Antique tires

[Kdancy]

I've recently purchased 4 NOS Sears Allstate whitwall tires that were found in an abandoned warehouse, old bias ply made back in the 50's.
Which products do you recommend to clean and preserve them?

 

[57BORNTORUN]

You dont plan on driving on them do you?

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Pictures? I'd love to see some new/unused tires from 60 years ago and how they have aged. To the point that 57BORNTORUN made, you'd better think about whether they are safe to drive on at more than driveway speeds.

 

[Kdancy]

My plan is to clean them up and apply some type of protection. Prep and paint 4 stock Hudson or Studebaker rims and mount them with tubes on the rims. Then use them only for shows to have the period correct look without going to newly built tires. These have no cracks at all and are the correct stock size I want.
The guy that found them took the wrap off ):

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Then use them only for shows to have the period correct look without going to newly built tires. These have no cracks at all

So that's just on and off the trailer? Because having no cracks doesn't really mean anything, they haven't been under any load, I'd hate for you to have a catastrophic failure in your Hudson or Studebaker while you were driving on the highway to a show.

Another member had a thread about using his 12 year old spare tire as a regular tire, and a lot of members told him he was nuts and was going to have a blowout. I was one who said it would be fine, and luckily, it was.

But using a set of tires that's perhaps 60 years old, back when rubbers and generally quality control weren't as good, is pushing it, IMO. Be careful.

 

[Kdancy]

Two years ago I was working on a 1937 Hudson Terraplane that had a couple of tires on it that were made in the 40's.
I drove it all over locally with those tires before installing new ones to finish the build. My experience has been that you don't have the dry rot issues with bias belted tires that you have with radials. radials get scarry, even unused ones, after ten +years.

 

[MPBGT]

We had a 62 Chrysler Newport that we bought as a parts car. It had brand new bias plus on it, still had the blue on the whitewalls. We pumped them up and they we're find around town. I would not do high speed.
As for products I would use a good protectant, I'm biased to 303 since I work for the company and it's what I used on the Newport. I'm sure other people will chime in with other options.

 

[geekdout]

Even if you say you are just using it for shows at some point you are going to be driving around town on them. I don't think it comes down to if they will fail but when they will fail.

You can get just about anything from Coker Tire.

 

[MPBGT]

I don't think that anyone is advocating using these for a dd, but there is a significant difference between radial and bias ply tires. Typical radial failure is tread separation and is almost immediate blowout and or loss of control. Bias ply will normally start throwing small pieces of rubber and falling apart. Usually it's not an immediate blowout.
Again I'm not advocating using old tires for a car you drive on any type of regular basis. however the collector car world does it all the time on either all original cars or cars that have been restored for years and the tires are now 10+ years old.

Back to the op's question I suggest a good cleaning and a quality protectant.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

I don't think that anyone is advocating using these for a dd, but there is a significant difference between radial and bias ply tires. Typical radial failure is tread separation and is almost immediate blowout and or loss of control. Bias ply will normally start throwing small pieces of rubber and falling apart. Usually it's not an immediate blowout.
Again I'm not advocating using old tires for a car you drive on any type of regular basis. however the collector car world does it all the time on either all original cars or cars that have been restored for years and the tires are now 10+ years old.

Thanks for that additional info. In the old days I would have been "cool! vintage tires!" but I seem to be getting more conservative and a little chicken &%@# in my old age.

 

[MPBGT]

Thanks for that additional info. In the old days I would have been "cool! vintage tires!" but I seem to be getting more conservative and a little chicken &%@# in my old age.

We have a 59 Chrysler 300 E, being I chicago it sits more than it's driven. The car had new bias plys put on it when it was restored 20+ years ago. Every year the same tire would be flat after winter storage, every year for about 5 years we would refill it. It was such a slow leak that it would not lose enough pressure during the classic car season.

The tires looked great, but finally at sustained speeds of 70 for 3 + hours on a trip to ohio it started to throw chunks of rubber. The tire never went flat, we pulled into a gas station and put on the spare.

We now have WW radials on it. It all depends on use.

 

[Kdancy]

Nice Avanti!

 

[Blackthorn One]

Even if you say you are just using it for shows at some point you are going to be driving around town on them. I don't think it comes down to if they will fail but when they will fail.

You can get just about anything from Coker Tire.

Coker tire makes vintage looking wide whitewalls. Almost identical to originals. The rubber compounds have come a long way over the years, so new tires have much better rubber than 50 year old tires.

 

[cardaddy]

Coker tire makes vintage looking wide whitewalls. Almost identical to originals. The rubber compounds have come a long way over the years, so new tires have much better rubber than 50 year old tires.

That is what I was going to bring up. I mean is it just me... has nobody else heard of Corky Coker? You'd be hard pressed to find a tire for a vintage, or Antique vehicle that Coker Tire doesn't have. They have even bought up old (and long discontinued) tire molds from factories from around the world! :dblthumb2: You can even get "vintage" looking tire that has been built with modern radial technology. rops:

 

[Blackthorn One]

That is what I was going to bring up. I mean is it just me... has nobody else heard of Corky Coker? You'd be hard pressed to find a tire for a vintage, or Antique vehicle that Coker Tire doesn't have. They have even bought up old (and long discontinued) tire molds from factories from around the world! :dblthumb2: You can even get "vintage" looking tire that has been built with modern radial technology. rops:

I've heard it said that the most significant improvement in automotive performance is tires.
Overlooked, but with modern tires, your 67 L88 Corvette will be performing way better than it ever did when new.

 

[cardaddy]

I've heard it said that the most significant improvement in automotive performance is tires.
Overlooked, but with modern tires, your 67 L88 Corvette will be performing way better than it ever did when new.

Here here! :iagree:

I grew up in those bias ply days, and OMG were cars easy to break loose once you put a little power behind them.

Several cars I had back in the 70's, (including Mercury Comet (2 actually), Chevy (Chevelle, Camaro & Corvette), GTO (both 67, then later 73), even a Plymouth Fury 440 and a Javelin all had bias tires on them. The first Comet was a 2-bolt main with a few bolt on power adders and I wrapped it around a telephone pole, right in the drivers door! (Because the tires broke loose.) The second Comet was a 4-bolt main, built out the arse, (would pull the front wheels off the ground) and IT was on bias tires.

But by FAR... the scariest car I ever drove was probably that Javelin with stock 70 series tires on it. That one was a 425HP 401 with a slap stick auto, Dana posi-loc rear end and it'd smoke those skinny tires from a standing stop until you either stopped, or let off the gas. Could be going 40 and slap it in first and it'd go all sideways all the way till you got midway through third. Going 55 and hit second and it'd do the same darned thing. That big honking Fury (2 door car) swapped ends with me once doing about 90 on a country road and backed through the woods doing about 60!

Put radials on any of those cars and they would be totally different, TOTALLY different. First thing I did to my Vette after I bought it was get rid of the stupid bias ply tires! Made that puppy ride & drive like a dream. :dblthumb2:

 

[Kdancy]

how did a "how to clean and treat" nos bias belt tires morph into bias vs radials ? no one would argue that radials are a big handling-riding improvement over Bias belt tires.
The point is that these are origanil made in the 50's tires that I want to use as display in antique car shows for period authenticity.
(by the way, one of my favorite all time cars are the AMC AMX 401's)

 

[BillE]

I grew up in those bias ply days, and OMG were cars easy to break loose once you put a little power behind them.

Weren't those the fun days!?! Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

Bill

 

[Kdancy]

Well, here are the results--
670 X 15 NOS Tires Photos by studebaker2 | Photobucket

I washed all 4 tires with Oxywash and they were still not really clean. Then my Autogeek shipment came in and I used the Pinnacle Signature all purpose cleaner to clean them again. Very noticeable difference. This product really cleaned with one application.
Dried tires and then tried the Blackfire Total Trim # Tire Sealant. Really liked this product, gave a dryer look but real nice.
Then tried the Pinnacle Black Onyx Tire Gel, much wetter look. I wound up using this on all four tires as I felt like the Gel would creep into the sidewall better over time as I wrapped and stored the tires.
In the photo album, notice one tire white wall is lighter than the other-- That lighter one is with the Blackfire applied. I will use it on my newer tires.

 

[Helltopay]

It is amazing that 50 plus year-old tires look that good. Thank you for sharing.