tires

[EGBERTS]

Good news--the old Dream is running after 15 years,and I drove it to work! Now, my tires are 20-year old whitewall Goodyears. I imagine there is just a little dry rot, so anyone know where I can get another set?
thanks
john

[Hahnda]

Unfortunately whitewall tires are pretty hard to find. Coker Tire has Firestones in the 3.25x16 size for $145 each.

http://www.cokertire.com/tire-applicati ... -tire.html

Regular blackwall tires are a bit easier to find. I offer them in 3.25x16 and 3.50x16 in a couple of different brands. $60 per tire with free shipping on the Duro's and $80 with free shipping on the Heidenau.

http://scramblercycle.mybigcommerce.com ... &shipping=

[FluteTears]

I have the Coker Tire and I don't like them for riding yes they look nice but if you have grove'd cement roads the tires will follow the groves the first this happened to me I had to pull over and change my shorts.
My next tire will be a black wall. I found some white wall inserts that go on with a black wall tire that should give the same look and allow me to pick any kind a tread pattern then.

[conbs]

I bought a set of Porta Walls. I also bought the Heidenau 3.50x16 from Kevin for the rear. I could not get the Porta Walls to work with the 3.50 width. The inflated tire is a good bit wider and pushes the Porta Wall out so that the outer edge does not rest against the side of the tire. There was always a gap of about 1/4 inch in at least one spot that I could not get rid of no matter how much adjusting I did. If someone else figured out how to make it work, let me know.

I used the Porta Walls on the front with a 3.25 and they work great.

BTW I think the Heidenau is a great tire and I like the look and feel of the extra width.

My alternative was to try to paint white walls, so I bought a can of Fonzies White Wall paint. It took a little longer to get to the point of using it than I had thought it would. When I opened the can, it looked like cottage cheese. "Fonzies" was all over the internet and ebay when I bought it, but is now nowhere to be found.

I did some research on hot rod sites and people have apparently used a lot of different kinds of paint to make white walls. One guy even claimed to use regular latex paint and that it still looked good after several years. Another guy said he thought the white wall "paint" is just white roofing compound that Fonzies and others repackage in smaller cans (hence the cheap labels). I think my next shot at this will be to get some white Flex Seal (You know, "It's like a Handy Man in a can!) and spray a thin layer on the Heidenau.

BTW Virtually EVERYONE agrees that you cannot put white wall paint on a new tire because the oils seep out of the rubber and turn the whitewall an ugly brownish color. Don't try to use it until you can not clean any more "oils" off the side of the tire. It may be that the Flex Seal won't be as subject to that, but someone else will have to perform that experiment. I plan to wait a little longer.

Per the above, Coker has whitewall Firestones again, but not in the much-anticipated universal tread. The wait continues and I expect it will for a while longer.

I hope the above is helpful to others.

[pknopp]

I used the whitewall paint to do mine. They've been done around 14 months. The white is certainly not as white as when I did them, but with my bike still being original paint and all I think the slightly off-white looks more appropriate.

[FluteTears]

I bought a set of Porta Walls. I also bought the Heidenau 3.50x16 from Kevin for the rear. I could not get the Porta Walls to work with the 3.50 width. The inflated tire is a good bit wider and pushes the Porta Wall out so that the outer edge does not rest against the side of the tire. There was always a gap of about 1/4 inch in at least one spot that I could not get rid of no matter how much adjusting I did. If someone else figured out how to make it work, let me know.

I used the Porta Walls on the front with a 3.25 and they work great.

BTW I think the Heidenau is a great tire and I like the look and feel of the extra width.

My alternative was to try to paint white walls, so I bought a can of Fonzies White Wall paint. It took a little longer to get to the point of using it than I had thought it would. When I opened the can, it looked like cottage cheese. "Fonzies" was all over the internet and ebay when I bought it, but is now nowhere to be found.

I did some research on hot rod sites and people have apparently used a lot of different kinds of paint to make white walls. One guy even claimed to use regular latex paint and that it still looked good after several years. Another guy said he thought the white wall "paint" is just white roofing compound that Fonzies and others repackage in smaller cans (hence the cheap labels). I think my next shot at this will be to get some white Flex Seal (You know, "It's like a Handy Man in a can!) and spray a thin layer on the Heidenau.

BTW Virtually EVERYONE agrees that you cannot put white wall paint on a new tire because the oils seep out of the rubber and turn the whitewall an ugly brownish color. Don't try to use it until you can not clean any more "oils" off the side of the tire. It may be that the Flex Seal won't be as subject to that, but someone else will have to perform that experiment. I plan to wait a little longer.

Per the above, Coker has whitewall Firestones again, but not in the much-anticipated universal tread. The wait continues and I expect it will for a while longer.

I hope the above is helpful to others.

Good info as I have not used the porta walls yet I have them just not put the to use yet and you may have saved me some time. Thanks!

[brewsky]

When mounting the Porta-Walls, make sure to clean the sidewalls of the tires very well to remove the "oils" or whatever it's called, as it will soak into the edges of the porta-walls also, turning them brown.