radials on 40 ford

my experience with them is, they ride nice and soft, hold the road on corners good, but they make the steering hard on cars with out power steering, especially on cars designed to run bias ply tires, when at a dead stop its almost impossible to turn the wheels when trying to parallel park, if your moving a little bit its not to bad and they are easier to find than the bias ply ones
 
I've been running Coker Classic 6.00x16 www radials on our '39 CS for just over four years now, and I am very pleased with them. I keep the tire pressure at 40 psi, that makes them much easier to turn when sitting still or trying to parallel park, I also run them tubeless. Radials really perform well on the highway, and I do a lot of highway driving with all our Flatheads. I also run radials on our '47 Convertible, '51 F-1 and '53 F-100 Panel Truck. I think you'll be pleased with the way they perform.
 
I run Diamondbacks on the wide 5 stock rims on a 1936 Ford coupe .The ride is great . Try them you'll like it
Bill
 
I just put the Coker 6:00 x 16 Radials on my '40 Sedan and a really big difference than the bias. Much better feel on the road. You still move a bit in high winds, but in everyday driving so far great !

Mike
 
I may buck the trend? I have Firestone crossplys on my 35 pickup and I have no problems with them at all , my truck doesn't wander its always been great, maybe its just the truck and Ive been lucky...?
Something just came to mind, some of your freeways are made from concrete slabs, with expansion joints , we don't have that here. SO if you do that sort of driving radials might be softer.
 
I have a set of Coker WWW radials and a set of Diamondback smoothed side BW radials for my '35 Fords. Both sets are mounted on stock 16" wire wheels. After realizing all the improvements in ride and handling with either set of radials on my cars, there is no way I would ever go back to bias ply tires again.
 
I like the way the '40 Fords look with the original Firestone tires. Radials don't have that look on the cars. Coker does not make a 600X16 radial with the original tire look to my knowledge. The radials without the shoulder look of the original tires takes away from the joy of the cars to me.
 
My 40 coupe has been running radials for 15 years and plenty of miles - but I use regular radials used on everyday passenger cars not the Cokers or Diamondbacks. Actually the present set I bought off of tirerack.com, Kumhos to be exact, bigs and littles, and I run them at 32 lbs presently front and rear. I drove across country and at speed on bias plys in my first 40 coupe in 1990 - I would never go back to bias plys save for perhaps the look for an occasional "local" show.

Of course my suspension has been updated - still buggy spring up front but a Speedway 4-bar front suspension, CE parallel leaf setup out back, tube shocks all the way around. That does not make my comparison "apples to apples" but I just thought I would throw in my 2 cents .... BTW, my avatar runs radials, my 40 p-up I'm building will run radials, the 28 Ford p-up, the next build, will run them and finally my basket case 32 5-window will run them as well......
 
TomT/Williamsburg said:
My 40 coupe has been running radials for 15 years and plenty of miles - but I use regular radials used on everyday passenger cars not the Cokers or Diamondbacks. Actually the present set I bought off of tirerack.com, Kumhos to be exact, bigs and littles, and I run them at 32 lbs presently front and rear. I drove across country and at speed on bias plys in my first 40 coupe in 1990 - I would never go back to bias plys save for perhaps the look for an occasional "local" show.

Of course my suspension has been updated - still buggy spring up front but a Speedway 4-bar front suspension, CE parallel leaf setup out back, tube shocks all the way around. That does not make my comparison "apples to apples" but I just thought I would throw in my 2 cents .... BTW, my avatar runs radials, my 40 p-up I'm building will run radials, the 28 Ford p-up, the next build, will run them and finally my basket case 32 5-window will run them as well......
Click to expand...

Me too!!
 
Tom, the Diamondback tires are regular radials used on everyday passenger vehicles. They smooth the manufacturers name and other markings off one side for black walls and vulcanize white rubber on that smoothed surface for their whitewalls. To my knowledge they do not actually manufacture any of their own tires. The Diamondback tires on my Fordor sedan are 550 x 16 Michelins on front and 750 x 16 Yokohama's on rear.
At shows, a lot of folks take notice of these tires and ask questions like...where did I get them, who manufacturesd them, are they radials or bias-ply, etc.
I now have ~ 22k miles on these tires, including a 7200 mile cross country trip last June. Have had zero problems with these tires on this '35 Fordor sedan.
 

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L78CHEVELLE said:
I like the way the '40 Fords look with the original Firestone tires. Radials don't have that look on the cars. Coker does not make a 600X16 radial with the original tire look to my knowledge. The radials without the shoulder look of the original tires takes away from the joy of the cars to me.
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These are the Coker 550R16's and 750R16's on my '32 fitted to 40's Ford rims. They do 600R16's too from memory. I don't find them as good looking as the bias ply equivalent but they have made a big difference just by changing the tyres on the ride (I had Firestone bias ply before). Keith
 

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L78CHEVELLE said:
I like the way the '40 Fords look with the original Firestone tires. Radials don't have that look on the cars. Coker does not make a 600X16 radial with the original tire look to my knowledge. The radials without the shoulder look of the original tires takes away from the joy of the cars to me.
Click to expand...

I believe Diamond Back can add the shoulder, if requested.
 
how about these? look original unless you are down looking at them very closely. been on my wagon for 3 years and about 3500 miles--love them will not go back to bias. ecopia (bridgestone/firestone) brand made for electric cars, run high pressure 42lbs
 

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prefer bias ply put two radials on the front of your car and try and steer without vehicle moving then try bias ply, I found the bias were more suited for ol" henrys steering box! just a matter of personal preference!
 
I have been running BFG T/A radials on my '40 coupe since 1990, about 40,000 miles. Completely rebuilt the front end about 10,000 miles ago........aftermarket wheels, steers like power steering and tracks great. I have a full set of Firestone bias ply tires/original rims for shows.
 
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