Old Garfield tires

Vern

Vern

Well-known member
Reading the recent thread here about Garfield tires lead me to check out the ones on my ‘28 roadster. It still has the ones put on new by the man I bought it from back in ‘92. The only number I can find on the sidewall is 087.
The car doesn’t get driven much and lives in the garage, so they look pretty good.
That being said, I’m thinking about changing them out for a set of Lucas bias-look radials. Those ought to last me another 30+ years.
 

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I have a set of Garfields on my 28 special coupe. They are probably as old or older than your tires. I don't drive my coupe much. As long as they are out of the sun, I think they would be OK. I am sure some people will tell you to get rid of them. But at lower speeds, they are probably fine.
Rusty Nelson
 
Have you ever experienced a blow out in a Model A.

I have, and depending on your speed and whether front or rear. It is not fun.

My recommendation would be to replace tires if you’re going to drive the car.

Just the feeling of an eighty year old guy.
 
Hello, that seems to be a good price on those tires. I went with the radial American Classic, closer to $300 apiece. As WHN posted blow out are no fun , unless you’re Indiana Jones ,looking for adventure!
 
if i had a few extra bucks i would buy radial. it will make driving that car way nicer.

with that said i have in the past ran tires older than that but would always worry about a failure. peace of mind makes your drive a lot more enjoyable.
 
I recently changed from old Garfields to American Classic bias look radials (21") and the improvement in ride and tracking in amazing! The radials are a little pricey but worth it.
 
Those rayon Model A tires were on thousands of Model A's in the 70's, seems like everybody had them! I never liked the look of the tread design it was pretty ugh.....

We had Montgomery Wards Riverside tires back then; nice tires and nice looking.

Those old Allstate-Garfield-Bedford tires (all the same tire) are only good today for 'rollers', moving your car around the garage. Don't drive on the highways with them:eek:
 
Generally speaking, radials don't last near as long as bias ply do. If you go to radials be prepared to replace them at or near the recommended 6 years.
 
My Garfield tires were installed in 1999. They still look great and I have had no problems with them. I did use the best innertubes and rim strips available at the time (a habit carried over from motorcycles).

I have never experienced an actual blowout on my Model As but did have a wheel fall off once. It was mildly inconvenient.

But I don’t drive mine on the highway. If you intend to, you cannot afford to be as casual as me about tires. So listen to all those worriers instead.
 
I finally got around to replace my old tires today. And I haven’t really been driving it. They had white wall Goodyears on it and the date code was from 1974. They look like new and great tread, so I guess when the restoration done on the car it was 52 years ago. So these new radials I put on should give a better ride. And new radial tubes.
 
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