Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

I have a set of '35 wire wheels and I would like to run 500-16 Firestone dirt track ribbed bias tires on the front. I assume I still need to put a tube on this wheel even though Cokers website says these tires are tubeless?

Thanks for the help.

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

Yes they will need tubes........

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

Tires might be tubeless but the wheels aren't. Rim strips are a good idea too.

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

Thanks guys. I assumed they still needed tubes but I wanted to double check. So you would use rim strips in addition to the tubes? Do the strips protect the tubes?

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

I have heard that the 35 wires can be run tubeless. Havn't done it myself, but I have ran tubeless tyres on other old cars that were originally tubed. The 35 wires don't have the spokes sticking through the hoop so rim strips are not needed.

Personally I'd give it a go, but that's just me.

Mart.

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

I only have a few hundred miles on my '35 wire wheels...I have Diamond Back radials and I run them tubeless.....and I am using balancing beads in the tires, instead of out side weights. Runs great, steers great....Matt in Alameda

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

Tube less tires can be run on older wheels but are air pressure sensitive so you are gambling that you wont have an issue. All new tubeless tires and tubeless tire wheels work together as the wheel is constructed with a double hump safety bead lock rolled into the rim usually about 1/2" interior of the wheel flange. This serves the purpose of locking the inflated tire to the rim so that high cornering loads will not force the tire bead off the rim edge and deflate the tire. Old wire wheels do no have this hump provision as they are designed to be run with tubes. If you are using wire wheels and tubeless tires and running low air pressure to soften the ride you can experience a loss of air. Should you experience a panic response where you have to steer the car quickly for an emergency, this side loading and the tire adhesion can be enough to twist the bead off the uncontained rim and have the tire loose air pressure instantly. This leaves you in a worse predicament than you were in. Can you run tubless on an old rim, well yes, but is it done with a degree of safety that was intended? No. Adjustable spoke wires should never be run tubeless.

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

Matt,what size tires do you have on the 35.Wanting to put a set on my 35 RD

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

Thanks for the description Dick, Now I am worried. Have been happily running tubeless Diamond Back radials on my 1935 for about five years. Sounds as if it's time for some tubes, especially if a higher speed differential gear is going in.

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

You would probably have more trouble with tubes in radials. They don't like the ribbed inner surface of the tyre, and the extra flex you get with a radial. In your case, having proven that it has been ok for 5 years, surely checking the pressures on a regular basis would be a good additional precaution, if you don't do that already.

The double safety hump rim design cam in long after the intro of tubeless tyres, and of course are an improvement, but it doesn't mean you can't run them on earlier rims.

If you knowingly run your tyres low on pressure, you will have trouble regardless of rim type.

Mart.

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

I am running 205/75/R16 That are from Diamond Back....now realize that Diamond does not sell Diamond Back labeled tires, mine are Wide Whitewalls and were made by Federal, sold by Diamond Back.......they are relatively narrow and look very nice....Matt in Alameda

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

I am running Diamondback smoothed on one side blackwall radials, with tubes rated for radial tires, on my '35 Fordor sedan (Avatar) on stock 16" wires. The fronts are 550x16 Michelin and rears are 750x16 Yokohama. They now have over 20k miles on them driving on all kinds of road conditions including a 7,200 mile cross country trip last June.

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

On my 35 I run Kelsey wires with bias ply tires, radial tubes and rim center strips -

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

Don't '35 Ford wire wheels have welded spokes?

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

Yes, the spokes are welded on the outside and do not penetrate the rim like, say, Kelsey Hayes do. In the old Ford movies at the World's Fair, Henry suspended two cars from a 1935 wire rim....and said if they would have had the ceiling height, he would have hung a third car. After I saw that I quit worrying about the strength of these rims.....Matt in Alameda

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

Does anyone know when the Safety Beads that have been referred to were first used? I just compared the inside of a bare '35 wire wheel with a standard ford rim from the late 50's, and except for the widths they appear identical in all regards. With about what year of rim does the need for tubes apparently end? Also I'm having some difficulty visualizing how a tube filled with air pressure does any more to keep the tire bead in place than air pressure itself would (?).

Re: Tube or Tubeless Tires on '35 wire wheels
 

I think the safety beads started showing up on new cars around 1966?? The inner tube holds the air so when the tire starts to slide off the rim the air can not escape and the tire tends to stay on the rim. I remember seeing about a 1962 Corvair (low center of gravity) that had slid sideways on the freeway. Probably had radials without safety beads and had 4 flat tires but other wise OK.