New White Walls

[jcarmichael]

As soon as Dick put the link to Lucas Tire on the forum I called and ordered the Port-a-wall white walls. I found out a couple of things:
# 1 I'm not as tough as I once was.
# 2 There is a new thing called safty rims that wasn't around the last time I used these.
# 3 The radial tires don't work out as well as they leave a wrinkle in the bottom.
# 4 I should have gone with 2 or 2 1/2 inch white walls for the year of car.

I used a rather heavy duty "bead breaker"



Here Is a finished picture. You can see the small wrinkle at the bottom of the tire.




1961 Lark

[mbstude]

We have one of those ancient tire changers... BTW, LOVE the look! Wide whites really add that 'touch' to a Stude. Especially a sedan. Wow, that's one nice car...

Matthew Burnette, the 16 year old Stude nut.
South Georgia Chapter Newsletter Editor
63 Daytona HT (project)
51 2R16 dump truck (yes, I won the raffle)
52 Commander Starliner (basket case)(will trade for another Stude <g&gt
MANY more Studes in the family and a few parts cars.
Click my name and check out "Links".

[Dick Steinkamp]

They still look good, Jim []

[stude freak]

nice bead breaker

[Guido]

If you had used a E-40 Transtar you would have eliminated the wrinkle!

Guido Salvage - "Where rust is beautiful"

1946 M-16 fire truck
1948 M-16 grain truck
1949 2R16A grain truck
1949 2R17A fire truck
1955 E-38 grain truck
1957 3E-40 flatbed
1961 6E-28 grain truck
1962 7E-13D 4x4 rack truck
1962 Champ pickup
1962 GT Hawk 4 speed
1964 Avanti R2 4 speed
1964 Cruiser
And various other "treasures"

[r1lark]

quote:Originally posted by jcarmichael

As soon as Dick put the link to Lucas Tire on the forum I called and ordered the Port-a-wall white walls. # 3 The radial tires don't work out as well as they leave a wrinkle in the bottom.
# 4 I should have gone with 2 or 2 1/2 inch white walls for the year of car.
You can see the small wrinkle at the bottom of the tire.

Jim,

Do the porta-walls 'flap around' when driving with the radials?

Paul

Visit The Studebaker Skytop Registry website at: http://hometown.aol.com/r1skytop/myhomepage/index.html

[klifton1]

The flopped around with bias ply tires.
Klif

[Dick Steinkamp]

quote:Originally posted by r1lark


Do the porta-walls 'flap around' when driving with the radials?

I've had them on my '55 C-dan (bias ply tires) and on the '55 Speedster Kustom (radial tires). They didn't "flop" around on either. They are kind of concave and difficult for the air to get between them and the tire. I had them on cars in the mid 60's for many many miles with no probs.

I did have some problem with them "sneaking" out from under the rim, but if the tire bead is cleaned and all lubricant (soap) cleaned off and if you use the trick (I think pointed out by Jim) of inflating the tire, seating the bead, then deflating and "palming" the port a wall all the way under the rim then re-inflating, they stay put nicely.

With that said, they are certainly not as good as the real thing...just a whole lot cheaper [^]

[rockne10]

From my experience, at least with radials, they also make a scrunchy noise at low speeds.

[jcarmichael]

OK they don't hold up well at high speeds. I drove several miles above 70 and they started to come apart on the outside edge. They do make noise at slow speeds so overall I would not rate them as a success, however I still like the way they look.

1961 Lark

[JDP]

Yep, and they are not $19.95 a set anymore.

Studebaker On The Net http://stude.com
Studebaker News Group

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos.studebaker

64 Daytona HT
64 Daytona Convert.
64 R2 4 speed Challenger
63 R2 4 speed GT Hawk
63 R1 GT Hawk
63 Avanti R1/AC
63 Avanti R2/4 speed
62 Daytona HT
62 Lark 2 door
60 Hawk

[bondobilly]

Those wide white Porta gizmos do not work with radials. The tire sidewall flex is much different than bias ply, and there is always a spot where the phony white wall is at least 1/2 inch away from the tire. At speed they flap loudly.

Bill

[r1lark]

I know this thread is about PortaWalls.......but I saw a VERY scary thing on some 'real' wide whitewalls today.

A couple year old set of C***r (don't want to say the manufacturer's name, but they are located in TN) wide white radials, with around 7200 miles on them. Big cracks in the sidewalls, and huge lumps on the treads!

The owner had purchased the road hazard coverage from the company which covered about everything except Godzilla chewing the tires off the car<G>, but was told that he shouldn't have expected much more mileage than he got, because these were "show car tires". Wow......

Pretty much made my decision for me, my wide whites will come from DiamondBack Classics, since they use 'real' passenger car tires (versus "show car tires") from major manufacturers and vulcanize the wide white band onto the tires.

Paul

Visit The Studebaker Skytop Registry website at: http://hometown.aol.com/r1skytop/myhomepage/index.html