Question for Centurion about your tires

[Guest sintid58]

I know you had some problems with your tires on the trip to and home from Flint. Did they warranty the tires at all? Just curious as I was looking at some tires from the same company for my 55. Thanks

[Centurion]

Sid, thanks for asking. I did indeed suffer broken steel belts in two of my nearly new radial whitewall tires on the return trip from Flint. We ended up ditching all four of these tires, since the tire people we spoke with on the return trip concluded that the tires were defective and were amazed at the weights that our local tire dealer had used in its effort to balance the tires. I purchased inexpensive blackwall radials for the trip home, and these tires balanced up without problems. The '59 Buick now has a different look.

Interestingly, we went on a one-day Buick-Olds-Pontiac tour a couple of weeks ago. One of the fellows driving a beautiful '57 Olds Super 88 suddenly pulled over. Guess what? A steel belt had just broken in one of his wide whitewall radial tires, and this was exactly the same brand of tire I had been running on my '59 Buick.

In all honesty, the tires would have lasted for a much longer period of time had I not used them for the long trip to Flint. In that single trip, we put as many miles on the '59 Buick as we would otherwise put on it in three or four years. But I had opted for the expensive radial tires precisely because I wanted the car to be as driveable as possible, and I was amazed that the tires failed with so few miles on them.

I had ordered the tires through Les Schwab, which is a very reputable, customer-oriented tire dealer located throughout the Northwest. I will begin my quest for financial adjustment with Les Schwab, and expect that they will make a sincere effort to put things right. If I need to take it a step further, I have the name and customer service representative from the tire manufacturer, who is aware of my plight from my entry on the AACA Forum.

Quite frankly, I have been so busy at work and with family obligations since the return from Flint that I have not yet been able to take the car to Les Schwab and initiate the complaint process. I will keep you posted as soon as I have more to tell.

Our entire caravan from the Seattle area suffered very few problems on the trip to Flint. All of us drove at least 5,000 miles, with Eldridges ('57 Caballero and '59 Airstream trailer) driving 6,500 miles and Gary Klecka ('55 Roadmaster) driving 9,500 miles. With two exceptions (A/C compressor on '64 Wildcat and water pump on '65 Riviera), all problems were tire, wheel, and wheel bearing problems. Thankfully, there were no engine, transmission, or axle failures. Some of the straight-8 cars experienced some minor vapor lock problems on the steep Montana grades in 100+ degree heat, but everyone was always able to reach the motel for our scheduled nightly stop. Early in the trip, we all encouraged one another with the fact that we were driving Buicks and so it was a "given" that we would all make it to Flint. In fact, we all did make it.

Among all of the earlier Buicks making the trip, we had a couple of models from the 1980's traveling with us. These two cars probably performed less satisfactorily than the earlier models. The heat seemed to adversely affect the early electronic engine controls. We had one group comprised of a '55 Super convertible, '55 Roadmaster, '57 Century convertible, '57 Caballero (with Airstream), '57 Roadmaster convertible and an '85 Regal turbo. The fellows with the old nailheads said that they were always having to stop and wait for the '85 to catch up at the top of each mountain!

[Matt Harwood]

Would you mind naming the brand of tire you purchased? I don't think recounting your experiences here counts as libel against any company, just your experience. I've heard a lot of rumors about the Coker tires and before I order mine, I want to make sure I don't get tires that will fail. There's just no excuse for that in this day and age.

Has anybody used Diamondback Classics? They vulcanize the whitewalls onto tires to make whitewalls. Do they look goofy? If I can send them the tires I want, they'll put a whitewall of any width on them.

Just wondering what our best option is. Please consider telling us whose tires they are and what size you were using.

[Centurion]

Matt, I was running Coker Classic radial wide whitewall tires on my '59 Electra. I, too, have been hearing numerous stories of problems with these tires, and I can tell you that Coker is receiving a lot of feedback about the problems.

I will keep you posted about my success in obtaining some kind of financial adjustment. As you know, these tires are not inexpensive.

I will also be very curious to learn whether Coker addresses its quality problems. A friend of mine recently purchased new Coker radials for his '55 Roadmaster, and reports balancing and vibration problems. Another friend purchased new Coker wide whitewall bias-ply tires for his '55 Roadmaster, and again reports vibration problems that suggest that the tires are out-of-true. How much of the problem can be accounted for by the old Buick steel wheels is not known. The mechanic and tire guy in Manitowoc, Wisconsin who helped me diagnose my tire problems stated that he had far greater confidence in the old wheels than in the tires. (Amazingly, this fellow also owns a '59 Electra, which his grandfather purchased new!)

I would also be interested in any feedback regarding alternatives to the Coker tires.

[Matt Harwood]

I just read the thread on tires on the AACA board as well. Sounds like both the BFGs and the Coker WWW radials are troublesome. It seems that Coker is working to make things right with their customers, so I'm anxious to see how they handle your issue.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

[rocketraider]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Has anybody used Diamondback Classics? They vulcanize the whitewalls onto tires to make whitewalls. Do they look goofy? If I can send them the tires I want, they'll put a whitewall of any width on them.</div></div>

Matt, I have no personal experience running Diamondbacks, but I saw their product up close and talked at length with them at Spring Charlotte, and I was impressed. If I needed a whitewall I couldn't get at a major brand tire store that's the way I would go. The business owner is a professional rubber chemist/engineer and has been in the business many years. I would have no reservations about their product as the whitewall (or red, or gold, or blue) stripe/lettering is vulcanised onto a new American-made radial tire casing. This can be either a major-brand tire, or a second-tier tire as certain 57-68 GM cars need a BIG 14" tire which the majors don't make anymore- not enough market for them. Thank God for Hercules and Cooper/Mastercraft, who still make a 225/75R14 tire.

Jerry Acheson has Diamondbacks on his 62 Electra and has praised them several times in the Forums.

RE BFG- I have had several sets of Goodrich tires and only one bad set- a set of Advantage T/As on a 1980 Thunderbird, bought right after that tireline came out. I got some vibration out of those and finally replaced the whole set, no more problems.

I've had worse luck with Goodyear tires than any other brand I've ever owned. An uncle went thru hoops with Firestones back in the 70s, and my dad refused to put a Dayton Thorobred on any vehicle he owned, though I had excellent service out of two sets. He ran General and Seiberling tires as long as he could get them locally, and after that generally bought whatever 40000 mile tire was on sale.

[Guest 53and61]

I got WWs for my '61 from Diamondback. The tires look fine -- not exactly the same as old bias-ply 7.60-15s but about as close as I've seen in radials. Of course, the white part is slightly raised from the surface of the carcass. Diamondback claimed to be supplying radials that had a relatively high profile, to look similar to bias-ply tires, and indeed, they don't interfere with the strut rods in tight turns as my old radials did. They were very helpful in determining the correct WW width, and their service was fast.

[Guest sintid58]

I thought they were coker tires but wasn't sure. I was just curious thanks.

[Guest 70 Electra]

I find all this very interesting. It is a reminder that radial tires are not the panacea they are frequently portrayed to be! <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[The Old Guy]

I just replaced the tires on my 40 Super last fall. This is the fourth set , (they last about 30,000 miles) I had some problems with the last set, but the new ones are fine. I run 700X 15 Goodyears from Coker. I can't find a whitewall wide enough in a radial, so I stay with the bias tires, and they work fine. I just returned from the Great lakes Regional and ran from Erie PA to Flint in less that 6 hours ,and we stopped for breakfast.

[AK Buickman]

In a little more than one month's time this summer, I drove my '55 Roadmaster over 9,500 miles using Coker bias-ply U.S. Royal wide whitewall tires. There were no failures with these tires on this trip-- and this includes driving over some less than perfect road surfaces in construction zones, along with high-speed interstate driving during 100 degree temperatures.

This is my second set of Coker bias-ply U.S Royals on my '55, having to replace the first set because they were over 10 years old. I never had any failures with my first set, and this includes driving to Alaska in 1996.

I don't have to "fight the steering wheel" much on my '55 with my bias-ply tires, unless the road ruts are really deep, so I feel that bias ply tires are not dangerous. (loose steering & suspensions are)

Oh, by the way, I have enough faith in bias-ply tires that the ONLY spare tire that I carried in my '55 during my recent 9,513 mile trip was the original spare that was put in the trunk of this car in 1954--, and is still in the trunk. I have yet to use the spare.

Long live bias-ply tires!!

AK Buickman, BCA #1955........

[old-tank]

I am in aggreement with AK Buickman. I have bought 5 sets of 760-15 BFG bias ply tires from Coker Tire and have had no failures in the two sets I have worn out. All have balanced well, worn evenly and handle well. And they look good too.

Willie

[AK Buickman]

I also like the appearance of the higher bias-ply tires on an old Buick. The car sits up where the factory designed it to be. The car looks like it did when it was manufactured--PROUD to be a BUICK!

AK Buickman, BCA #1955

[Centurion]

Time for an update on this topic -- at long last. I worked through the tire retailer from whom I had purchased the Coker Classic tires in the first place. After three months, no progress had been made. The battle I faced is that we had to leave the defective tires behind at the tire stores where I replaced them (Manitowoc, Wisconsin and Sioux Falls, South Dakota). The combination of luggage and the goodies obtained at the swap meet in Flint had more than filled the trunk of the '59 Buick, and pride prevented me from strapping the old tires to the roof! I was not even thinking well enough to request that the tire dealers store the defective Cokers for shipment back to Coker if required, although I had extensive notes from the tire dealers about the problems.

Today, I contacted the customer service manager at Coker Tire. This is what I should have done in the first place! Jess Hoodenpyle was extremely helpful, and listened carefully to my entire story. I acknowledged that the defective tires were gone, but he understood that I was entitled to some adjustment. I had posted my experiences on a Coker Tire thread on the AACA Forum, and Jess had read my story several months ago. I believe that I had some credibility with him from my earlier comments on the Forum.

Jess gave me the opportunity to state what I would consider to be an acceptable resolution to the issue. I replied that I was hoping for a substantial credit toward the replacement of the tires, and that was exactly what he agreed to do. The credit is equal to about 60% of the cost of the replacement tires, which seemed reasonable given that I had driven about 10,000 miles on the Cokers before the tire failures. Coker will also pay for shipping the replacements to my home. Coker is introducing a B.F. Goodrich wide whitewall radial that is a more "correct-appearing" tire for my '59 than the Coker-branded radials, so I may opt to try the Goodrich tires. Jess mentioned that Coker was transferring production of its tires from Ohio to Mexico at about the time my original set was manufactured, and there may have been a higher incidence of tire defects among the tires produced at that time.

I'm pleased with the way that this has worked out.