fake white walls.....HELP

[c-mack]

hi, while looking for white walls the other day for my 67, a local tire guy said that there are some kind of rings that fit between the rim and tire that make it look like you have white walls. he said that they were really popular in the 60s. they used to call the "spats" does anybody have some? are they worth the money? how much are they? just some info would be great...thanks

colby

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by c-mack

hi, while looking for white walls the other day for my 67, a local tire guy said that there are some kind of rings that fit between the rim and tire that make it look like you have white walls. he said that they were really popular in the 60s. they used to call the "spats" does anybody have some? are they worth the money? how much are they? just some info would be great...thanks

colby

They are called portawalls and they are pretty much junk as far as I've been told. The can (and will) fly apart at high speeds. Some people say they weren't designed for radials and will only work well with bia ply tires, but this is all hearsay. I have no experience with them. I think Lucas Tires still sells them.

[bowtieboy93]

heres lucas tire's page or portawalls

http://www.lucasclassictires.com/POR...UIDELINES.html

[HoupPhotography]

Originally Posted by bowtieboy93

heres lucas tire's page or portawalls

http://www.lucasclassictires.com/POR...UIDELINES.html

Wow, thanks for that info man! and thanks for the post c-mack, I was just going o ask the same thing, $60 is much cheaper than $700...

Edit: I just remembered, someone had a "how to" video on how to make your own white walls by using a sanding disc on the black wall, it made a mess but it worked awesome, from the video.

[bad6772]

Hey Houp......i have seen the (MADE) whitewalls up close..And the way its done today is not like the way it was done years ago......I do not think you would be happy with the way they are done these days........Years ago......Their use to be shops that would (cut them down) almost like running them on a lathe......<that technique always looked good IMO....But the way they are sanded now......I dont think would fit the style and cleanliness your truck has...


just my O.2

[see ten]

Portawalls are designed for bias ply tires not for radials. Corky Coker no longer deals with them due to the large number of people that have been dissatisfied with em.

[67_C-30]

Yep see ten is right. Lucas Tire says that and the fact thatb need to run tubes on their site.

Please read this before you try Portawalls

Portawalls were originally designed to work on bias ply tires some 50 years ago, not today's radials. Bias tires
have a flat rigid sidewall, and a much higher profile (aspect ratio) than radial tires. There is a lesser likelihood of
them adhering properly to a radial because of the radius and flexibility of it's sidewall. The lower the profile of a
radial, the less likely you will be pleased with the results. Larger radials with a 75 profile seem to work fairly well,
but we do not recommend trying them on many of today's popular 60 profiles and smaller. For radials, we
suggest the narrower widths, so they won't extend beyond the radius of the sidewall.

Installation is critical and the sidewalls have to be extremely clean to increase your success rate. We recommend
a degreasing agent, not a solvent be used to wipe between the tire and the rim to ensure that the area is very
clean. DO NOT use a soapy compound, or the portawalls will slip out during re-inflation. Use an inner tube!

[Longhorn Man]

speedway automotive has them, not sure if they are the same thing as corker had or not.

[LockDoc]

-
I had them on my 1940 Pontiac Coupe "Sugar Plum", in 1958.... .. They were the 2" wide ones.

I guess you could say I've been into the cars & trucks for a few years....

LockDoc

[Premium72]

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[BACKYARD88]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

-
I had them on my 1940 Pontiac Coupe "Sugar Plum", in 1958.... .. They were the 2" wide ones.

I guess you could say I've been into the cars & trucks for a few years....

LockDoc

That's a cool Pic Leon, you've been around forever

Originally Posted by Premium72

Edited

Thanks Andy

[ChevLoRay]

For my birthday, in '64, I asked for a set of "Double Eagle" portawalls for my '54 Ford. When I got 'em, I went to a local station that had an outdoor, drive-on lift. Breaking them down was done without any air tools....manual bead breaker, etc. Put them on, it looked good (bias ply recap tires) and I was a happy high school senior!

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by BACKYARD88

That's a cool Pic Leon, you've been around forever

Thanks Mike... I think...

LockDoc

[70' GMC]

I think I seen someone sanding down the side of the tire to get the white wall look it was on you tube or another website. It looked dangerous sanding up that tire like they did.

Found it

YouTube - Make your own Wide White Wall tires

[ratpackv8sonly]

Mooneyes has them. Again not for radials though. mooneyesusa.com

[ChevLoRay]

Back in the day, when a car wasn't dressed if it didn't have whitewalls, there were people who made a living going to car lots and "creating" whitewalls. Originally, they were painted onto the tires, and later the process evolved into actually cutting the outer surface to reveal the white rubber that may have formerly been a white lettered tire.

Didja know that there is alumina (refined bauxite) in the white rubber compound? Where I was employed, we had several rubber company customers who bought a specific product that went into the making of the white rubber. Titanium dioxide is another chemical compound that helps to create the white rubber.

[mbgmike]

Actually the first tires wire all white being the color of natural rubber they did not know how to make a black one

[Sinister]

There's a member on here who just painted his whitewalls on. The guy who lowered his C-20. They looked pretty good in the photos.

[c-mack]

...can you still buy bias tires?? where? how much?

[Longhorn Man]

I saw 3/4 ton truck (LT) tires at sears about 8 years ago... they were 16.5 tall by skinny booooooooring tires though.

[c-mack]

8 years ago?.....those are probably dry rotted by now!

[**grumpy**]

I've had port-a-walls on several cars/trucks (on radials).

Now granted, they aren't a 10yr solution, but for a cheap fix for a cruise season, they're fine.

And on my 59 chevy wagon with a EFI350/4L60, they stayed put at 90mph regularly.
I just recently had them on a 62 short fleet.

It's all in the install.

And trust me. I've bought, maybe, 10-12 sets of $700 radial wide whitewalls from Coker and Diamondback in the past 10 yrs. Shhhh, I have a bad habit of trading/selling cars....haha
But being laid-off now, I gotta go ghetto style. So they do me fine.

[HoupPhotography]

Originally Posted by **grumpy**

I've had port-a-walls on several cars/trucks (on radials).

Now granted, they aren't a 10yr solution, but for a cheap fix for a cruise season, they're fine.

And on my 59 chevy wagon with a EFI350/4L60, they stayed put at 90mph regularly.
I just recently had them on a 62 short fleet.

It's all in the install.

And trust me. I've bought, maybe, 10-12 sets of $700 radial wide whitewalls from Coker and Diamondback in the past 10 yrs. Shhhh, I have a bad habit of trading/selling cars....haha
But being laid-off now, I gotta go ghetto style. So they do me fine.

Wow, those are port-a-walls... They look great. I'm gonna give 'em a try and see how I like 'em, if I get some cruise time on 'em then it was worth the $60

[c-mack]

around how long do they noramaly last you on the radials? o and BTW, AWESOME wagon. i love station wagons.

[Sinister]

Here's a link to that lowered C-20 with the painted whitewalls.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=286975&page=2