Are these Whitewalls too big on lowered stock wheels?

[RCMike]

Assuming you take care of the car, and keep it out of the sun unless driving, these tires should stay good for minimum 10 years, especially with as light as the car is and how easy a reasonable motor will be on the car. If you want the tires to last longer, put the car on stands and drop pressure between runs. But seriously, a 2014 tire should be good for a LONG time..

[bakerjf]

Back in the day I litigated a bunch of cases involving defective tires/rollovers that resulted in serious injury/death. I worked with and learned a lot from experts then and yes, it's true that tires that are taken care of will last a long time; however, tire age is always a consideration in a loss-of-control accident - most recently the Paul Walker Porsche crash... This is why so many tire shops don't want to have anything to do with old tires - liability! So while in reality the tire can be perfectly safe when used as intended, the lawyers have scared many shops from working on them anymore. So practically speaking, you won't get as much "life" out of your NOS tires (get a partial refund). You're welcome. Also, manufacturers don't mind at all because you'll buy more tires and it effectively limits their liability. Btw - the estate for the driver in the Paul Walker case just settled for $10M, and the judge allowed Porsche to walk away. I promise you one of the issues in the case was the the driver was negligent, or even "reckless," for driving hard on "old" tires.

[RCMike]

Absolutely correct.

That car was on 2005 dated tires as I recall.. A 600+ hp 3200 pound car at well over 100mph in a tight corner is going to put serious stress on a set of tires, stresses that they will NEVER see on a stockish roadster.. Not to mention that expecting a grip level of a set of R-comp tires to still be there 8 years later is optimistic at best.

Of course, we don't live in a common sense world anymore. We live in a world with rules made by lawyers looking to benefit themselves, not society.

That said, your roadsters are all completely unsafe in the modern world and they all need to be properly disposed of. You can all drop them at my house, and I will make sure they are kept from hurting others..

[bakerjf]

Absolutely correct.

That car was on 2005 dated tires as I recall.. A 600+ hp 3200 pound car at well over 100mph in a tight corner is going to put serious stress on a set of tires, stresses that they will NEVER see on a stockish roadster.. Not to mention that expecting a grip level of a set of R-comp tires to still be there 8 years later is optimistic at best.

Of course, we don't live in a common sense world anymore. We live in a world with rules made by lawyers looking to benefit themselves, not society.

That said, your roadsters are all completely unsafe in the modern world and they all need to be properly disposed of. You can all drop them at my house, and I will make sure they are kept from hurting others..

Haha - so true. Roadsters are inherently dangerous - if it was just an old set of tires to worry about...

[svwilbur]

Well I finally got the whitewalls mounted. now I need some better stock wheels...

when they mounted them they called me over to look at how tweaked the wheels were.

front drivers wheel was good,
front passenger wheel was a bit out of round.
both the back wheels kind of wobbled side to side.
the spare was perfect but it is a 4 inch rim the rest at 4.5 inch rims.

they said I might try running the 4 inch up inplace of the front passenger as the width of the tire inflated seemed to be the same width as the 4.5 inch. and then put that front passenger in the rear and put one rear in the trunk as a spare.

I have not tried that yet as I wonder about different sized width wheels up front?

I drove it a bit today on'a local road up to 50. seemed fine other than the tires are over inflated. need to be 25-30 lbs and I think they have them at 35 or more. seem hard.

but here is a before and after picture.

[bakerjf]

Nice looking car! I'm biased of course, but I'm a big fan of the stock whitewall look.

[Alvin]

Nice looking car! I'm biased of course, but I'm a big fan of the stock whitewall look.

+1
Looks 100% better! nice choice stacey

[pebbles]

Nice looking car! I'm biased of course, but I'm a big fan of the stock whitewall look.

+1
Looks 100% better! nice choice stacey

+2

[fj20spl311]

They can straighten steel wheels.

[bikermike]

The whitewalls look good.

I guess your vibration mystery is solved now.

It shouldn't cost too much to straighten the wheels. I have had alloy wheels straightened for $75 each, but that was in NY.

[svwilbur]

I had a couple alloy wheels straightened in san jose but they cost about $140 each. I have not checked for a steel wheel but figured I could by used ones cheaper but might have to buy several to get one good one and you wont know untill it is mounted and balanced for $20-25 each time. after a while it gets pricey, especially on a retirement budget. then you hit a pot hole.....

[pebbles]

Ive got a couple of mint rims,,,,,,, wont hold air
mounting is free however

[bikermike]

You can ask the installer to check for balance before the tire is mounted. If it is way out without a tire on it, it won't get any better.

[svwilbur]

I found some 4.5 68 and 69 roadster wheels that another forum member pointed me to on craigslist. They were for sale by another roadster guy. They were in kind of rough shape but he media blasted them and I sanded and painted them. 3 of the 5 I bought may work out ok. I have to see how they balance. One has a bend that I can see. and I will have to repaint my old ones to match the new paint. But I should be good now if they balance out ok.

Here is a pic of one http://www.311s.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.ph ... 00#p237508

You would think that out of the 10 wheels I have, 5 on the car and these "new" ones that I could find 4 that are straight. I am hoping the odds are in my favor.