TheSamba.com :: View topic - The Truth about Port-A-walls

Mon Dec 26, 2005 5:29 pm

I'm thinking about buying some 15"x2" Atlas Portawalls from Greg at Vintage Warehouse. What are the draw backs on using these on 135's and 165's. I've done a search for info and I've read where there not very good but I've also read that there nice. Do you have to glue these? put red marine grease behind them so they don't rub against the tire? they make noise? not use these on a daily driver? air leaks because the tire doesn't seat properly? proper up keep? I don't mind spending the $600.00 on custom tires but not sure which wheels I want to use on my car and don't want to spend the cash on custom whitewalls if I want redlines.

Mon Dec 26, 2005 6:48 pm

first off buying the atlas ones is a smart move. way better than most others even if they are old "OG" ones. proper tire pressure is a big key. you have to inflate them properly to begin with and keep them that way. no running low pressure to keep from rubbing or to be a tad bit lower or anything like that. if you run them with low pressure they will "move around" and cut into the sidewall eventually causing sidewall failure. again the Atlas ones are much better about not doing this. i've got them on my '63. my plan before i got the car was to run randars with smart car tires. it's low. the more i look at the whitewalls and painted(black) smoothies the more i think about running them. at least for a while. Diamondback in south carolina makes 135/15 widewhites in a good radial tire. they are around $150 each but i have had much better luck/service/support from Diamondback than Coker. i would suggest them any day. with that said ports are still much much cheaper and as long as you run them right you shouldn't have any problems. oh and you can get redline portawalls to you know. and diamond back agin is the ONLY place i know that will make you 135/15 redlines...ken....

Mon Dec 26, 2005 6:51 pm

oh yeah i see you're from virginny so if you make the trip down to the Spring Thaw show march 25 here in hickory you can see them on my '63 in person. don't know what part of va you're in but it's not that bad a drive from anywhere there. alot of my friends are in va beach and i think it's 5 hours or so...ken....

Mon Dec 26, 2005 7:38 pm

I've been talking to that tire shop in South Carolina. I wanted redlines but then I started thinking about 3/4 whitewalls so thats my problem. Just not sure which wheel I want.

Mon Dec 26, 2005 8:06 pm

I've been thinking about redwalls, Anyone have stories about the quality of these?

Mon Dec 26, 2005 9:40 pm

I got the port-a-walls for my '65 bug which had 135's up front and 165's in the rear. Loved the look BUT there are drawbacks. They did good on the 165's but not so hot on the 135's. I guess it would push the white part into the tire because after driving only a short distance the letters on the tire showed through on the white. It was a brownish color. If I kept them scrubbed(with whitewall specific cleaner) after everytime I drove it then it wouldnt be too bad. I drove from northern VA to the North vs. South Shootout in SC which is about 8-9 hours if you take your time. I didnt clean them on the way down and before the show I went to clean them and the brownish tire letters didnt come off. I guess the 500+ miles did them in. They were permanetly stained. I scrubbed and scrubbed, didnt help. :( I eventually took them off. Also my fellow vdubbers that were driving with me told me that while driving the front tires looked like they were "wobbling". It was the whitewall not being totally centered and made the wheel look like it was not balanced.

Hope my personal experience helps you make a decision. If you can get 135 whitewalls, get um! I looked all over when I decided I wanted them but couldnt find em.

Mon Dec 26, 2005 10:23 pm

steven,
if you really want to be different diamondback will make double or triple pinstripe whitewalls. way cool and you never see them. pure 60s. i'm gonna run a set of my '64 buick which is a real mid 60s mild custom.

meanirish,
the quality of the diamondback is excellent. it should be for what you pay. the 135 redlines are $150 each. not terrible when you consider the tires i mentioned above in the size i need for my buick(custom) are $225. i'm pretty sure they will do red, gold or blue lines custom order for 135s. bitchin' tires. i've said that if i run randars i want to run redlines. we'll see.

rascal,
alot of the REAL whitewall from COKER tend to "brown" or "yellow" under situations just like that. they usually respond by say they are marketed for show cars and do nothing about it. i know ALOT of people who have switched to diamondback and not a single one has had this problem. when tires are that expensive they better be right and all the diamondbacks i've seen/heard of are period. and they keep 135/15 and 165 in stock all the time as lots of folks like to run them on hotrods front ends to...ken....

Mon Dec 26, 2005 10:59 pm

I wish I knew about the diamondback site before I ordered new front tires. :x

Mon Dec 26, 2005 11:12 pm

meanirish, the tires you ordered...are they redlines? If so where did you order them from?

Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:36 am

Vwrascal wrote: meanirish, the tires you ordered...are they redlines? If so where did you order them from?

No, I ordered regular tires and I thought about red port a walls. I don't like the ones here on the samba for sale, They are way too fat.

They have 135 redlines here but I found this too late.

http://www.widewhitewalltires.com/

Tue Dec 27, 2005 5:12 am

those thick red ports are fugly. the website above is for diamondback. the keep 135s. i was thinking about pricing out some specialty redlines like 175/55/15 or something similar to the smart car low profile tire. i'm not really at that stage right now and my car has brand new 135/165 combo with ports right now so i don't "need" tires and thats making even harder to change as i like the way it looks now...ken....

Tue Dec 27, 2005 5:05 pm

I think I'm going to order a set of Atlas Portawalls and try them. I'll run them until I figure out which wheel combination I want to go with. I've talked to Richard at Diamond Back numerous times about the tires. His son has a barndoor.

Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:07 pm

These are my 135's and I'm very happy with them. I've got three 135's for the front and spare and I'm running 165's on the back but they were easy to get. These came from www.widewhitewalltires.com/index.htm

Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:35 pm

Those are sweeeeet...!!! 8)

Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:29 am

Is there any type of rubber based paint that could be used to create your own "custom" look ?
When I was younger :wink: Me and some friends would customise our motorcycle tyres by highlighting the raised lettering with white paint.
It looked pretty good, but turned a brownish colour after a few weeks due to the paint and rubber interaction. Perhaps a different paint composition would have worked better.
I can get tyres locally for as little as $25.00 each, (not whitewalls) I just have a hard time paying an additional $100.00 for whitewalls.
Chris.

Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:37 am

Envious wrote: These are my 135's and I'm very happy with them. I've got three 135's for the front and spare and I'm running 165's on the back but they were easy to get. These came from www.widewhitewalltires.com/index.htm

Nice tires :wink:

When i had those 135's made diamond back did not carry 135's, i had to buy them then ship the 135's to them and ship them back

Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:47 am

empivw wrote: Nice tires :wink: You know it. They look great on the car with the dove blue paint. You wouldn't believe how many offers I've had to sell them! Thanks again Thornton.

Thu Dec 29, 2005 2:55 pm

well how about a pic of them on the car then. you can't go teasing folks like that and then not show a pic. damn...ken....

Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:16 pm

luckystiff wrote: well how about a pic of them on the car then. you can't go teasing folks like that and then not show a pic. damn...ken.... Those that know will agree that I'm not a very smart man. The wheels were on the car briefly before the body was pulled and I didn't take a picture first which is really unusual since I normally takes pictures of every last detail. The body is currently in the body shop for paint and the chassis is back from powder coat and almost finished. The best I can offer is a pic of them on the rolling chassis :D

Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:14 pm

Works for me!