited) I think we are spinning our wheels here though (pun intended). If the tires won't balance there is something wrong, and contacting the vendor is the next step. It could be tire runout, or the tires could be seriously out of balance, or it could be trouble with the wheels. Whoever is mounting the tires should be able to check the bare wheels on the spin balancer to rule out any problems there. Spin balancers are very useful, and if old-tank had one of his own, there are some things that could be tried. Most people do not have a spin balancer laying around. Back in the day when something wouldn't spin balance, one of my employers would drag out a bubble balancer and static balance the tire with it. It usually solved the problem. Still, there was probably something else wrong like a tire or wheel not running quite true. Edited November 18, 2021 by Bloo (see edit history) 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 If there's something wrong with the internal construction of the tire (e.g., shifted belt, wrinkle, ???) it may be invisible when looking at the finished product. Assuming the defect results in an imbalance, that could certainly be addressed by balancing the wheel/tire, however, your butt or hand on the wheel will still feel the underlying defect every time that spot hits the pavement... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 48 minutes ago, EmTee said: If there's something wrong with the internal construction of the tire (e.g., shifted belt, wrinkle, ???) it may be invisible when looking at the finished product. Assuming the defect results in an imbalance, that could certainly be addressed by balancing the wheel/tire, however, your butt or hand on the wheel will still feel the underlying defect every time that spot hits the pavement... That is a problem that "road force balancing" is supposed to address My tire shop has a device that finds the heavy spot on the wheel and and unmounted tire and mounts the tire appropriately to cancel. For narrow tires on my Buicks whether 760-15 bias or 225/75R15 static balance with the weights on the inside has worked for us the past 30 years. The static balance is performed on the same spinning machine used for dynamic balance...just a setting on the computer. On my previous set 3 tires required no weights and one required 0.75 oz and needed no attention for 6 years and 30K miles. On cars with 50-60-70 series tires dynamic balance will give the best results since the computer divides the tire. These tires would be satisfactory for 90% who only drive locally at low speeds, but I drive 5-7K miles and at least one cross country trip each year. The vibration comes on at 65 mph where I drive and gets worse the faster I drive....at 85 mph the rear view mirror image is just a blur. Waiting for Diamondback to return my call... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted November 19, 2021 Author Share Posted November 19, 2021 Talked to the folks at diamondback radial and they essentially gave me the middle finger. No refund or return unless I identify the bad tire or tires. So I bent over one more time and had the road force balance done. They did not identify any bad tires and the results are tolerable right now. If you buy junk like this just take it in for road force balance in the first place and save a few dollars. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 Thats a shame Willie. Sorry they were so uncooperative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 13 hours ago, old-tank said: They did not identify any bad tires and the results are tolerable right now So, how does the arrangement of weights now differ from what was there before the road force balance? I'm assuming there are clip-on weights on both sides of the wheels. Did the total amout of weight increase, decrease, or just move...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted November 20, 2021 Author Share Posted November 20, 2021 2 hours ago, EmTee said: 15 hours ago, old-tank said: They did not identify any bad tires and the results are tolerable right now So, how does the arrangement of weights now differ from what was there before the road force balance? I'm assuming there are clip-on weights on both sides of the wheels. Did the total amout of weight increase, decrease, or just move...? Weights on both sides; completely different size and location of weights. 2 tires were broken down and moved about 20 degrees on the rim; technician noted how flimsy the tires were. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted November 20, 2021 Author Share Posted November 20, 2021 Boosted the tire pressures from 35 psi to 40 psi and the handling is much improved; ride was a little harsher. I did not get a chance to check balance at those pressures since the only high speed and smooth highway (I-10) was a parking lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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