I hve never really been a white sidewall guy but I have noticed some speedster with them and I think they look cool. I don't need new tires so i was thinking of buying the inserts, either a 2inch or 3 inch. I only drive my speedster in dry weather and top speed is probably 65 maybe 70mph. Longest trip 250 miles, usually less then 30. Would be interested in feedback on people that have used them. They are not that expensive so maybe worth a try.
Thanks
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I have thought about putting these on my red Speedster, inner red and outer white.
Do you know anyone that has used them?
No. Maybe if you did a search on thesamba you might find someone who has used them. It's interesting that they come from Turkey.
A very quick search turned up a bunch here in the US, as well. Here's one of several:
Here is seller feedback on thesamba. Some people posting bought the whitewalls.
@Gordon Nichols, the eBay link you posted is for a seller in Turkey. It is probably the same guy. There are several seller names on eBay that may all be him. The eBay prices have free shipping but the prices are higher than on thesamba and on the website I posted.
A Short Class on Portawalls: They were popular in the late 50's and early 60's I used them twice on MGTD replicas. There are 3 issues with them. They will absorb the natural oils from the black side walls turning the white walls a light brown. They will shrink in short time and form a wavy surface. You have to know how to install them properly. First wearing new clear latex gloves and don't touch anything other than the white wall itself and a rubber mallet wrapped in a white tee shirt. ( you'll need a helper) deflate the tire ( no need to break the bead) then lay the white wall around the well cleaned rim then using the clean wrapped rubber mallet you gently persuade aka work the white wall down between the rim and tires as you add a couple of pounds of air at a time... you get one shot at this as the white wall will pick up dirt - staining from the underside of the rim bead , it can take a half hour or more on each one until you master this process.... IMHO their junk ~
Wouldn't Westley's Bleche-White work on these to keep them clean?
Still available, from the olden days in the 1980s when I used to sell it. Used it too, on my raised white letter Bridgestones on my 1977 Scirocco I.
Wouldn't Westley's Bleche-White work on these to keep them clean?
No, the black tire oils soak into the white rubber..they get darker each week ~
I had read somewhere that with radial tires and their more flexible sidewalls, they could cause the side walls to wear.
Never use them on radial tires, they will cut a grove in your tire.
Plus unless 75/80 profile tires yo can get a strange look where the bottom of the radial tire bulges out.
All I can see if they are on other than a show car - i.e. one driven aggressively in the curves is:
OK, OK, OK, Alan! They aren't on my radar in any way, shape, or form. I've never been a fan of whitewalls.
That is interesting that the oils leach out of the tire and into the sidewall, though.
Not really in the same price range as inserts, but if your going to do whitewalls, I'd recommend Diamond Back. https://dbtires.com/
Find the tire that has the performance you want then have DB order them, bond the whitewall (size, striped, whatever) to the sidewall and ship them out to you.
Could not be happier with mine, DB was easy to work with and advised on what would and would not work best.
Or check Coker Tires and see if they have the size whitewall you want. (Blue text is a link)
X2 on the Coker tires. When I was refreshing mine last summer I saw there is also a Euro brand available stateside now, Kontio White Paws ( if memory serves me) with a 2.5” whitewall, in lieu of the more standard 2.25” Coker… in a standard 165R15
like sneakers….give them a try, if you grow tired of them they are easy to swap out for a new set.
Whitewalls are fun ;-) IMHO. Gives the car a jolly look ;-)
Back in the day.....Mine would lift off the sidewall due to centrifugal force and wind at around 70mph. Eventually they rip and chip like the one in the photo above. Looked cool for a while. They worked better than the white rubber paint I tried before that. The tire oil and lamp black leached into the white rubber paint and did turn them brown pretty fast. I had a set of green Portawalls on the old dark green 1940 Buick I drove while in high school. They worked for a couple years but eventually started ripping and chipping. I got them for free because nobody wanted them and they were the right size. I recall that JC Whitney or Warshawski's sold them for $6 a set back then. They looked pretty "Snazzy" as we used to say.....a long time ago, in a land far- far away.
Bruce
"Warshawski's"
Wow...... That's a name I haven't heard in several decades!
I never bought from them, but assume they were like J.C. Whitney - Buy something from them once and get catalog updates forever!
I think they were the same company Gordon. Warshawski's catalog was identical but had cheaper prices. Never knew why, just took advantage of it .......Bruce
