Re: [Chrysler300] 300F Tire questions - again!

["Ron Waters" <ronbo97@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gil -

When you refer to Universal AC, are you talking about American Classics ?

Ron

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <lettercars@xxxxxxx>
To: <awrdoc@xxxxxxxxx>; <cpaviper@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 12:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] 300F Tire questions - again!


> Tony, Noel and All:
> Gil Cunningham here.  I sure wish I could report all was well with my
> Universal AC tires, but, unfortunately such is not the case.  As Tony
> mentioned, while up in PA at the meet I stopped by the Universal Tire 
> place in
> Hershey because their tires I had mounted and balanced here in Tallahassee 
> did
> not ride as smooth as I felt they should.  There were far more "vibration"
> areas than with the 30 something year old B.F. Goodrich Silvertowns that I
> had  used to attend four meets.  (Given to me by member Terry McTaggart!) 
> Of
> course, those were bias ply tires---if that should matter.  I must state
> that the Universal people were extremely willing and anxious to help.  No
> complaints in that department at this time.  They ended up changing out 3 
> of
> the 4 new tires (1000+ miles on them), mostly because the sidewalls did 
> not
> look right. (raised areas, both radially and circumferentially.  .I
> personally watched all zero out on the balancer.  They even took the 
> precaution
> to put the two which showed a little run-out on the  rear.  I worked along
> with them.
> On the way back to our hotel, I did feel there was definite  improvement,
> especially at highway speeds.  On the way back to  Florida, however, it
> became increasingly evident that the vibration, if  anything, was worse in 
> the
> mid-speed ranges, and was most noticeable and  annoying when the road was
> smoothest!  Definitely unacceptable, and far  worse than that SET of 
> radial
> tires I bought for the 300H at Discount Tire  many years ago for $95.00 
> (Plus
> tax, of course!)  That is not a  typo---$95.00!!  They have served very 
> well
> while driving to many meets and  hardly look worn.
> Anyway, that is my story.  I called Universal after we arrived home  and
> explained the situation, but did not ask for anything specific, and 
> nothing
> was offered.  I have not driven the car since, so don't know if some
> miraculous "healing" has taken place while it has been resting.  Ha.   I 
> guess I
> will give it another test drive and then write Universal a  letter.  What 
> to
> ask for?  Coker replacements?  Afraid of them  yet.  My B.F.G.s are long 
> gone
> (worn out anyway).  Maybe another  balance?  Go back to bias?  Don't know.
> So no, I can't recommend Universal ACs  I am sorry to say.  They  do look
> great.   Makes me wish the car was a trailer queen--- then I  wouldn't 
> care.
> 300ly, Gil
>
>
>
> In a message dated 8/11/2009 8:04:08 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> awrdoc@xxxxxxxxx writes:
>
> There  are well over 100 sets of Coker 235/75R14 on our cars today.
> Generally, they  require alot of lead to balance. They have not been any 
> of the
> other problems  that have been associated with other size Coler tires.
>
> The ride and  steering on mr &quot;F&quot; conv have been great at all
> speeds. My  only problem recently was after having the tires rotated front 
> to
> back. Radial  pull occurred and had to swap the right to the left to have 
> the
> car track  straight again.
>
> The American Classic tire is not the same. Actually  it&#39;s tread is oh
> so 70&#39;s Michelin and exremelt handsome.
>
> I personally had to get the 100 pre sell orders in order to get Coker  to
> make this size. With that said, I would prefer the looks of the AC tire as
> my next choice.
>
> Hope Gil Cunningham chimes on on this discussion since  he recently put a
> set of AC on his &quot;F&quot; conv and drove from  FL to PA and back. He
> reported some vibration at high speeds and had a couple  of tires swapped 
> out
> at an AC dealer in Hershey PA.
>
> Hope Gil will  report whether or not the AC are performing well and if he
> would recommend  them.
>
> Tony
>
> cpaviper@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>>
>> After reading the Club emails over the past few years discussing  tires -
> I'm still trying to zero in on what to buy for our F Coupe.
>> Re Coker, I'm still hearing issues - just about every Coker-related
> message talks to problems with balancing, and that they've hopefullly 
> resolved
> their structural integrity issues. Re American Classics, their  website
> gives no info - just refers to Coker, Universal, Lucas as  distributors.
> Comparing the Coker and American Classic P235/75R14s, the load 
> capacities, tread
> widths, section widths and overall diameters are identical -  only Co ker
> catalog's UTQG (Uniform Tire Quality Grade) ratings differ between  the 2
> "brands " (American Classic's 540BB rating is apparently better than 
> Coker's
> 400BB rating)  and the Coker tire price is a few bucks more.  Sounds like 
> we're
> still unclear whether American Classic and Co ker are  one and the same
> tire - the tread patterns in the catalog photos appear  identical.
>> I called Diamond Back this morning and spoke with one of  their sales
> reps, Jim. He advised that there's no current maker of a quality 
> P235/75R14
> tire today - could be a dig against Coker? He did say that they're 
> working on
> a 75 series 14" radial that will approximate the tire size we're  all
> looking for. They just received their first test version of it, are were 
> not at
> all pleased - he estimates that any such tire won't be ready to market
> until next summer [2010] or later.
>> He did offer up the following  suggestion, and I'm wondering if any of
> you have tried this. Diamond  Back sells a European Metric tire that's 
> also
> used on vans and light  trucks, and that he says works very well in 
> automotive
> applications. He says  handling and road noise are very good. The tire's
> height is 27.3", vs Coker's  27.87"; tread width of 6.3" is the same as
> Coker's; cross-section of 8.5" is  3/4" narrower than Coker's 9.25"; it's 
> a 6-ply
> tire rated at 2464# vs Coker's  1930#, is manufactured by Federal, and it
> replaces 225/75R14 - is described on  Page 6 of their 2009 catalog. The 
> tire
> does come in a 2 1/2" wide  whitewalls.
>> Is anyone out there running these tires? Or had any  experience with
> them?
>> And there's also the continuing debate re  installing new rims. Diamond
> Back's website quotes the 12/6/07 Old Cars Weekly  article that we saw on 
> our
> Club website a few months back, and says the claim  is bogus, that there's
> no alloy difference, and no markings on rims to  indicate use with bias or
> radial tires. DB's argument in fact states that  radials absorb more 
> impact
> and are therefore less stressful on rims than are  bias ply tires. Any new
> thoughts on this, as we're still running the  original 1960 rims on the F?
>> Th anks for your input, and apologies  for again bringing up an old topic
> !
>> Noel Hastalis
>> Burr  Ridge, IL
>> And there's also the continuing debate re installing  new rims. Diamond
> Back's website quotes the 12/6/07 Old Cars Weekly article  that we saw on 
> our
> Club website a few months back, and says the claim is  bogus, that there's
> no alloy difference, and no markings on rims to indicate  use with bias or
> radial tires. DB's argument in fact states that radials  absorb more 
> impact
> and are therefore less stressful on rims than are bias ply  tires. Any new
> thoughts on this, as we're still running the original 1960  rims on the F?
>> Th anks for your input, and apologies for again  bringing up an old topic
> !
>> Noel Hastalis
>> Burr Ridge,  IL
>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>
>
>
>
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