tire brands

[deac]

My Buick needs tires and I like the Lester brand tires that I had on my 40 Pontiac Torpedo and my 39 Buick Special.  Those tires wore well and since I don't need a period correct name brand tire like Firestone, BF Goodrich or Goodyear a Lester branded is ok by me.  Coker also sells the Lester tire, however there a less expensive brand called Coker-Garfield.  Has anyone had experience with these tires?  Does the saying 'you get what you pay for' apply here?  

Edited August 7, 2023 by deac (see edit history)

[Mark Shaw]

Since you are in Souther CA, I suggest you try here: 

Lucas Tires Olympic Tread Tire - Performance Plus Tire

 

 

[Robert Winters]

Lucas tire only goes to 1946.  Ugh. Was hoping it went further 

[Bloo]

14 hours ago, deac said:

Coker also sells the Lester tire, however there a less expensive brand called Coker-Garfield.  Has anyone had experience with these tires?  Does the saying 'you get what you pay for' apply here?

Good question. If the picture is any indication, they are identical to Allstate (Sears) tires. They were calling them Garfield when I last looked, not Coker-Garfield. Garfield is a period brand isn't it? Now you have me wondering if they were rebranded, and if Garfield was really a thing. I think it was. The Allstates they look identical to have drawn some criticism in forums for having less than perfectly bright white whitewalls. That might be true, but they looked OK to me, and drove about like any other bias ply tires. As far as I know 650-16 is the only size the Garfields are currently reproduced in. If I were buying any 650-16 Bias, I would probably pick Garfields over the other 650-16 offerings. I do like the way they look. I always wind up on radials though. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Guest]

I used diamondback on the 38 and they have been doing very well, tubeless as well

[Bloo]

 

 

 

And I can't find any vintage reference to Garfield. The name must be recent.

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Bloo (see edit history)

[deac]

7 hours ago, Bloo said:

Good question. If the picture is any indication, they are identical to Allstate (Sears) tires. They were calling them Garfield when I last looked, not Coker-Garfield. Garfield is a period brand isn't it? Now you have me wondering if they were rebranded, and if Garfield was really a thing. I think it was. The Allstates they look identical to have drawn some criticism in forums for having less than perfectly bright white whitewalls. That might be true, but they looked OK to me, and drove about like any other bias ply tires. As far as I know 650-16 is the only size the Garfields are currently reproduced in. If I were buying any 650-16 Bias, I would probably pick Garfields over the other 650-16 offerings. I do like the way they look. I always wind up on radials though. Your mileage may vary.

 

These would be for my Buick which has already had a steering failure luckily at 1 mph; if it were at any decent road speed I would be dead or in the hospital.  So I am freaked out about that and I don't want to try to save money on tires and find out the hard way that I should have spent more for a better tire.  On the other I have heard that Coker manufacturers most tires for old cars by changing the tread pattern and rebrands them. I don't know if they change inner tire make up or not. But I cannot verify that!

[Lawrence Helfand]

1941 Century 66S ............Eight thousand miles on my Hancook tubeless radial blackwalls have been very impressive. Handling steering response ride quality wear all A + .  I like to drive with confidence and safety so tubed bias ply tires are not for me and black walls rule! 

[deac]

I'm bringing back an old thread here.  I have been advised by numerous old car guys that running radials on a car the was originally designed for bias ply tires is hard on the suspension. I know I will loose some stability when I switch back to bias plies.  However when I bought my Pontiac and it had radials and I put back to bias plies and I felt little to no loss in stability.  Any thoughts?

[The 55er]

I've run radials on many cars that were originally equipped with bias plys and have had no issues whatsoever. 

[Bloo]

13 minutes ago, deac said:

I felt little to no loss in stability.  Any thoughts?

Count your blessings and keep driving.

 

[deac]

32 minutes ago, Bloo said:

Count your blessings and keep driving.

 

LOL

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

30,000 miles and counting.  I will let you know if this is true!  Seriously, I did the trip to Seattle and back,4600+ miles, with NO suspension problems. 

 

 Old wives tale?

 

  Ben

[EmTee]

Maybe the higher performing radials simply expose latent issues associated with deferred suspension maintenance.

[Bloo]

I've found the opposite to be true. Radials can roll straight and feel fine under less than perfect conditions. The rub is a loose suspension with radial tires on it is still loose and won't do what it needs to if you have to take sudden evasive maneuvers. Radials also tend to mask suspension and alignment problems that can destroy tires. Rolling straight lulls people into believing everything is OK, when maybe it isn't. I have seen people who did not bother to fix and align the suspension chew the edge of new tires down to steel belts in a week.

[deac]

Well at this point I am going to put my Buick back on bias plies and get it aligned.  I do a lot more city street driving than highway driving and bias plies are a lot easier to work with.  

[Robert Winters]

Speaking of alignment, What kind of alignment is needed for a Buick?  My model is 34 Buick series 68C?  Is it just the front wheels or all 4 wheels can be aligned ?

 

I prefer to get white wall radials after aligned 

 

thanks

Robert

Edited September 23, 2023 by Robert Winters (see edit history)

[28Buick]

I replaced Lester bias ply antique tires with modern radials on my '63 Lincoln. This made a world of difference in improved stability, roadfeel and handling. The tendency to be steered by pavement grooves disappeared. The car finally went exactly where intended and no longer slipped and squealed on high speed corners. As correctly stated any loose suspension issues must be first corrected. So all rubber suspension items were replaced front & rear, and the steering box was rebuilt to get it there. IMHO the hyped "radial tuned suspension" of decades ago was primarily a marketing ploy.

[Daves1940Buick56S]

4 wheel alignment didn't become a thing until the 1990s.

[deac]

I am doing homework on tires and I was all set on bias plies from Coker.  But today I read an admittedly older thread regarding tires and how the quality of bias plies was not very good.  They would puncture easily, the tubes were really thin and the whitewalls would develop brown streak after a while.  As I said this thread was from a few years ago but I have to ask if any premature failures have happened to anyone that recently bought bias plies.  Steering effort at slow speeds is a big deal to me so I am trying to get as much information on tires as I can.

[neil morse]

I have B.F. Goodrich Silvertown bias-ply 6.50X16's on my '41 that were on the car when I bought it six years ago.  I'm not sure how old they are, but they have performed very well in the time I've owned the car.  The whitewalls are still very presentable (no brown streaks), and Goodrich was one of OEM suppliers for '41.  I don't know what kind of tubes are on my car, but I've heard that truck tubes are thicker and hold up better.

[EmTee]

I bought a set of Firestone bias ply whitewalls from Lucas two years ago and have no complaints.  I am running them with their 'heavy duty' radial tubes.

 

https://lucasclassictires.com/