Radial tires with wide whitewalls now available.

[Cameron in UK]

We use Vredestien Sprint Classic 640x13 radial tyres on our Amphicars with good results but they don't make a wide whitewall if you want that original look.
Have just discovered Coker tire now make a radial wide whitewall in Amphicar size. They look great on the website, anyone using them ?
http://www.cokertire.com/brands/american-classic-tires/american-classic-bias-profile-radials.html

 

[SNOWBIRD]

I use 2 supplyers in the USA.
Diamond back tires in Conway,,S. Carolina,
make a WWW on existing tires size 185/80-r-13 with a 2 inch white wall, stand up good, been on my cars for over 15 years.
and Universal Tire in Penns. have a BF Goodrich tire in 185/80R 13 or 175/80-13 with a 3 inch WWW.. again have been using for over 10 years and stand up well. In pic of green amphi.

Std black wall tires in 13 inch radials are now getting very hard to find at local stores like walmart etc,
Locally I went around to all t he Canadian Tire stores and bought up 1 or 2's they had left so have enough for 2 cars.

Raidal tires inflated properly(28-32 lbs) really improve the driving and handling of the Amphicar, I easyily drive at 65mph on highways, I would never drive on Bias ply again.

 

[Cameron in UK]

No doubt radials are best but 185 is too wide for Amphicar. Even if you sort the clearance issues they don't look right and in water reduce steering and make the car slower. What we need is radial construction in the old bias sizes which gives the best of both. With Vredestein and now this new Coker product we have that.

 

[jfriese]

Those BF Goodrich tire in 185/80R 13 are too wide for the Amphicar, with clearance problems both front and rear and I think the WW is too Wide anyway. Maxxis makes good 185/80R 13 for $100 but are only narrow WW. You can buy them directly from their website with free shipping. The rear was fine but I added a 1/8" spacer to the front for clearance at full turns. Diamond back to do the WWW to them but the last time I checked they wanted $75 each to do that and the narrow WW looks pretty good to my eye anyway.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[SNOWBIRD]

Wish I could find WWW for $75 each,, there closer to $200 now!
The only tire that looks right on a amphicar is the 185, They are the same hight as the originals were, 175s look too small and 155s look awfull.
I sell alu, spacer to put on axles before you put tire on to give clearance of the springs etc,
I have that size on all my amphicars and put them on all my customers(and thats ALOT)
This pic is of the Diamond backs.
There are no steering problems in the water and in theary they would float higher as they hold more air(they don't)

 

[LSolheim]

When we were in Boston/NH I surprized to find that RonT had the 175s w/ 2-1/4" WSWs on his car. Also saw some new ones he had just received from Universal Tire (via RonG). I actually couldn't see tbe difference between them and the 185s I have. And looking at the specs there is less than 5/8" overall difference, which means less than 3/8" for height and width from centerline. About the only option left for a decent wide WSW. I agree, those 2-7/8" WS walls are just too wide.

 

[Jon March]

original cars:
WIDE & TALL

CEAT 640 x 13