Portawall narrow white walls for many rim sizes

[Boydsdodge]

I have been reading about tire choices available and how the choice is limited for us White Wall lovers.
I found these narrow WW Portawalls.
http://www.portawallshop.com/resize...dewalls toppers tyre Insert Trim Set of 4.jpg

I was thinking a nice Michelin tire with these might be an option.
I watched a few videos on the install and how not to install.

 

[Jim 68cuda]

Years ago I bought a set of blue streak Port A Walls for a car I had. Pretty much everyone advised against using them, especially on radial tires (they don't flex the same as a radial tire so they get floppy). Never did use them and they still hang in my barn. There were concerns about blow outs at speed, getting a good seal both between the rim and the Port A Wall as well as between the Port A Wall and the tire. In the end I decided against using them because I saw a car with them and the Port A Walls kind of got a wavy look and didn't lie flat against the tire side wall with the outer edges sticking out from the side wall. After seeing that, I decided the risk of a flat or a blowout wasn't worth the risk. The first couple shops I had approached had refused to install them anyway.


Meanwhile, I have Diamondback III red line radials on a couple of my cars and love them. But they aren't cheap. Also available a narrow and wide white walls.

White Wall Tires & Custom Redline Tires - Classic Car Tires Online

Diamond Back Classic Tires is an online tire shop that creates custom tires for classic cars. Diamond Back creates white wall tires, redline tires, blueline tires, goldline tires and other vintage tires for pre-1976 vehicles including Corvettes, Mustangs, prewar cars, postwar cars, European cars...

dbtires.com

Diamondback III radials on my 68 Charger and 68 Barracuda (also available as white walls, blue streak, and gold streak).

On my 66 Sport Fury, I have realatively cheap Hankook white wall radials, and have no complaints.

235/75R15 Hankook Kinergy ST H735 105T White Sidewall Tire 1024740

Shop CWO for the best online prices on Hankook Kinergy ST H735 tires in size 235/75R15 or 235-75-15. As always, FREE SHIPPING! Call CWO to order at 855-746-7296 today!

shopcwo.com

205/75R14 Hankook Kinergy ST H735 95T White Sidewall Tire 1024735

Shop CWO for the best online prices on Hankook Kinergy ST H735 tires in size 205/75R14 or 205-75-14. As always, FREE SHIPPING! Call CWO to order at 855-746-7296 today!

shopcwo.com

Hankook Optima whitewall radials on my 66 Fury. (Optima whitewalls may be discontinued, but there is now the Kinergy series white walls by Hankook).

...or you could use tire paint to turn a black wall, into a white wall...

Ranger Tire Paint - The premium sidewall tire paint.

Ranger Tire Paint provides a quality tire paint in many colors including whitewall, yellow, red, black, green, blue, and any custom color you may desire.

www.rangerpaint.com

 

[57fury440]

I wouldn't use them. Portawalls have been around for years. Back in the sixties a guy on my block had them on his car. He was a lousy parker and tore them up hitting the curb. They always looked funny anyway. I have no experience with the new ones but was told that they do not work well with radials. To me, tires are in the same category as brakes. If you are looking for wide whitewalls, then you will have to pay a little more. Thin whitewalls are still available at reasonable prices like the ones mentioned above. Good luck.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

They were nicknamed Flop-alongs for a reason...

 

[MONC440]

Back in the mid 90's my mom wanted white walls on her 55 T-Bird so dad had some portawalls installed and they looked ok from 20 feet. Up close they didn't look good. The first time we went to a cruise night with mom in her 55, dad in his 48 Ford Sedan and me in my 70 Dart we noticed that going down the road, do to the centrifugal force, they would separate from the tire about a 1/2 inch on the outer edge and looked weird as hell. Dad took them off the next week.

 

[Boydsdodge]

I should have completely reworded my question / suggestion on my original post. My mistake. I had been reading other posts about using larger rims in order to get a better bigger tire choice, as in 17" tires. The problem was no white wall tires above 15". I was looking around and found the narrow white walls available from Portawall. I must have been really tired when I wrote my original post with out including context of the 17" wheels.
But from what I gather, the Portawalls are no good.
Thanks.

 

[ayilar]

I like the looks, the main issue IMO would be the reduction in sidewall with 17in tires. Our cars are super comfortable yet handle fine with 15in WW tires like the Hankooks. I am not sure that a 17in tire would be quite as pleasant.

@commando1 @amazinblue82 may be able to chime in.

 

[amazinblue82]

I like the looks, the main issue IMO would be the reduction in sidewall with 17in tires. Our cars are super comfortable yet handle fine with 15in WW tires like the Hankooks. I am not sure that a 17in tire would be quite as pleasant.

@commando1 @amazinblue82 may be able to chime in.

Thanks @ayilar.

Ssome experience with 17 inch+ tires on my C sleds, but mostly just opinion. A basic assumption I have below applies to "everyday" cars, not those of limited use/parade/NON-highway speed cars.

Others' experience and opinions will vary I am sure.

IF one wants 17"+ whitewall tires, they can, of course, be gotten. IMHO, though expensive sometime. I tend to stay away from diameters over 15 inches', 29-30 inches circumference overall, on my C's.

My personal preference based on lotta things, but mostly ride quality/tire wear patterns in my experience on un-modified C's. I would tend to stay away from Porta-Walls as a product category.

Final size/style? To each his/her own. Just recommend one puts the safest, coolest looking things on theirr car they like/can afford .. and then drive that baby.

 

[Boydsdodge]

It was this discussion that had me looking. Tires for my 1971 Chrysler 300
I am up with the neg feelings with 17" and bigger feeling on old cars.
I would like my tires to be a bit taller and a bit wider. L84x15

 

[Jim 68cuda]

I should have completely reworded my question / suggestion on my original post. My mistake. I had been reading other posts about using larger rims in order to get a better bigger tire choice, as in 17" tires. The problem was no white wall tires above 15". I was looking around and found the narrow white walls available from Portawall. I must have been really tired when I wrote my original post with out including context of the 17" wheels.
But from what I gather, the Portawalls are no good.
Thanks.

Well, not cheap, but that probably leaves you with Diamondback Tires in a 17" size and a whitewall...

White Wall Tires & Custom Redline Tires - Classic Car Tires Online

Diamond Back Classic Tires is an online tire shop that creates custom tires for classic cars. Diamond Back creates white wall tires, redline tires, blueline tires, goldline tires and other vintage tires for pre-1976 vehicles including Corvettes, Mustangs, prewar cars, postwar cars, European cars...

dbtires.com

...or tire paint.

Ranger Tire Paint - The premium sidewall tire paint.

Ranger Tire Paint provides a quality tire paint in many colors including whitewall, yellow, red, black, green, blue, and any custom color you may desire.

www.rangerpaint.com

 

[Big_John]

Years ago, there used to be guys at the used car auctions that would cut a whitewall in a tire on the car. The premise is that under the sidewall is a ply of white that is buried under the black side. I really don't know how true this is... But I've heard of the whitewall cutting guys from a few good sources.

The HAMB always has good tech on this stuff.

Got some WWWs cut PICS

Technical - TIRES, white wall tech

 

[73Coupe]

Perhaps Vogue Tires makes a 17" white wall?