Tire question for 62 Lark

[M.Mills]

Hi all,

While at the Studebaker meet, I made it a point to take a close look
at the type of tires on all the Larks at the meet. I need to get new
tires for my 62 Lark 2Door Sedan. My manual tells me that I should
purchase 6.00-15s. My current tires are "165s" which are too small and
my odometer and speedometer are not recording my real mileage/speed.
Also, the car begins to shake if I take her over 65mph. This might be
a tire size problem or something else. I began to do my research on
tire sizes and below are some of the tires recommended to me or seen
at the meet. I would appreciate any insight from the list as to what
other Lark owners have.

1. Studebaker's West recommends that I buy "185" size tires. These
are wider with a better grip of the road. So far, I haven't been able
to find a store that sells these. I do see "195s" though. I think
Carl at SW would be even happier if I got those!

2. P195/75 R15 Mastercraft A/S IV : Seen on a 62 Lark in Sacramento
3. P205/75R15 Penington Endeavor (63 Lark "")
4. 215/75 R15 MS on a 64 Daytona
5. 6.70-15 Firestone (owner got it at Coker Tire) Note: spoke to
owner who tried wider/larger tires that rubbed against the body of the
car, so he cautioned me on the larger tires.

I'm leaning toward the 6.70-15 Firestones and found a company called
Coker Tires that is a distributor. Does anyone know if I can buy
directly from Firestone.

Any other comments on the above or other sizes?

Thanks!!

Maryanne

[Nate Nagel]

maryan...@earthlink.net (M.Mills) wrote in message news:<89916ceb.03071...@posting.google.com>...

Maryanne,

I've got a '62 Daytona hardtop which ought to be fairly similar to
your sedan in terms of what will and won't fit in the wheelwells.
I've currently got P205/75R15 Coker WWW's on the front and some
generic P225/75R15s on the rear. Now these IMHO are a bit too big for
the stock Studebaker rims so I'm running some MoPar 15x5.5" rims and
everything works out about right. The rear tires are way too big for
the car but they don't rub. (I'm planning on getting better tires in
the near future anyway, these were cheap "get me mobile" tires.) The
MoPar rims have a tad less offset than the stock wheels so the track
is a little wider - however with just me in the car the fronts still
don't rub even at full lock. Haven't tried it with 2-up since I got
the bodywork done (my RF fender was dented in when I got the car and
it rubbed badly with a passenger in the car.) There's some Ford
wheels that are supposed to work as well and they actually narrow the
track a little bit as opposed to widening it. Only caveat with the
Ford wheels is you should use the Ford lug nuts with them (larger hex)
as with the smaller Studebaker/MoPar lug nuts the nuts might actually
pull through the holes in the wheel with obvious bad consequences.

I've been told that P205/70R15 are actually closer to the rolling
diameter of the original wheels and I think that's what I'm going to
end up with. They should fit fine with either of the wheels I've
mentioned, and I've even seen them on stock wheels although I am not
sure that I'd recommend that. If you've got the full wheel covers
IMHO there's no reason to not go with wider wheels. The story I've
heard is that the stock wheels actually are made of thinner metal than
the newer MoPar and Ford wheels as bias ply tires are stiffer than
radials and don't flex the wheels as much.

If you've got a shake, you might have a wheel balance problem,
possibly exacerbated by worn steering or suspension components. I can
say that on my car although the inner bushings are all but gone (don't
worry, I'm working on that too) it rides smooth all the way up to 80
MPH (indicated.) In any case if you have a good tire shop install
your tires they should balance everything and check the alignment as
well as the usual wear points to see if you have a problem. Might
want to take the shop manual to the tire shop - the method for setting
caster and camber is not intuitive for a suspension tech who may have
grown up working on cars with ball joints.

good luck

nate

[James]

Firestone doesn't make the bias ply, Coker has them reproduced using
original molds. If yours is a driver go with the 195/75 or 205/75
radials. If it's show go for the repro Firestones

M.Mills wrote:
> snip

[TedHarbit]

Unless you want originals, I would recomment going with the radials for better
handling and ride. If you plan on using the stock wheels, I would go with the
195 size. I have Mopar wheels on my '62 Cruiser and have 215's on it.

Ted

[blacklarkviii]

I am curently running the 205/70/15 tires on the 5.5 Mopar wheels on my 59
Lark. I have had no problem with them rubbing wiit up to 5 adults in the
car. They drive and ride so much better than the bias ply that was on the
car when I bought it. I would reccomend the 205/70/15 radials over the repos
bias ply, if you are planning on driving it very much.

Henry
"James" <vi...@erols.com> wrote in message news:3F1326A6...@erols.com...

[Dan Streb]

I would recommend 195 75 15's. They were standard on the early base model
Dodge Dakota pickups so should be available somewhere in radials. They are
the correct size for your car.
"M.Mills" <maryan...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:89916ceb.03071...@posting.google.com...

[StudeBob]

I've run 195s on our 60 Lark. They fit the original wheels extremely well
and you CAN find them in a whitewall. Thing is, I wanted a WIDER whitewall
than could be found in a 195. So last set I bought were 205s. While these
drive great (as do the 195s), my fender skirts won't clear the 205s and so
I'm now looking to buy another set of 195s for the Lark and I'll use these
virtually new 205s on one of the Presidents.

"Dan Streb" <dst...@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
news:qOTQa.400353$VP.63...@twister.neo.rr.com...

[63V-5224]

maryan...@earthlink.net (M.Mills) wrote in message news:<89916ceb.03071...@posting.google.com>...

Maryanne, just two weeks ago I put 195-75 R15's on my '63 Lark Daytona
and I couldn't be happier. I took Bob Palma's long-standing
recommendation on this and am glad I did. I wish I had bought them
sooner to replace the non-steel-belted radial 215-75's I had on the
car. They look just right on the car, ride and steer excellently,
have the proper whitewall width, and fit the Stude 4.5" wide wheel the
way they should. I bought Coopers and my local tire dealer had to
order them but they came in the next day. I paid $57.00 mounted and
balanced per tire, and bought five.

Bill Pressler
Kent, OH

[StudeBob]

Bill - just how wide are the whitewalls???

"63V-5224" <bill...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:eebafd0b.03071...@posting.google.com...

[M. Mills]

Thanks to all of you and your recommendations.

Please define what a Mopar wheel is. Is this the original wheel, because
that is what I have.

Also, I am looking for 3 1/4" whitewalls, so that will narrow down the field
a bit. I drive the car about 4 x a week, so not quite a daily driver, but
almost. 50% of the drives are on the highway. Does anyone make wide
whitewall radials?
Why do I want the fatter whitewalls? Well, according to the Feb. 1992
Turning Wheels article, the Lark's whitewalls were still on the wide side
through 1961. I have the original bill-of-sale on my car stating a November
1961 birthdate. So, I kinda wanna stay original to that size.

Maryanne
"StudeBob" <
stude...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:bf1lec$ju7$1...@slb0.atl.mindspring.net...

[TomB]

There was a guy at Hot August Nights who had a grinder kinda thing
that he put in front of a wheel while it was on the car that would
grind the rubber off exposing more whitewall. It pretty much looked
like a Dremel mounted on a sideways drill press. He jacked a car up,
it up on stands so it was rock solid, moved the dremel into position,
and slowly turned the wheel to allow the Dremel to grind off the
rubber that covered the whitewall. You'd have to know which tires
had a wide enough circle of white. Maybe that's the trick.

TomB

[mark dunning]

Mopar is the common term for Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouth parts.
If you're going to go to these wheels, you might as well upgrade to modern
radial tires.

Last consensus I remember is that Wide whitewalls on a radial tire cost a
lot more than plain ole regular 195/75R15 tires.

Good luck

Mark (Tires - they're black, aren't they?) Dunning

"M. Mills" <maryan...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:280Ra.3498$Mc.3...@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net...

[Nathan Nagel]

whitewall width changed in mid-62 so yes wide is correct for your car.
Try http://coker.com - that's what I have on my car now. They are about
twice the price of a decent narrow whitewall or blackwall tire though.

nate

[Nathan Nagel]

BTW I think you actually want about a 2-3/8" whitewall, but one that
still goes all the way to the rim.

nate

[StudeBob]

Tom,

I used to repair the machines at Armstrong Tire Co. that layed up the
belts to make a tire carcass. I know what it takes to have a wider
whitewall. In many cases you can grind away more black to make a wider
whitewall but if a narrower belt of white rubber was laid in to start with,
you might just end up with less sidewall thickness.
That's part of why I would never buy Coker or some other "collector"
tires. They're no differnt than any other tires except you pay dearly for
the way they cut them after the vulcanizing step.

"TomB" <tom9...@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:29c9hvcgdkcbeggab...@4ax.com...

[Oldcarfart]

>Subject: Re: Tire question for 62 Lark
>From: TomB tom9...@pacbell.net

>There was a guy at Hot August Nights who had a grinder kinda thing
>that he put in front of a wheel while it was on the car that would
>grind the rubber off exposing more whitewall. It pretty much looked
>like a Dremel mounted on a sideways drill press.

> He jacked a car up,
>it up on stands so it was rock solid, moved the dremel into position,
>and slowly turned the wheel to allow the Dremel to grind off the
>rubber that covered the whitewall. You'd have to know which tires
>had a wide enough circle of white. Maybe that's the trick.

I thought all those damn things were banned, why thin out your sidewall?

[Oldcarfart]

>Subject: Re: Tire question for 62 Lark

>From: Nathan Nagel njn...@earthlink.net

>
>BTW I think you actually want about a 2-3/8" whitewall, but one that
>still goes all the way to the rim.
>

try this:
http://www.LeRoysGhettoTireandLube.biz

[Ron /Champ 6]

I just couldn't help myself. Even though it's a link from Calvin, I
just HAD to click on it.... <G>

Ron/Champ 6

1963 8E5 Champ (Champ 6)
1960 Lark Hardtop (Buttercup)
1962 Lark Daytona Convertible (Boomerang)
1992 VW Passat (Taxi)
1995 VW Passat (Vanilla..yuk)

[Ron /Champ 6]

I've told it here before, and I'll tell it again...

Grampa made his own wide whitewalls....with a brush and fence paint.
They looked OK at about 50 feet.. and better at 100'

Ron/Champ 6

[63V-5224]

Nathan Nagel <njn...@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:<3F14B8BC...@earthlink.net>...

> > > >StudeBob, I was told they were 3/4" wide when I had the tire
dealer order them, and I had asked for 1" which I believed was correct
for a '63. I too like the look of authenticity, and to me, these
Coopers look almost factory and the whitewall width is fine by me. I
had forgotten that the '62's did indeed have wider whitewalls so these
Coopers may not be what Maryanne wants if she does want to stick with
an authentic, wider-whitewall look.

Bill Pressler
Kent, OH

[TomB]

Makes sense to me. I figured that the design that went into the tires
would be such that anything "outside" the whitewall wasn't necessary
to the structure. But even then, any material would protect from road
damage.

I suspect that the people lined up to have their tires ground had
trailers out back to put their queens in. <G>

TomB

[StudeBob]

I guess I need to get off my rear and order a set. I feel naked, driving
around without my skirts on! <G>

[Paul V]

The newer wheels are thicker because they carry a higher load rating
than the Studebaker wheels. As for larger lug nut-do what you want.
But Ford used both the Studebaker size and the next larger size. If
the Studebaker 3/4 lug nuts didn't pull through a thinner metal, then
how is it going to be pulled through a thicker center section.

The torque setting for the Studebaker lug nuts on steel wheels is 80
lb-ft.

Paul V
"Nate Nagel" <njn...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4b6d2dd6.03071...@posting.google.com...

[Paul V]

White rubber, compared to black rubber adds very little side wall
strength to the tire carcass. In general the side wall rubber
thickness is just enough to protect the carcass reinforcement. The
white rubber is added on top and black rubber is placed over it to
prevent scorching the white during the vulcanizing process. To expose
the white wall the black is removed. This is true for any size
whitewall.

Paul V
"Oldcarfart" <oldca...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030716061055...@mb-m24.aol.com...

[Paul V]

Thanks Bill. I will file that for future reference

Paul V

"63V-5224" <bill...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:eebafd0b.03071...@posting.google.com...

[Paul V]

Bill,

Your white rubber may actually be wider than what appears on the
surface. Maybe Cooper will tell you how wide the white rubber strip
actually is. The you could go from there if you wanted it wider.

Paul V

[Bob Lyle]

okay...how many other doofuses (besides me!) actually clicked on
Calvin's "link" before they read it and realized it wasn't real?
DOH!! I need to slow down and READ some of this stuff...even if I am
sneaking a look while I'm at the office!

oldca...@aol.com (Oldcarfart) wrote in message news:<20030716061341...@mb-m24.aol.com>...

[James]

The difference in the holes is the reason for using the larger Ford
style lug nut. Most FoMoCo wheels have a larger stud hole than
Studebaker used and if you use the smaller nuts on them they will loosen
and wear the holes oblong. BTDT

[M. Mills]

Thanks Bill, StudeBob, Nate, et al,

I'm leaning toward the 195/75/R15 radials and I found a
site that gives me 2.5"whitewalls on a 195. I think that is the closest
I'm gonna get, but for $136 per tire!!
Check out http://www.whitewallsplus.com

[Paul V]

The new wheel that I purchased are the same as used in Ford Rangers
that used 5 bolts on 4 1/2 inch bolt circle. The Ford studs are
1/2"-20, just like Studebaker and just like the newer GM wheel studs.
However, depending upon the load rating of the vehicle, the nut size
may or may not be larger. GM wheel nuts are larger on the alloy wheel
applications, even with the same size stud that Studebaker used.

I checked on it by going to the local Ford dealer and they told me
that the Ranger used the smaller and the larger nut. If I already had
the smaller nut, I was advised to keep using it, especially since the
car didn't carry the same load rating as the wheels were designed for.

The nut does not go any farther onto the stud than it did with the
Studebaker wheel. If the hole were larger, the nut would go deeper
into the wheel, but it doesn't.

Paul V

"James" <vi...@erols.com> wrote in message

news:3F15EF5F...@erols.com...