Pacemaker tires

[Deleted User]

I'm in the situation of needing to get new tires for my 1950 Pacemaker. The ones on the car are thirty years old now and it seems time to replace them. I haven't dared to go onto a highway or travel any distance because of the age of the tires, but until now I've had other uses for the money and have put off a tire purchase. In looking in Hemmings at the tire ads, I find there are B.F. Goodriches for $199.00 (I'm talking bias ply, not radials) and Universal has their own brand for $168.00. However, a local collector car dealer I've spoken to says to stay away from the Universal brand because you get what you pay for and he doesn't feel they are good. But, then, he has a good deal more money than I have. Does anyone out there in Hudson land have any advice on this matter, or are there other bias ply brands available besides the two I'm aware of?

I appreciate any help you can give me in my search.

Thanks, Middletom

Jon B

You might try Googling "antique car tires". There are several companies making them. You might even try Ebay for used ones; sometimes someone will upgrade their tires and have a whole set of fairly new ones for sale. I've never bought tires for a Stepdown and don't know what size you use, but $168 seems awfully expensive for bias ply blackwalls (don't know if you're looking for white or black).

Aaron D. IL

I have radials on my 1950 Pacemaker but I've head good things about Diamondback tires.

[Deleted User]

middletom wrote:

I'm in the situation of needing to get new tires for my 1950 Pacemaker. The ones on the car are thirty years old now and it seems time to replace them. I haven't dared to go onto a highway or travel any distance because of the age of the tires, but until now I've had other uses for the money and have put off a tire purchase. In looking in Hemmings at the tire ads, I find there are B.F. Goodriches for $199.00 (I'm talking bias ply, not radials) and Universal has their own brand for $168.00. However, a local collector car dealer I've spoken to says to stay away from the Universal brand because you get what you pay for and he doesn't feel they are good. But, then, he has a good deal more money than I have. Does anyone out there in Hudson land have any advice on this matter, or are there other bias ply brands available besides the two I'm aware of?

I appreciate any help you can give me in my search.

Thanks, Middletom

Stay away from BIAS ply tire on todays roads. When you hit a split in the concrete you better be hanging on the steering wheel. Radial tires is the only way to go today. Find a GOODYEAR dealer and take the size tire that is on your car and they will come up with a correct size radial to replace it. I just replaced the first set I got from them 9 years ago and 90,000 miles. Stay away from those antique tire replacements, I blew out all 4 on my first trip to Florida from CA. Press Kale had the same problems. Not make for highway speeds, only show and tell. Walt.

[Deleted User]

Putting on radials is the single best performance and safety upgrade you can do on an old car. Better than headers, cam, etc. As Walt said, bias ply's are good for car shows but they make some great looking WWW radials.

Unknown

The "Old Wives Tales" about how radial tires can not be used on the "Old Style" cars and trucks is just that; "Old Wives Tales.' No truth to the tale at all. If there was we would still all be driving horse and buggy vehicles for heavens sake!

Imagine the savings in gasoline and oil costs!!!

But think of how bad off we wouild be with the liquid and semi-solid polution that animals produce where ever they go. Not to mention that even when you are not using them you still have to feed and care for them. Think about the size of the 'garage' and attached field that is required year round! Vet Bills? Makes Nuclear Waste look and smell tame.

WOW !

Radials for me! On 'Old Cars and Pick Ups!' Yes (except for my Father-in-law and our eldest son) Anybody can maintain them!

[Deleted User]

nhp1127 wrote:

Putting on radials is the single best performance and safety upgrade you can do on an old car.

I STRONGLY second that suggestion! Driving my '39 became a joy after switching to radials.



If you do decide to switch to radials, find out what size bias ply tire you car had when it left the factory. Give the sales rep the original size and they will sell you the correct size tire for your car. Been there, done that! :rolleyes:



Kevin C.

Ol racer

FYI

I also have radials on my '37 Solid Axle Terraplane and highly recommend Radial tires as the only way to go today....

Aaron D. IL

I'm running 215/75R 15's on my Pacemaker from my local discount Tire place on the original rims. Blackwalls but you can get WWW's

faustmb

Aaron D. IL wrote:

I'm running 215/75R 15's on my Pacemaker from my local discount Tire place on the original rims. Blackwalls but you can get WWW's

I have the same on my 1950 Pacemaker. Mine are about 4 years old, bought from the local tire dealer - low cost 40K mile radial. I think I got a set of 4 for about $200-$250. The car has had radials for over 20 years with no issues.



Matt

Lee ODell

Not all radial tires are good radial tires. There are different ratings of quality. I tried cheap ONCE! Pep Boys had a sale. Four radials for $99. Worst handling car I ever drove after having them installed. Because of high winds I was only driving 45 M.P.H. on the freeway. A crosswind caused the car to go out of control. It took 3 lanes of freeway to get it back under control. Even with no wind they were evil handling. Before I could change the tires a drunk driver ran into the car and totaled it. At least it wasn't a Hudson that was totaled. I've had tread seperation on some better grade radials: Dunlap, Firestone and Remington. However, I've had no problem with top of the line Michelin, Goodyear and B.F Goodrich. If you want safety, get good quality radials not cheap radials. Top of the line radials for me. Also, if you want to improve the handling of your car, instal larger diameter anti sway bars. Have a good day and choose wisely. Lee

[Deleted User]

What is the recommendation on using tubes in radial tires?

Many years ago we did in bias tires. But now, would it be any safer? Thanks, Bob

[Deleted User]

bobdriveshudson wrote:

What is the recommendation on using tubes in radial tires?

Many years ago we did in bias tires. But now, would it be any safer? Thanks, Bob

Stay away from tubes, radials are not made for them. Walt.

bellbigdawg

do they make manual steering hudson's harder to steer in slow speed situations? or do they make it better?

[Deleted User]

bellbigdawg wrote:

do they make manual steering hudson's harder to steer in slow speed situations? or do they make it better?

Have your front end aligned and have them add one more degree of caster. Toe in set at 1/16 inch. Make sure you have no play in the wheel bearings. Run the air pressure listed on the side wall and it will steer easier than when you had Bias ply tires on. Walt.

[Deleted User]

I want to thank all who answered my inquiry. At the time I wrote it I wasn't sure what size the car takes and my guess turned out wrong. The correct size goes for about $150.00 in bias ply. Once I got down to the barn and checked my car, I found that the tires put on by the man I bought the car from were G78-15. The person at Coker tire that I spoke to said that those were from the 1970s, so the car owner didn't go for authentic appearance. Those G78s have served well but I do know how they grab and jump on certain types of rough or crowned roads. The radial size is 215-75R-15, but all that I can find are in the area of $200.00 and right now that is a bit out of my reach.

At a car show a few years ago I was talking to a man with a fifties Studebaker and he showed me one of the radials from his car which he had in the trunk. It was absolutely shredded. He wasn't too impressed with radials, but I don't know what type or quality they were.

Again, thanks for your help and suggestions

middletom

Unknown

Keep in mind that radial tires were first developed for cars in 1948 by Michelin for improved handling and performance, including better gas mileage,and as they were proven became the norm for modern cars. Why anyone would want to use old technology when there is a vast improvement is beyond me.

[Deleted User]

I had bias plys on the Hash when I first bought it, I forgot how noisy they were in the old days when doing any kind of hard cornering, plus the feeling that they were about to come lose from the road. I put radials on and I love them, the ride got better, the handling improved except at a crawl when you really have to muscle the car, and the tires quit chasing cracks on the freeway. I got my tires from Ed Mueller of Muellers Muscle Cars but if I was buying again I would by them from Lucas Tires and save a few bucks. I'm not saying Ed didn't do me right because he did but when you are spending a couple of hundred bucks a tire you need to save where you can. If you get WWW tires expect to pay over $200 per tire. If you have a continental kit don't make the mistake I did. I went up a tire size and my spare won't fit under the conny kit, so I have a spare that is one size smaller than the tires on the car.



Harry

7XPacemaker

There is a strong rumor that radial tires are going to have a life on them. EVERY radial tire made has a date code on them. They are finding out that after 5 or more years that the radial tires failure rate increases drastically. Bias ply tires do not have this problem because there are no steel cords in them. This legislation has not passed yet but I wouldn't be surprised if it does. Also, the last time that I looked, the comparable radial was A LOT wider than the bias ply. For most cars that isn't a problem. When I bought my '51 sedan it had radials on it. I cursed for a while as I tried to wiggle the rear tire out from the fenderwell. I know that once you release the air out of the tire, I makes it easier to remove from the fenderwell but do I want to do it on the highway? Not me. Point of the story is this: Both bias and radials have their pros and cons. Walt says to have the front end realigned to run radials and you'll be not have any problems with steering from a standstill. That may be true with a Hornet steering box or perhaps my pacemaker was the odd man out, but It was near impossible to turn the steering wheel unless the car was moving. I went back to bias on my Pacemaker and wouldn't ever go back to radials. Are radials a better tire? Of course they are. My Pacemaker tracked completely different (better) with radials. I didn't have to "grab" the steering wheel when there was a crack in the road or a tar strip. It all boils down to personal preference. By the way- Coker tire owns Universal tires. There are a lot of people who run Cokers and don't have a problem. Just my two cents worth......

[Deleted User]

middletom wrote:

I want to thank all who answered my inquiry. At the time I wrote it I wasn't sure what size the car takes and my guess turned out wrong. The correct size goes for about $150.00 in bias ply. Once I got down to the barn and checked my car, I found that the tires put on by the man I bought the car from were G78-15. The person at Coker tire that I spoke to said that those were from the 1970s, so the car owner didn't go for authentic appearance. Those G78s have served well but I do know how they grab and jump on certain types of rough or crowned roads. The radial size is 215-75R-15, but all that I can find are in the area of $200.00 and right now that is a bit out of my reach.

At a car show a few years ago I was talking to a man with a fifties Studebaker and he showed me one of the radials from his car which he had in the trunk. It was absolutely shredded. He wasn't too impressed with radials, but I don't know what type or quality they were.

Again, thanks for your help and suggestions

middletom

That guy didn't buy the correct radials for the way he was going to drive his car and he must of bought the cheap tires. Radials are rated and you have to get the correct rating for your style of driving. Check my tech tip book volume 2, March-April page 13, or get you WTN 2006 March- April and read the difference in Radials. You can buy cheap or buy smart. I got 90,000 miles out of my last set of Radials. So far 35,000 on the replacements.

[Deleted User]

Though I have experienced the grabbing and wandering with the bias ply, I will go that route again, and hope that in the near future radials will become a possibility for me. As I don't have to run on concrete roads, there should not be a problem for my highway usage.

middletom

7XPacemaker

Personally, I think that your decision is a wise one. Pacemaker steering boxes are substandard in comparison to Hornet gearboxes. I believe that using the wider radial tires causes premature failure of the little pacemaker gearbox. Walt said it best when he said that it depends on your driving. Let's face it- most of us are lucky to put 2000 miles a year on these cars. At that rate, irregardless of what you spend on radials, you should replace them at 10,000 miles with the estimate of 2000 miles per year. I personally can't justify that.

super651

7XPacemaker wrote:

Personally, I think that your decision is a wise one. Pacemaker steering boxes are substandard in comparison to Hornet gearboxes. I believe that using the wider radial tires causes premature failure of the little pacemaker gearbox. Walt said it best when he said that it depends on your driving. Let's face it- most of us are lucky to put 2000 miles a year on these cars. At that rate, irregardless of what you spend on radials, you should replace them at 10,000 miles with the estimate of 2000 miles per year. I personally can't justify that.

Has anyone had a set of the COOPER radial tires lately. (made in USA)

Thanks to all Rudy

7XPacemaker

Cooper tires have some of the best wear characteristics of ANY tire on the market. I have ran many sets of them from their Discoverer line to the Cobra performance tire. I have never had any other tire wear better than Cooper. However, ANY radial tire is susceptible to deterioration. Bias tires do not fall into the same category as radials. I am not saying that Bias ply tires don't deteriorate, just not as fast as radials do. I will probably never put enough miles on a radial tire to make it worth my while.

[Deleted User]

super651 wrote:

Has anyone had a set of the COOPER radial tires lately. (made in USA)
Thanks to all Rudy

My nice brand X had two new Coopers on the front when I bought it 5 years ago. I had to replace them last fall with 35,000 miles on them. There was still some tread, but they were starting to dry out and crack. The heat is hard on tires here in Vegas. Overall, I was pleased with those tires.

[Deleted User]

Hi Hudson Dave Here . If you go to my web-page there is all the enformation you have asked for on this thread . Convertion chart from bias to raidals,do s and don'ts on tubes in Raidals , and proper fit rims for your tire . And Cooper built WWW Raidals . :eek: at a reasonable price . All stepdowns took an optional 760+15 tire in raidals is a P225-75=15 . fits on the rear of stepdowns with ABSOLUTELY no Problems . The only place it won't fit is in the spare tire well . Thanks Hudson Dave [url]www.FatWhiteWalls.com:D[/url]

Unknown

Hudson Dave wrote:

Hi Hudson Dave Here . If you go to my web-page there is all the enformation you have asked for on this thread . Convertion chart from bias to raidals,do s and don'ts on tubes in Raidals , and proper fit rims for your tire . And Cooper built WWW Raidals . :eek: at a reasonable price . All stepdowns took an optional 760+15 tire in raidals is a P225-75=15 . fits on the rear of stepdowns with ABSOLUTELY no Problems . The only place it won't fit is in the spare tire well . Thanks Hudson Dave [URL="http://www.FatWhiteWalls.com:D"]www.FatWhiteWalls.com:D[/URL]

Dave:

If you have a stock 5 inch rim can you run the 225-75R-15? Or should you run a 215-75R-15 unless you go to the 5.5 inch or wider rim?

[Deleted User]

I have a lot of them running around on 5 inch wheels with NO PROBLEMS:) . THANKS Hudson Dave