WARDS RIVERSIDE tires - use/wear/lifespan ??

Topics Last Day Last Week Tree View    Getting Started Formatting Troubleshooting Program Credits    New Messages Keyword Search Contact Moderators Edit Profile Administration
Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: WARDS RIVERSIDE tires - use/wear/lifespan ??
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dare - Victoria Australia on Saturday, June 09, 2012 - 02:37 pm:

I'll be buying a set of 6 tires soon for my 13 Touring and would like to know if the Wards Riverside tires are better/worse/same as say the universal T driver tires or others in their price bracket, how do they stand up $ for $ against the more expensive tires available

size- 30 x 3 and 30 x 3 1/2.

Ideally l'd love the white tires, but l think we know that aint gona happen anymore, unless someone bites the bullet and makes em again.

thanks in advance for your thoughts.

David.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Coiro on Saturday, June 09, 2012 - 04:07 pm:

What I've heard:
Montgomery Ward Riversides whine a little louder than the other tread designs. The original, made-in USA incarnation of this tire is reputed to be the longest-lasting Model T tire ever produced, but tougher to mount and dismount because the rubber is necessarily stiffer. Conversely, I've been given to understand that the Riverside's reputation for durability is no longer deserved because nowadays, all Model T clincher tires, including Riversides, come from the same factory in Vietnam and that the same, much softer rubber recipe is used for all of them. In fact, I've read on this forum that the new Ward Riversides don't last quite as long as the other tread designs because of a slightly smaller footprint.

Universals are a little larger in diameter than the other brands, so theoretically, they'll yield a very slight "overdrive" effect while cruising and slightly worse hill-climbing performance. Maybe that kind of physics is interesting to academic types, but in real life, I doubt anyone would notice such a difference. Universals seem to be the most common, least expensive Model T tire available.

Harvey Firestone was one of Henry Ford's camping buddies and Firestone tires have the advantage of being original, historically authentic equipment. I use the NON-SKID tread incarnation of the Firestone tire on my front wheels and judging by the wear pattern, they're very good for telling you, in short order, whether your wheels need aligning. By the same token, it's not surprising they also seem to wear out faster. Not a good thing for a tire that's about twice the price of the others.

I've read in Harold Sharon's book, "Understanding Your Brass Car"...



... (highly recommended, by the way--best and most informative technical book I've ever read on the subject), that some tires on the market are to be avoided because they have an incorrect clincher design which will cause wear along the rim due to flexing and allow the inner-tube to creep in and get pinched. Unfortunately, Mr. Sharon doesn't name names.

It's a shame the white and light gray tires are no longer being produced. Though they looked very nice and are the only "correct" tire for the brass Model T's, they were very expensive and wore out very quickly.

Regarding clincher tire types, none of the catalogs I've seen say anything about differences in general handling, puncture resistance, braking ability, traction on wet pavement, or anything else of that nature. Among regular-treaded black clinchers, appearance and price are the only real differences I can see.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dare - Just a little South West . on Saturday, June 09, 2012 - 04:37 pm:

I did read a posting last week about the Wards and very quick wear on the fronts, but l think that may have been F/End alignment over fast tire wear.
At$152-00 each, thats fast approaching my Focus wide low profile tire cost which also dont last long (+-) 7000 miles, but they do stick like S&*% to a blanket, wet or dry.
So Wards it will be, and fingers crossed they last longer than the Whites l have on my 13 runabout.

cheers David.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By A. Gustaf Bryngelson on Saturday, June 09, 2012 - 05:01 pm:

Tires should always wear quicker on the back than the front, if they are wearing out on the front, that is a problem with the car, not the tires.
Best
Gus


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dean Yoder on Saturday, June 09, 2012 - 06:33 pm:

Good fore 3,000 miles ore less.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dare - Just a little South West . on Saturday, June 09, 2012 - 06:50 pm:

3000 miles or less, that puts it at about the same wear rate as a white tire, which has a life of about 2500 miles !!!
wow that rubber must be soft and ........

David.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ron Dupree on Sunday, June 10, 2012 - 10:12 am:

My rear Wards got about 4000 miles. Fronts (30x3) have about 5000 on them with some tread left. I switched to Excelsiors for the rear to get some added tread life.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob McDonald-Federal Way, Wa. on Sunday, June 10, 2012 - 11:57 am:

I just started to mount 8 Wards Riverside used tires yesterday. 30X3.5 on demountable clincher rims. Took 2 hrs for first one (hope I didn't pinch any thing). Tires are not very flexible, would like some 80 + weather to worm them up,only have 50's and over cast.
It shouldn't take more than a month + to get it done, need to stop in between each to refresh my vocabulary.

Bob


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dare - Just a little South West . on Sunday, June 10, 2012 - 05:08 pm:

Bob, l think l found new words yesterday when replacing my trans cover, l know what your saying, the milage seems good on those tires, done deal, thats my next order.....

who is selling them at the best price ??

I remember when l started pulling my 13 Runabout tires off the rims, they were Wards ( the old USA made original style ) they were worn thru to the canvas, but had to cut them off with a stanley knife.

David.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Sunday, June 10, 2012 - 09:16 pm:

i recently had the privilege of mounting a NOS Ward's Riverside in 3.5 x 30. Purchased in 1962 and never mounted.

Took 2 people over 6 hours and that doesn't include building a heat box to soften the rubber (otherwise it still wouldn't be mounted). The other front tire I got mounted in 15 minutes.

I sure hope the new ones mount easier.

Cheers
schuh


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dare - Just a little South West . on Sunday, June 10, 2012 - 09:29 pm:

Me too !!!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob McDonald-Federal Way, Wa. on Sunday, June 10, 2012 - 10:54 pm:

I mounted the second one today and it took about 4 hrs. Hope the other 6 mount easier. Now I need to get 6 more tubes. But today I took my time,work a little,stoped to refresh, stop for coffee and a but then back to work. I hate using that 4 letter word fellows (WORK) but you need to let off steam sometimes. Grin.

Bob


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dare - Just a little South West . on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 01:06 am:

letting off steam....hell l thought you'd use those other famous two 4 letter words.or three or four.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Peter Kable on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 01:08 am:

I wore out two new Excelsior tires out from Los Angeles to Richmond Indianna having done about 4000 miles in 2008. They were on the rear.

I had two others on the front which had been there for 15 years and had about 10,000 miles on them. They were "Commander" the fore runner to Excelsiour. I put them on the rear when the Kamper came out of the clubs museum and put 2 Wards Riversides on the front which I got in Dayton on the way to the museum.

New, all these tires need to be stretched initially and it makes them difficult to mount if you don't first stretch them. All up time to do this should be in minutes not hours. If you leave out the tube and flaps if you are using them and just put the tires on the rims and leave them overnight then the second time you put them on they will be a lot easier to do so. When I did the mounting the outside temp was 103 plus in Indianna ( humid) I'm in my late 60's and it was not that hard to do.

End result, One rear tire blew out ( lousy paper thin tube) in British Columbia which cut the bead as it came off the rim. It took about 3 minutes to put in a new tube and about 20 minutes to pump up the tire to 60psi with a hand pump ( thats what really ticks me off) knowing the components are third rate quality.

I was able to get 2 Universal tires from Les Shubert in Calgary which I used on the rear.

After 6000 plus miles the Wards have about 1/8" tread left the Universals with about 2000 miles about the same 1/8". All up they are all lousy when you think that modern tires can travel at 60 MPH for 50,000 miles or more on heavier cars the rubber used on these beaded edged tires is just so lousy.

Coker Tires blame owners now, saying they want soft rubber as the old tires are too hard to put on. Having tires which I purchased 30 years ago lasting for 30,000 plus miles ( still there on the car) which I didn't have trouble mounting then I find the argument stupid. Yes we like all things to be cheap but I would willingly pay a lot more for a product that would last more than a few thousand miles.

It may be OK if you only do a small number of miles in a year but when you cant drive across country in two months without having to buy a second set of tires to get you there then something is wrong.

We can only hope when the current supply of tires is exhausted that the manufacturers or those with a say in their manufacture will see to and fix the quality to something more realistic.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dare - Just a little South West . on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 07:00 am:

here, here I'm hearing ya.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 08:44 am:

Here's a thought about tire wear.

From time to time we visit friends in Great Britain. In a recent conversation I mentioned to my friend that I typically get about 50,000 miles on a set of tires (modern car).

He was amazed and said that it was rare for a Brit to get more than 15,000 miles on a set of tires.

The other side to this is that they all drive like maniacs in the pouring rain and seem to have much better stopping ability on wet roads, perhaps due to their softer rubber having better grip in the rain.

I wonder if our T tires made in Vietnam wear so poorly because they are using a rubber compound closer to what the Brits use ?

This is all guesswork ......

Cheers
schuh


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gavin Harris on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 04:54 pm:

Bud,

similar but different happens here.
NZ road surfaces are renowned for being very hard on tyres. Veitnamese rubber does not last very long but we can now get our T tyres retreaded with NZ rubber which has been formulated to suit the course chip. They wear much better.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 05:56 pm:

Gavin

What a cool idea - I wonder if anyone here in the US has tried to retread a 3.5x30 ?

With the relatively low speeds we drive at a retread might be a viable idea!

Anyone ?

schuh


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By kep NZ on Tuesday, June 12, 2012 - 04:03 am:

Wait what? Where do you get the tire retreaded?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gavin Harris on Tuesday, June 12, 2012 - 05:47 am:

Revolution Retreads Ltd, Palmerston North


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Dallas TX on Tuesday, June 12, 2012 - 06:50 am:

While all the clincher tires are made in the same factory in Vietnam all do not have the same rubber compound. The Firestone regular treaded tires have a much harder compound than the Firestone Non - Skids or the Universal T Drivers.

I find the following tires very soft and short lived:
Universal T - Driver
Universal Ribbed tread
Firestone Non Skid
Any of the white, gray or smooth tires.

The Firestone regular tread tires are tough to install but should last longer than any of the other types.

Note that I have not seen or used the new crop of Wards Riverside tires so I can't comment on those.


Posting is currently disabled in this topic. Contact your discussion moderator for more information.
Topics Last Day Last Week Tree View    Getting Started Formatting Troubleshooting Program Credits    New Messages Keyword Search Contact Moderators Edit Profile Administration