White Wall Tires

[Jimmie]

Looking for good used wide whitewall tires to fit a 62 Studebaker or suggestions.

[63t-cab]

Oh no,watch out for the white wall POLICE ! seriously though, why used and not new.

[rockne10]

If you install used WW tires, trailer it to shows and DO NOT DRIVE IT ! As Joe implied, wide white walls were never correct in '62. But, many like the look.

[hobiejack11]

If you are concerned about period correct then Coker Tire is the way to go. Used tires are not the way to go IMHO.

[StudeRich]

I am sure that USED Narrow White Walls or Blackwalls would be pretty easy to find in P205X75R15, P215X75R15, P215X70R15 and all would work fine.

But Wide White Walls nowadays, have to be Classic Car Tires; Coker or Diamond Back, so finding useable tires in that category, is going to be a LOT more of a challenge.

If you want some to temporarily "hold the car up" and hold air but without enough tread to drive on, that might make it easier to find, because what Studebaker owner EVER throws ANYTHING away?

[stude dude]

Are these not considered wide?

[StudeRich]

They are Wide if they go all the way to the Rim.

These are the correct '62 White walls that do NOT roll onto the shoulder like a 1950's tire, they are narrower than older wide whites and have a Black "rub rail outboard of the Whitewall. 1962 was the last year Studebaker used WIDE Whites.

In certain sizes, Coker will sell you those Old 50's type which are wrong for your 60's Car.

Those are actually wider than they look on Off-White Wheels and on a White Car.

[TWChamp]

Are these not considered wide?[ATTACH=CONFIG]46838[/ATTACH]

No, I just see a light colored wheel with a rather narrow whitewall, maybe an inch and a quarter or so. Wide whites would be about 3 or 4 inches wide.

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

No, I just see a light colored wheel with a rather narrow whitewall, maybe an inch and a quarter or so. Wide whites would be about 3 or 4 inches wide.

In August of 1961 my mother bought a brand new 1961 Hawk. The whitewalls on it were 1-3/4" wide. I know because I measured them! US Royal Safety 8 brand as I recall.

[stude dude]

Really? How about these?

The Firestone 500's they used in 1964 had about 1-1/4" of white wall on them, but there was an area of black tire visible between the white band and the off-white wheel rim. So know one could ever consider them to be WWW. But all of the factory photos I've seen of 1962 models show the white wall area (whatever the width may have been) reaching inwards to the rim itself. I would have still considered those to be WIDE white walls, even if they were not as wide as those used in earlier years.

[rockne10]

They are Wide if they go all the way to the Rim.

I would concur.

[swvalcon]

Here's what a wide white wall looks like on a GT and they will not be back on the car when done.

[BobPalma]

Realistically, the "correct" whitewall tire width for most 1962 Studebaker Larks will be all but impossible to find. It was a narrow band that touched the wheel rim, like those on the period 1962 Lark Pace Car photo taken on the infield of The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, shown in other posts to this topic. They were pretty much unique to Studebakers and maybe a few Pontiac Tempests that used 15" wheels.

Take a close look at these 1963 Promotional Post Cards. Keep in mind that they would have been taken in the summer of 1962, so you can see the unusual narrow band touching the white wheel rim on the Cruiser, but the "regular" narrow band, away from the wheel, on the Hawk:



By 1965 or 1966, tires with that odd 1962 / early 1963 whitewall width were just about all gone from the OEM production runs, being replaced with the more conventional "narrow white" when the time came for a car's OEM tires to be replaced. The more conventional "narrow white" did not extend all the way to the wheel rim. It was used on some 1963s, especially all Hawks, and all 1964-1966 models with whitewall tire option, and just about every other make of car through most of the late 1960s.

So, really, Jimmie; there's no need to pursue finding dead-on correct WSW tires for a 1962 model. If you did, even if they were brand new, they'd be over 50 years old by now and not advisable to use. BP

[Dick Steinkamp]

The Big 3 had pretty much switched by 1962...









...but Studebaker held on to the "old school" look for a while (some would argue that the later 62 Studes DID have the narrower WW). Maybe using up tires they had in inventory?, or maybe concerned that their clientele were not ready for the "new" look?, or maybe they were able to get the older whitewall tires cheaper from the manufacturers?...who knows.

The OP MAY want the WWWs because he LIKES them. Not because he believes them to be correct for the year. I'll give him permission to use them for either or any reason.

[StudeRich]

It has been my experience with West Coast Cars, maybe not the same as as Bob P.'s area experiences, that the ONLY Cars that came with those Odd "to the wheel" narrow White Walls were very Early 1963's.

We must have had 8 or 10 Stude. Dealers pretty much surrounding where I lived in the Southwest L.A. Area (South Bay) that I regularly visited, including the Largest one in Inglewood where Dad worked, and I never saw a '62 with the Odd WW's. And certainly not anything later than Early '63.
The late '62's at the Indy 500 were not normal production run of the Mill, "Sold" Cars.

Dad's New '64 Second Series Canadian Daytona H/T did come with those Odd WW's from U.S. Royal, but I noted some wear on them, so I am sure the Dealer had taken them off of a'63 maybe a Demo, I don't know why.
About Ten years ago I had to throw them away, I had saved them with 1/4 Tread for 39 years. Just because they were "Special" and Original Factory installed Tires on "some Car" and re-treadable I guess.