63super88

had a blowout on the sidewall of a tire, theyre a 20 year old set of cooper trendsetter se 225/75 r14, cooper discontinued them and I couldn't find the right size to fit the rim anywhere except coker tire. i bought a set of four 2 1/2 inch white walls at 200 a tire, and in retrospect I probably should have gotten a few opinions from here first. i didn't put them on yet, so I figured id ask on here

are the whitewalls not right for these early 60's models, is the 2 1/2 inch too much for a 63 super 88, if so where else could I have even gotten a normal 1/2 inch whitewall or even any tires for this car size 225/75 r14? If I put em on I want to get em on ASAP because the car is my daily driver believe it or not, im young and would still like to be by the time I get my tires figured out haha. thanks guys!

oldcutlass

Whitewalls are a subjective and personal decision. It's kinda like a wife, the only one who needs to really love her is you. So if you love em, throw em on there and simply admire.

Charlie Jones

Here is a 63 olds factory photo I pirated off e-bay. this should give you a good idea of the whitewall width " back in the day".
Personally after looking at the photo enlarged I would say that two and a half inches might be just about right.

Charlie Jones

Here is an even better one , courtesy of my 1963 Oldsmobile chassis parts catalog.

63super88

welp I guess that about says it, theyre the right size and I have em and I dig em. time to go jack up the car and take the wheels in for mounting/balancing.

only other slightly odd thing I noticed was that my spare was larger than the sized tires I have now, it was definitely the original spare a goodyear hr78-14, and its difinately a larger wheel, was there a size I should've gotten to match that, and since the tires im about to put on are the same metric size as the current smaller ones are the tires a little to small for the heavy full sized car?

rocketraider

If it was an HR78 it was not the original. Original would have been an 8.00-14 or 8.50-14. Original tires were an 80 or 82 profile, much taller and narrower than current tires. 78 series tires showed up in the late 60s.

225-75R14 are the closest size match you'll find and should be fine on the 63 as far as load capacity. They'll still be a shorter tire than the originals.

2-1/2" is just a shade wide for early 60s- a 1-3/4" is about right on 63-64, but since your options are very limited and you've already bought them, go with them. Let us know how they work out, because I've heard mixed reviews on the Coker radials.

oldcutlass

An HR78 is an early radial, so that tire is also very old. I have an old G78-14 in my trunk, but I don't go far generally.

63super88

They dont look too bad, im watchin the guy balance em. Long as the car doesnt look like its from the hood. I should post up a pic after I out em on. However I do drive the csr just about evvryday, including todays test drive which will be in the rain unfortunately, so I hope these pricey tires stand up, they seem decent. What kind of bad reviews have you heard about coker?

jaunty75

Coker Tire has been in business for a million years, and they have a long history of making quality, classic-car tires. Just enjoy them and quit trying to find something to worry about.

oldcutlass

X2 with Jaunty

rocketraider

I know several Buick guys who had really bad issues with the Coker radials in long-distance travel. This was a few years back so maybe feedback got back to Corky and Coker has the problems corrected by now.

The tires were playing Firestone 500 and separating internally. One guy drove his 59 to the BCA National Meet from Washington state to Flint and ended up having to replace the entire set before he made it back home. At least Buicks used 15" tires so that made it a little easier to deal with on the road. Not that 225-235/15 passenger car tires are easy to find now either.

Whitewalls- some cars wear them well, others don't. Some cars (such as said 63 88) look ridiculous or cheap without them.

63super88

well they look and ride pretty good, can definately feel the difference between the cheap cooper trendsetters that were on there and these newer pricier radials, rides/turns smooth and quiet. The guy at sts put bead sealer on one and it dripped a bit so I told em not to on the other 3, some black magic bleche-wite cleaned the sticky stuff off along with a few scuffs from shipping, thats some pretty good stuff.

I hope they stand up, I go for some decebtly far 6 1/2 hr rides from jersey to upstate ny, cleveland etc pretty often on top if that its definately a daily driver. I keep em at 35 psi like it said on the sidewall and the label they came with. they seem to support the big car fine and ive been driving and enjoying them but if i did have issues Id heard in a promotion video they offer a life of the tread warranty but im not sure on that, what do yous think?