Where are people getting new Michelins with WWs?

[LithiumCobalt]

I had the Trendsetters on my convertible. Had no problem with them at all. Ride was good. Tires were quiet. Never drove in rain or snow so I don't know what their behavior would have been like in those circumstances.

[navguy12]

and the Coker 9.50 x 14 is probably around $240 apiece

....and when I was going thru this search 6 years ago, it took me asking the Coker rep 6 different ways before he came clean with the fact that all the DOT nomenclature and "Michelin" script must be shaved off prior to application of the white wall.

Not sure about USA, but driving on a tire without the Canadian equivalent of the DOT nomenclature violates the HTA. Sure, no one will notice, unless something goes wrong.

[Gerald F. Chase]

Now we're "knocking on the door" of 2014. It is not only hard to find a good, big 15" radial with sufficient load-bearing capability and a reasonable noise level [i.e., not truck/SUV tires], finding ones with a whitewall is considerably more difficult. This is because of the industry trend toward larger wheel sizes: 16s, 17s, etc..

I don't have any big 60s Lincoln "big bombers" anymore. But even good whitewall radial tires for Eighties' Town Cars aren't easy to find anymore, either. Goodyear AND Michelin have abandoned even that market: P215/70R-15. The choice that I have is between Cooper and UniRoyal for my '85 T.C. sometime next year. I have almost 30,000 miles on a set of UniRoyal Tiger Paws; and they're "okay" . . . but will be worn out by 41,000 miles. And I drive more like an old man than I did twenty-five years ago. But the only whitewall in said size from Cooper is their bottom-of-the-line Trendsetters.

So, yes, it depends on your application. For a seldom-driven nice older Lincoln, either are fine. But even from the UniRoyal website, their newer version of the Tiger Paw, the "AWP II" are rated significantly lower on the UniRoyal website than the slighty-older plain 'Tiger Paw". Go figure.

I think that tires for 80s Town Cars have come down to a choice of looks versus performance. I don't believe that one can get both anymore . . . at least in an American-company tire. I'm tempted to go to B G Goodrich's "Radial T/A", which are strictly blackwall. Yet, they're one of the very few American companies that make / offer BIG fifteen-inch radials that are high-quality, reliable, excellent-performing, and able to safely handle massive vehicle weight . . . while cruising at 74 mph,
including freeway curves. BTW, I don't find severe freeway curves West of Cleveland, Ohio, compared to East of there.
The BFGs are on the expensive side, but are worth it . . . especially compared to the "antique" and 'replica' tires.

Yes, I DO prefer whitewalls. The easiest way to make my daily driver look better is not to wash / clean it . . . but rather to simply clean the whitewalls! Less work, and greater-percentage looks . . IMO.

We'll see by late Summer of 2014 as to which I choose. I did today take the time to read all the pages of this fairly-long thread. I found it interesting the positive words about Hankook . . . . though didn't read much about Yokohamas.

[LithiumCobalt]

Eventually we will probably get to the point where mass produced white walls will just plain not be available. In that case, I plan to go with Diamondback. You can take any mass produced tire and have them put the whitewall of your choice on it. That way you get a whitewall on an excellent of tires rather than just a mediocre tire. Not the cheapest alternative, but sometimes you have to pay to get what you want.

[Gerald F. Chase]

Yeah, Nick; I even wonder about the future of ANY fifteen-inch passenger-car tire availability . . . . though the smaller and medium 15" sizes will remain, for plebian Dodges and Chevys. It's the bigger-sized fifteens that "could" become scarce, . . even in blackwalls! The problem is, that even by switching to, say, 16-inch wheels, the tires themselves, five or ten years from now, will not be strong enough to handle the weight of an older, heavy Lincoln . . . because such weighty-but-elegant beasts will never be made again. RATS! Hey, they don't make Packards & Pierce-Arrows anymore, either . . . . and if they did, would they sell? Oh, a few . . but not mass production.

[1973 Mark IV Fanatic]

I stopped by the Firestone store a couple of weeks ago to inquire about replacing the 2007 vintage whitewall Bridgestone Turanza EL400 tires (205/70R15) that are on my '92 Buick Riviera. I was quite pleasantly surprised to learn that those tires are still being manufactured! These are top of the line tires; two other 15 inch whitewall choices are available from Firestone at this time. They are the FR710 and the Affinity, and both are about half the price of the Turanza. I will make it a point to go back and inquire about the availability of any of these tires in the 225 and 235 sizes we need for our Lincolns. I suspect that at least the FR710 is available in the larger sizes, as I believe that is one of the tires that Diamondback takes and vulcanizes their custom whitewalls to them. I'll look into it further and report back, unless somebody else here beats me to it. The whitewall is a little closer to the rim on the Turanzas than I would like, but we can't be picky at this point; we are lucky if we can find any whitewall tire!

[KGB Pilot125]

Now we're "knocking on the door" of 2014. It is not only hard to find a good, big 15" radial with sufficient load-bearing capability and a reasonable noise level [i.e., not truck/SUV tires], finding ones with a whitewall is considerably more difficult. This is because of the industry trend toward larger wheel sizes: 16s, 17s, etc..

I don't have any big 60s Lincoln "big bombers" anymore. But even good whitewall radial tires for Eighties' Town Cars aren't easy to find anymore, either. Goodyear AND Michelin have abandoned even that market: P215/70R-15. The choice that I have is between Cooper and UniRoyal for my '85 T.C. sometime next year. I have almost 30,000 miles on a set of UniRoyal Tiger Paws; and they're "okay" . . . but will be worn out by 41,000 miles. And I drive more like an old man than I did twenty-five years ago. But the only whitewall in said size from Cooper is their bottom-of-the-line Trendsetters.

So, yes, it depends on your application. For a seldom-driven nice older Lincoln, either are fine. But even from the UniRoyal website, their newer version of the Tiger Paw, the "AWP II" are rated significantly lower on the UniRoyal website than the slighty-older plain 'Tiger Paw". Go figure.

I think that tires for 80s Town Cars have come down to a choice of looks versus performance. I don't believe that one can get both anymore . . . at least in an American-company tire. I'm tempted to go to B G Goodrich's "Radial T/A", which are strictly blackwall. Yet, they're one of the very few American companies that make / offer BIG fifteen-inch radials that are high-quality, reliable, excellent-performing, and able to safely handle massive vehicle weight . . . while cruising at 74 mph,
including freeway curves. BTW, I don't find severe freeway curves West of Cleveland, Ohio, compared to East of there.
The BFGs are on the expensive side, but are worth it . . . especially compared to the "antique" and 'replica' tires.

Yes, I DO prefer whitewalls. The easiest way to make my daily driver look better is not to wash / clean it . . . but rather to simply clean the whitewalls! Less work, and greater-percentage looks . . IMO.

We'll see by late Summer of 2014 as to which I choose. I did today take the time to read all the pages of this fairly-long thread. I found it interesting the positive words about Hankook . . . . though didn't read much about Yokohamas.

Cooper is no longer an American company and BFG is owned by Michelin. I have really enjoyed my Toyo extensa A/S
http://toyotires.com/tire/pattern/exten ... ason-tires

Hankook makes a great winter tire but never had any luck with summer/all season stuff in the past.

Uniroyal is also a Michelin owned company and usually gets older Michelin technology passed to them. The new tiger pay is a Michelin Harmony in disguise.

FWIW this year we sold close to 25000 tires (retail) so I do have a little experience to go on

[1977lincolnmarkv]

Just buy the Cooper Trendsetters they look the best and have the least amount of sidewall graffiti and the tread is so pleasing to look at, not aggressive at all and the price is beyond reasonable. Also remember, its' a tire that doesn't have a foreign name on it and to me that is the worst offense next to having on the wrong rad. cap. On the typical H 15 application, I found for my friend who changed his original Michelins (which I have stored away with 7k miles) that the 235 75 15 were the exact same size as the originals. If you buy a 225 75 15 in todays tire size you will find they are too small for the car and looks very strange. ( we put on the 225 75 15 and had to change them to the 235 75 15 to look correct) . Go to http://www.tirecrawler.com Hope this helps.
http://tirecrawler.com/shop/result_tire/page/2/

[lincolnold]

I have three sets of Cooper Trendsetters: 21575-R15 on my 1967 Thunderbird; 225s on 1971 Mark III; & 235s on '77 Town Coupe. They look great, ride quiet and smooth. I cannot imagine why not buying them for a collector car. The load rating is more than sufficient, the white wall width is period-correct, and the price is reasonable. They were not cheap as some implied. They will be old before the tread wears out on my collector cars. Also, the tires I have were all made in Cooper's Tupelo, Mississippi plant. American made by an American Company. What more could a reasonable person ask for? The following is an update about the failed merger:


COOPER TIRE TERMINATES MERGER AGREEMENT WITH APOLLO TYRES

Cooper Focusing on Continuing to Build its Business

FINDLAY, Ohio, USA – December 30, 2013 – Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: CTB) today announced it has terminated the merger agreement with Apollo Tyres (NSE: ApolloTYRE).

“It is time to move our business forward,” said Cooper Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President Roy Armes. “While the strategic rationale for a business combination with Apollo is compelling, it is clear that the merger agreement both companies signed on June 12 will not be consummated by Apollo and we have been notified that financing for the transaction is no longer available. The right thing for Cooper now is to focus on continuing to build our business.”

“Our business model is strong, and despite the challenges this year, we are coming off record operating profit through the first half of the year and expect to continue to be profitable for the second half, ending the year with a strong balance sheet. We look forward to continuing to execute on our strategy in 2014, and we have a very strong base from which to do this—brands that are respected for quality, a loyal customer base, a flexible global network of manufacturing facilities, a skilled workforce, and top technical capabilities,” Armes said.

“Addressing the situation at Cooper Chengshan Tire (CCT) in Rongcheng, China is our top priority in the near term. The issues at CCT were driven by the merger agreement, and with the agreement now terminated, Cooper is working independently to restore normal operations at CCT, including obtaining the information needed for Cooper to resume regular financial reporting as soon as possible. Once the situation at CCT is resolved and regular financial reporting has resumed, Cooper will be in a position to address additional options for the deployment of capital targeted at returning value for our stockholders,” he added.

“While Cooper believes Apollo has breached the merger agreement, and we will continue to pursue the legal steps necessary to protect the interests of our company and our stockholders, our focus will be squarely on our business and moving it forward,” he concluded.

[1977lincolnmarkv]

They are great tires. I used them on my 96 Collectors Edition Roadmaster Estate Wagon after they discontinued the original Firestones back a year or so ago. The prices got way out of line for the quality of the tire and they would wear out in a New York minute. I love that the Cooper's are so reasonably prices and yet they look so close to the Michelin X radial. They don't show shoulder wear compared to the Firestone's. I got mine from TireCrawler.com and they delivered them for almost nothing. I think the entire set at my door was 290.00 and I didn't even have to pay tax. You cant beat deal. PERIOD!!!! People who made earlier comments were out of line and rude. Also, any one that owns them will attest to the fact that the white walls stay white and you can get sizes as well as the sidewall and tread are very pleasing to look at. I was at a show just yesterday and these guys were so proud that they found these horrible looking Hankook's and one guy was proud of his Yokahama's. The group I was with said it looked like Jimmy Durant's nose on Marilyn Monroe's face. They look horrific and the side wall has so much ribbing and HUGE names with the size of the tire as large as a bread box along side the name plus it was a foreign tire on an American car, plus.... they paid 3 times the price of the Copper trendsetters. Oh well, I know they would have bought the Coopers if they had only known. Which one would you rather have on your car? Also, if you compare the white wall size of the Hankook to the Cooper the Coopers white wall is a bit larger and better places on the sidewall.

[lincolnold]

You reminded me of an annoying problem I had with Yokohama whitewalls about 5 years ago. I could not get them to be white or stay white. I tried Wesley's, paint thinner, actual bleach, Mr. Clean , peroxide, etc., and still they were like my teeth when I used to smoke. The Coopers clean up with Wesley's to a Hollywood smile. I wonder if others have had issues with whitewalls never looking or staying white?

[Dan Szwarc]

Use Nitrogen in your tires. It seems to help.

Yes, others have had this issue. It's probably hard to find searching. I know mineral spirits really makes them white (but strips off a small amount of the WW).

Try these: http://www.thelincolnforum.net/phpbb3/s ... al+spirits

[78_towncar_460]

If you are looking for a wider white wall you can still get the American Classic Coker #700219 which is a 235/75/15. I will probably be getting another set of these soon. Really are no alternatives really. They aren't correct for my car...mine came with the dual band tires and you can have those made from Diamondback, but they cost a lot more.

I bought these for $112 per tire from Jeg's about 4 years ago, the lowest I have seen them now is like $165 per tire. Not sure if they were mis-priced at the time, but no shipping fee and about $30 per tire less than all the other places. I was expecting a call from their customer service saying they were supposed to be $140 per tire which was about the price back then.

[navguy12]

Sweet looking ride!

[Suicidekid63]

I bought these for $112 per tire from Jeg's about 4 years ago, the lowest I have seen them now is like $165 per tire. Not sure if they were mis-priced at the time, but no shipping fee and about $30 per tire less than all the other places. I was expecting a call from their customer service saying they were supposed to be $140 per tire which was about the price back then.

Decided to go with these tires on my deep dish wheels. After looking, I just dont think 3" WW look good, unless vehicle is slammed.
This picture sealed the deal for me, too and $660 seems like a great deal vs. $1200+ for 3"er's. I've seen some poor reviews on American Classic's, as far as balancing issues. Anyone have problems with this particular tire? I know Dan Szwarc runs them also. Feedback as far as quality and mounting, appreciated.
Thanks.