62 Bird Tire/tube combo

[biggieou]

Getting closer to getting the Bird out of the nest (pun!). Brakes are shored up finally. Looking for tires for the new 15 inch wires. What are you all running on wires?

[paul2748]

Diamond Backs

[dmsfrr]

I don't have a set of the wide whitewalls but if I did I'd get DiamondBacks.
Personally I'm not a fan of Discount Tire but,
I've heard you can get the tires sent to one near you without the usual shipping charges.
You might be able to get the same shipping deal thru other tire stores???

DiamondBack Tires website at this link....
https://dbtires.com/

[miker98038]

I've had really good luck with Diamond Back, mostly using premium high performance tires. I've also had a couple sets of Coker's I've been happy with. Never had a balance or out of round problem. Some of it comes down to the style of tire you're looking for. Bias look radials, regular radial, bias ply, etc. Was it the 62 bird that had the thin red and thin white stripe as an option?

[biggieou]

Originally Posted by miker98038

I've had really good luck with Diamond Back, mostly using premium high performance tires. I've also had a couple sets of Coker's I've been happy with. Never had a balance or out of round problem. Some of it comes down to the style of tire you're looking for. Bias look radials, regular radial, bias ply, etc. Was it the 62 bird that had the thin red and thin white stripe as an option?

Not sure, he wants a thin white.

[biggieou]

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Can you run tubes in these? Can you run tubes in tubeless?

[rotorwrench]

Spokers have to be sealed around the spoke nipples to run tubeless. I had True Spokes that were sealed but they still leaked. I don't know about the Kelsey Hays types but they will have to have tubes if they aren't sealed. Coker sells what they market as a radial tire tube and I've not heard much about how well they work. Tubes can be run in any bias ply tire but were generally not recommended for radial ply tires till Coker started marketing these.

[biggieou]

Originally Posted by rotorwrench

Spokers have to be sealed around the spoke nipples to run tubeless. I had True Spokes that were sealed but they still leaked. I don't know about the Kelsey Hays types but they will have to have tubes if they aren't sealed. Coker sells what they market as a radial tire tube and I've not heard much about how well they work. Tubes can be run in any bias ply tire but were generally not recommended for radial ply tires till Coker started marketing these.

Here is the inside of the wheels

[dmsfrr]

Originally Posted by biggieou

Not sure, he wants a thin white.

I got these Hankook Optimo whitewalls at wallyworld (walmart). $53 each + mounting and balance. MUCH less expensive than the wide whites, so I don't mind as much that they'll age-out before they wear out.

Don't assume that 'new' tires are really new, in case the warehouse is clearing out dusty old stock. The newer the date code on the tire the better, they should be under 6 months old.

Radial tire specific inner tubes are generally available if the wire wheels leak, which they often do. Don't put a 'regular' inner tube in a radial tire, the tube will (suddenly) fail from the extra sidewall heat. You may have to try a specialty tire store. DiamondBack or Coker if you can't find them locally.

[rotorwrench]

They've been sealed. You can try to run them without tubes. If they hold their mud then run them. If they don't, you have no other choice but a tube. If you try to put liquid sealer in there, the hard sealant strip around the nipples can be damaged so I wouldn't recommend any liquid sealer in a high speed car tire. You can put the stuff in tractor tires all day long but not in car tires.

[alt63bird]

Go through my discussion on wire wheels, liners and tubes here:
https://www.vintagethunderbirdclub.n...ls+inner+tubes

[rotorwrench]

I looked around for 14-inch flaps and they are not easy to source. You can find 15-inch all day long. Flaps would be better than tape in a wheel with lip mount spokes like the KH reproductions. I only found one source so far and they are 6.5 X 14 size. I found some that were in a light truck line but they were only 5 X 14 size. The company is in China. That's one of the bad things about lip mounted spokes. They are hard to seal and hard to set up with proper tubes & flaps. A person would have to measure the rim and find one that would fit the width. This is a link to one company.
https://hancousa.com/storefrontComme...&numResults=25

If the OP has 15 inchers then flaps should be available. They will pad the tube a lot better than tape.

[alt63bird]

If there's a source for liners for the original 14" K-H wires I'D HAVE LOVED TO KNOWN THIS SOONER!! The work-around for years has been to provide a "cushion" between the tubes and spoke nipples using 10-mil electrician's tape.