TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sat Aug 05, 2006 2:32 am

I want wide whites on my cars but don't realy have the doe. I've seen some cars with fake white walls kinda falling off. Do good ones exists? and if so who has em?

thanks for any help.

Sat Aug 05, 2006 8:42 am

They tear up the side wall on your tires. Save up for the real thing.

Sat Aug 05, 2006 10:08 am

They are terrible. They turn "brown" and crack and usually don't last a year on a daily driver.

Sat Aug 05, 2006 2:53 pm

Oi!Sancho wrote: I've seen some cars with fake white walls kinda falling off.

Jason C wrote: They tear up the side wall on your tires.

53 0val wrote: They are terrible. They turn "brown" and crack and usually don't last a year on a daily driver.

There's 3 reasons why not to get them.

Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:07 pm

I've only seen them work on the old crossply tires.
As others have mentioned, they tear up the sides of radial tires.

Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:28 pm

Theres a set on the 69 that I am working on. Radials - they bulge funny since radials run a little "flat" Have not had any real drive time on the care yet (doing ground up rebuild). When its time to get it on the road, I wont bother with these. Too bad I am not anywhere near the point of pulling the tires off, would let you have them REAL cheap. If you can wait till sometime this winter, let me know. As far as damaging the tires, I don't know anything about that, but like I said, the only miles on this has been towing it 200 miles.

Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:38 pm

These white walls were developed during the mid '50s when the Korean War stopped the export/import of white rubber. Europe could still get white walls but cars here in the US had to go without. These were developed to meet that demand and do pretty well on bias ply tires of that day......but were never designed for a sidewall that flexes like radials do. They are even "dangerous" when put on radial tires.

Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:26 pm

Well I have'nt had any trouble with them, and my car is a daily driver.
Driven down the 405 daily doin' 75mph.
Do like I was told. Go with what YOU want!

Sun Aug 06, 2006 12:11 pm

sounds like most of you don't like em. Is this just a bad rep for these things, or bad experience? The other side to this coin is I have good winter tires that I don't want to replace, just make em white walls.... but I also don't want to ruin them.

Sun Aug 06, 2006 1:08 pm

i run pots with no problems. yes they don't look as good as real wide whites but they are what i'm running for now. the 3" look horrible and cause way more problem the the 2"(actually something like 1 7/8") aren't nearly as bad. ports are like $50 a set. real 135/165 wide white from diamondback(the only folks i would order them from as cokers sucks) are like $155 EACH.

now depending on tire size your wantng to run if you can find your tire in a skinny whitewall you can have them "cut" into wide whites. this used to be done alot. there is actually more whitewall beyond the skinnny part it's just cover in a thin black wall layer. there's spaecial machine that does this. i've seen it done very slowly and carefully by hand but they don't look as even and good as done with the machine.

now if you reall want the cheap out. find an old tire to practice this on first but you can:
take a DA sander with some 80 grit and smooth the sidewall of any tire removing all lettering and marking and roughing up the surface. then carefully tape the outer line of the wheel nice and even all the way around(it will be hard and you won't ever get it perfect). then use Krylon Fusion for Plastic paint, flat white is best, and spray your own white wall. should take a coupla good coats. i know alot of low buck hot rod people i know were doing this and it's held up pretty good for and afternoons work and about $10 in materials. the more time you spend gettting your outer line nice and even the better they will look.

and lastly with ports make sure the shop doing them know how to put them in. if they use soap/water they will probably fly out on your way home from the tire shop. the need to be DRY mounted and EVEN all around...ken....

Tue Aug 08, 2006 5:49 pm

luckystiff wrote: and lastly with ports make sure the shop doing them know how to put them in. if they use soap/water they will probably fly out on your way home from the tire shop. the need to be DRY mounted and EVEN all around...ken....

So you can only install the ports by going to a tire shop? But what if your tires are brand new and don't need replacing?

Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:21 pm

M_nus wrote: luckystiff wrote: and lastly with ports make sure the shop doing them know how to put them in. if they use soap/water they will probably fly out on your way home from the tire shop. the need to be DRY mounted and EVEN all around...ken....

So you can only install the ports by going to a tire shop? But what if your tires are brand new and don't need replacing?

Yes, it would be better to let a shop install them.
Also, I used medium grit sand paper on the inside edge of the rim to make a rough surface for the white-wall to sit on.

Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:41 am

Quote: M_nus wrote:
luckystiff wrote:
and lastly with ports make sure the shop doing them know how to put them in. if they use soap/water they will probably fly out on your way home from the tire shop. the need to be DRY mounted and EVEN all around...ken....

So you can only install the ports by going to a tire shop? But what if your tires are brand new and don't need replacing?

Yes, it would be better to let a shop install them.
Also, I used medium grit sand paper on the inside edge of the rim to make a rough surface for the white-wall to sit on.

You can do it yourself. Deflate the tire, break the bead, and stuff the inner part of the insert between the tire and the wheel. It's not that hard.