New Wheels and Tires 2021

Sherman's tires actually pre-dated Sherman. When I was able to buy my parents old Wildcat out of the junkyard in May of 2004, I had a 1964 Buick LeSabre to which I had fitted 4 brand new tires to in only August of 2002. With only a year and 9 months of service, and 5,084 miles, I decided to swap the LeSabre's wheels and tires to Sherman to replace the junkyard tires, some dated likely 1988. The tires were Douglas brand, which cost a whopping $35 each, all in $191 after fees, road hazard, and taxes, for four tires, back in 2002. Sherman's original wheels, very rusty and crusty, got placed out of the way on a shelf. The tires were 235/75/R15s. When I went to decide on purchasing the tires, I referred to the original literature which showed 8.00-15 was an optional tires size. Referencing many online charts, they showed 235/75/R15s as the most comparable replacement.

Because radial tires have a lot of flex, cars that use hubcaps like these experience "walk", where the hubcap will rotate a small amount within the inside of the wheel. They are only held by friction. While a hubcap moving but staying firmly attached would normally not be a problem, sometimes the hubcap will start to push into the valve stem, an example shown below. I had that happen earlier this year after a trip, and when I pulled off the hubcap, some of the rubber that is normally inside the wheel was showing on the outside, but it was not leaking. I'm not one to tempt fate, so I took the tire to a wheel shop and paid for a new valve stem. They broke the outside bead on their tire machine, and pushed in a new valve stem while the tire was held on their machine. Total cost, $20.

Sherman has been driven a lot since the engine was rebuilt. While Sherman was driven an average of 6 miles a month in the years before the rebuild, afterwards I was averaging 60 miles a month, a 100% increase. 360 miles after I had the valve stem replaced on that wheel, that very same corner had a failure. Even though the tires only had around 8,000 total miles on them, at 19 years old, I had been driving on borrowed time. The valve stem was located intact within the destroyed tire. It is unknown if the replacement valve stem let go, causing rapid deflation at speed, and subsequent damage to the tire, or if the damage caused by rapid deflation at speed took out the valve stem.

 

I decided after this powerful message to replace all the tires on the car, including the spare. Not missing a chance for improvement and to bring some originality to the car, I got Sherman's original wheels off the shelf, and took them for powdercoating. 4 out of 5 are shown in the picture below. The stampings on the wheels show these were made by Motor Wheel Corporation. Random factoid is that all Motor Wheel brand replacement wheels for 1961-1964 carried the part number X-40005. These are 15x6 inch wheels, with a 5x5" bolt pattern. LeSabres of 1961-1963 got a 15x5.5 inch wheel.

 

While shopping for tires, I had 5 criteria. I needed a tire that was 1) the proper size, 235/75/15, was 2) not a truck/off-road or trailer tire, 3) had a whitewall, and 4) was in-stock, at a time when COVID was just on the cusp of slowing supply chains, and 5) available with a road hazard warranty, through either a 3rd party or selling dealer. I really wanted pie-crust vintage looking radial constructed tires, but the tires in my size were blackwall only, and I wasn't interested in paying $300+ for a tire that didn't have a correct thin whitewall. Needless to say, there were very slim pickins. There were about 6 brands total in passenger tires in that size, but some of them didn't have any whitewall, and a few of them I had never heard of, even at off the beaten path inexpensive tire dealers. After going through a very short list, I ended up going with 5 brand new Nexen N-Priz AH5 225/75R15 102S tires. These tires ended up at $86.96/tire after fees and taxes, but excluding installation and disposal. I provided my own valve stems to the installer at a cost of $11 because I needed the longer TR-425 valve stems to clear my hubcaps. The first dealer back in 2002 claimed they installed this length on the receipt, but actually used shorter stems. The tires included a 3 year road hazard insurance policy. Powdercoating was $650, two wheels had to be straightened to ensure an excellent ride and tire life, and with the tires and installation, I ended up at $1,265 on the project.

Tires and wheels look great. The whitewall still has a tinge of blue to them from the protective coating, even after 3 cleanings. I stopped by the tire installer before these were put on the wheels to be sure they were manufactured the same year I purchased them, which they were, so I don't believe the stubborn protective coating was because of age. I've followed the manufactures' maximum tire inflation recommendations.