Re: [Chrysler300] Danger of wheel failure unless the rims are replaced by stronger ones designed for use with radial tires

[cotejohnr@xxxxxxx]

Tony and all,

I had radials on my '61 Newport. They were on the car when I got it so 
I don't know how many miles were on the wheels/tires at that point.  I 
ran another 1000 miles on them and had no wheelcover losses.

I'm assuming that all the 14 inch wheels you recently had developed for 
members are radial certified?  Can't recall,  did  you have 15 inchers 
made as well for '55-'56?

John
CT.


-----Original Message-----
From: awrdoc@xxxxxxxxx
To: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 4:25 PM
Subject: [Chrysler300] Danger of wheel failure unless the rims are 
replaced by stronger ones designed for use with radial tires


 Hi to all,

 If you are running radials on your old original 300 wheels:

  The following is reprinted from Old Cars Weekly from Sept 21, 2006 and 
warns
  of the danger of wheel failure unless the rims are replaced by 
stronger ones
 designed for use with radial tires.
 __________________________________________________________

  Q. Recently, I purchased five new wide whitewall radials from a 
reputable
  tire company (one of your advertisers). The car for their intended use 
is a
 1956 Mercury that previously had bias‑ply tires. Although I had the new
 radials professionally mounted and balanced, the front hubcaps come off
  while driving, especially the left front on right turns. Can you 
advise me
  if I need to replace the wheel rims with a heavier type? Robert W. 
Blume,
 Sr., Calverton, N.Y.

  A. Back in 2003, we had a lively discussion of wheels intended for 
bias‑ply
 tires "throwing" hubcaps when mounted with radials. Here are readers'
  comments from that discussion. "The problem of cars 'throwing hubcaps' 
is
  much more serious than rim flex and lost hubcaps. Try losing your life 
with
  this problem! Rims for bias-ply tires, radial-ply tires, even disc 
brake
  rims are made out of different alloys. Rims for bias-ply tires cannot 
use
  radials, and bias and simple radial-ply rims cannot be used for disc 
brakes.
 The forces exerted by bias-ply versus radial-ply tires (as well as disc
  brakes) are different and need rims made specific to each application. 
When
  using radial tires on bias-ply rims, the rims over‑flex as they are 
unable
  to handle the forces of the radial tires. This over-flexing also means 
metal
 fatigue, breakage (most commonly rim bead edge separation), and deadly
 accidents. Many will disagree, touting their successful usage of radial
 tires on bias-ply rims, but as a fatal accident investigator, the first
  place I looked in any older car accident was at the rims. My advice 
when
  replacing bias tires with radials is to immediately change the rims. 
One can
  tell bias, radial, and disc brake rims by their markings," wrote Sam 
Egan,
 general manager, Automotive Information Clearinghouse, La Mesa, Calif.
  Another reader wrote, "When you install a radial tire on an old rim 
and the
  footprint of the tire is wider or equal to the rim bead, the twisting 
of the
  sidewall puts undue stress on the lighter and original rim. We put 
radial
  tires on our 1956 Ford and had the same problem. We cured the problem 
when
  we switched to 1966 Ford rims, which are one inch wider and eight to 
nine
  pounds heavier, which makes them stronger than the old rims." Paul 
Haase of
  Waterloo, Iowa, also advised replacing the rims. "Then if the wheel 
discs
  still slip, they can be held in place a bead of silicone." Sanford 
Danziger
  recommended locating a set of alloy rims, which would obviate the 
hubcap
  problem. To hold the wheel covers in place, assuming movement is still 
a
  problem with the correct rims, Dan Reed says he secured the wheel 
covers for
  his 1956 Cadillac with a strap that was secured by one of the lugnuts. 
He
  found this idea on a 1958 Oldsmobile. The strap has to be long enough 
to
  allow access to the lug nuts. "It won't prevent the wheel cover from 
coming
  off, but will keep it from being lost," he wrote. Marilyn Robinson 
ended the
  problem of wheel covers flying off their Plymouth Valiant by switching 
to
  hubcaps. Terry Wallace of Pensacola, Fla., brushed some of the grit 
coating
 used on surf and skateboards onto the rim area that the wheel covers
  contact. The covers still wanted to walk on the rim, so he added a 
bead of
 silicone and has had no further trouble. Bob Brooks of Suffield, Conn.,
  coated the wheel rim contact area on his 1952 Mercury with rubber 
cement and
  hasn't thrown a wheel cover since. To hold the full disc, wheel covers 
on
  his 1989 Thunderbird, Lou Frueh of Wickliffe, Ky., drilled a hole in 
the
  wheel cover 180 degrees from the valve stem, then drilled and tapped a 
hole
  in the wheel as near the rim as possible, and bolted on the wheel 
covers. He
  disguised the bolt to look like another valve stem. Thomas Murray of 
San
  Leandro, Calif., found that a strip of masking tape around the rim 
holds the
  wheel covers on his two Kaisers in place. Bob Lewis of Susanville, 
Calif.,
  uses silicone adhesive sealant to keep the full disc wheel covers on 
his
  1950 Ford club coupe from moving. Gerald White of Altoona, Fla., 
observed
  that the brake drum will keep the center of the wheel from flexing, 
but not
  the rim, leading us back to Mr. Egan's warning about the danger of 
wheel
  failure unless the rims are replaced by stronger ones designed for use 
with
 radial tires.

 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




  

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