My New Preferred Whitewalls for C Bodies

saforwardlook

Old Man with a Hat
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With the demise of the Hankook whitewalls H724 with the 108XL load rating I searched for the next best alternative and came up with one that is even better in my view. It is the Nexen whitewall with an even higher 109XL load rating! The price is a little higher than the former but not much and to me well worth it. The tire doesn't look underinflated when on our C bodies like the Hankooks did either and the name "NEXEN" is a much preferred name for a tire on an American special interest car even though both the Hankook and Nexen tires are made in Korea (rather than in China, which I see as a plus). While the Cooper Trendsetter is another whitewall radial currently available (I do not know where they are actually made) I felt the tread design is an old one and the whitewalls don't stay white very well and they have a standard load rating - but still a reasonable alternative.

BRANDPLPlogo_nexen_tire.png

NEXEN TIREN PRIZ AH5235 /75 R15 109S XL WW
50,000 mile warranty$96.00/ea
+ Installation costs added in cart

The Cooper Trendsetters are also available at a slightly lower price:

COOPERTRENDSETTER SEP 235 /75 R15 105S SL WW
40,000 mile warranty$89.00/ea
+ Installation costs added in cart

I had a set of the Nexens installed on my 1971 Chrysler New Yorker that I bought a couple years ago now for a huge investment of $700 - see previous thread in this link:

For Sale - 1970 chrysler new yorker 2dr $700,-

I intend for this to be more of a driver vehicle, although eventually a very nice looking one. Here it is in its new configuration since initially acquiring it after installing a drive train from a rust bucket 1971 Dodge Monaco that had 41K miles on it and had its original standard 440 engine in it (T code). Wyatt @71Polara383 can attest that it indeed was a rust bucket since he saw it in the flesh (what was left of it) and got some parts off it when he was here a couple years ago now.

When I bought the New Yorker it didn't have a front bumper or grille in it and was missing its front valence too but those issues have been resolved and are now installed except for a front valence that still needs some body work done before installing it (so does the rear valence but I put it on now so I would have a license plate holder). The rear bumper has also been replated with some new tail light bezels as was the front grille/bumper. I plan on having the New Yorker repainted since the original body did have some prior body work done to it and and not done all that well plus some dents and the body lower side trim needs some replacing with new and some alignment issues fixed. So my body/paint guy will restore the body and paint it including the original style paint stripes a little later. I will also put on a new vinyl top and new headliner/carpets, but it is shown in its current state and I am driving it around currently and enjoying it a lot. It runs really well and will lay scratch with just a moderate part throttle tip-in from a stop (I am not to Wyatt's level yet!! :D). Idle is also very smooth.

I did go through the engine just to make sure all is well, replaced the core plugs, new steel head gaskets, new timing chain, etc. I did clean up the engine compartment and also cleaned the stub frame and coated it with Por 15. The engine compartment looks presentable now but I am not aiming for show quality on this one. There are some things to complete yet in the engine bay but this is where it is currently. I note that although this car was bought in Washington, it has a Californis emission sticker on its original fender well that I left in place when I refinished the fender well, so it is back home again. I also rebuilt the automatic transmission, redid all the brakes, etc..... Fortunately, there is no rust on this vehicle anywhere.

Anyway, here are some photos of the tires installed and also some views of where the car is at currently. I have been working on two other vehicles in the same time period so this one has taken a little more time than I estimated but is getting there..............

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Your car is looking good and I agree that the Nexen tire is the better looking tire.

Having never owned any Nexen tires, what's yalls opinion on them?
 
to me it looks like the white stripe is about half an inch thicker than it would have been on original tires doesn´t it ?

In Germany many people use Maxxis MA1 tires ( made in Taiwan ) because they are way cheaper than the BF Goodrich Silvertown but the
stripe is about an inch wide and in my opinion it looks horrible.
18580R13_MAXXIS.jpg


That thick stripe really bothers me
 
I love those Chrysler wheelcovers - they are very reminiscent of the Pontiac 8-lug finned aluminum drum from 1960 through 1967.

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I love those Chrysler wheelcovers - they are very reminiscent of the Pontiac 8-lug finned aluminum drum from 1960 through 1967.

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In some of the pictures it looks like the tires have a double whitewall because of the wheelcovers, which is a neat effect. Real double-stripe whitewalls were an actual thing on Cadillacs around 1970, so possibly this effect was intentional, to imitate the Caddy double-stripe look without using special tires.
 
THANKS for posting this - good looking whitewall, and closest to "correct for the period" we're likely to find without spending the proverbial fortune.
 
I have a set of Nexens on my truck on the advice of my local (old style) tire dealer when he recommended their lineup of tires. Haven't had any issues, but as it's my yard/work/hauling crap truck it doesn't get much use.

Not really a valid reference point, (2.65 x 16R Load E), but my tire guy does nothing but tires and liked them so that counts big in my book..
 
What kind of wheel covers are those? I don't think I've seen a set like that yet....

The covers were optional on Chryslers in 1970-71 at extra cost. They were to "dress up" the look of the car. They are hard to come by and it took me 8 of these wheel covers to make up one good set. Each one consists of three pieces - the trim ring, a center section with the "bolt head" look and the top piece with the serrations. I painted them with a matte finish to duplicate the original look and prepping them for paint was no fun either. Getting the chrome to be nice again was a lot of fun (not!) since I had to use some innovative masking techniques and had to find a way to remove the paint from the serrations.

I saw a nice set on Ebay last week and someone bought them up for $450!!

I am not sure which is more trouble - upgrades to road wheels or these premium wheel covers and both seem to be costly and hard to find in decent condition. I decided I have too many cars slated for the road wheels and need some to have the original wheel covers and some to have these optional wheel covers to make things more interesting.
 
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Your car is looking good and I agree that the Nexen tire is the better looking tire.

Having never owned any Nexen tires, what's yalls opinion on them?
I have a set of Nexens on my truck on the advice of my local (old style) tire dealer when he recommended their lineup of tires. Haven't had any issues, but as it's my yard/work/hauling crap truck it doesn't get much use.

Not really a valid reference point, (2.65 x 16R Load E), but my tire guy does nothing but tires and liked them so that counts big in my book..

I have not had this brand before either but given my good results with the Hankooks over a number of years now, I have come to trust the South Korean brands and this one has an even higher load rating than the Hankooks, which is some measure of sidewall strength and durability. The Koreans also make the Hyundai Genesis luxury brand and looking at some of their cars, they are sure improving in quality, styling and technology very fast and are gaining hold in that market very well. So I am hopeful with this brand much more than if it were a Chinese brand tire, that is for sure.
 
I've been to South Korea in 2019.
These people are 20 years ahead of us regarding technology, public transport, organization and reliability.
Also in common behavior, eating in public transportation etc is prohibited. Their trams are from the 90s but look brand new. No graffiti, no sticker no bubble gum.
They don't litter and if you in a rush and bump into someone they will excuse themselves...
I would buy a Korean pacemaker and use it with no worries.. Not comparable to Chinese quality
 
Motivated by @saforwardlook's posting, I thought that I should contribute to this discussion by providing a visual comparison of the Hankook Optimo H724 (which I have installed on several of my cars) and the newer H735 (aka Kinergy ST, which I have installed on my latest, a 300 TNT 'vert).

I agree with @saforwardlook that the H724 always looks a bit underinflated -- happily, the H735 does not. Here is a photo of the H735.

I'll update the post with a pic of the H724 on Medina (my 1971 Monaco) tomorrow. Time for bed now. Meanwhile, I confirm that I've put on almost 1,500 miles on the tires in the past ten weeks (and almost 5k in the past 2.5 years), and the H724 have performed very well.

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Hi guys , I’ve been away from this forum for a while and just took time to say hi as this heat wave has been kinda brutal on us here , even in the north across the border in Alberta! Anyhow I sure enjoyed your New Yorker as one beautiful car n style I miss so much and what a great job you did restoring it, love the wheels n caps! I also think your discussion on white wall tires helps everyone listening as I’m not impressed with anything from China. I’m still searching for wide anodized aluminum moldings etc for my 67 Monaco 500 before I attempt restoration.
 
I do not have enough miles on my new Nexen tires to say much more than they ride nicely, corner well and look great (they don't squish under load quite as much as the Hankooks, but the Hankooks are not really bad either - just a sign of the slightly higher sidewall strength of the Nexen is all)
 
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