I have a 25 Tudor with 5 poor tires that need replacing. How do the new Firestone 21" 440./450 whitewall tires hold up? I know there have been problems with certain makes and styles of tires in the past with premature checking and so on. The Firestones are made in the USA if that helps. I'd appreciate hearing from some happy customers...if there are any, before I lay out the cash.

I have them on my 1924 Tudor and my 1928 roadster pickup. I like them a lot and seem like they will last a while if kept out of the sun.

Nice to hear...Thank you Bruce!

I've a set that I mounted on a '25 Runabout near 30 years ago and although they have some mileage, they look great - no cracks, notta ! A second set I mounted on a set of T wires around three years ago are still new - no miles - no cracks !

Great! Thanks Steve!

The model T tires with cracking problems is mostly the overseas made clincher type. A lot of other unusual antique automobile special size tires also have trouble. The problem stems from the poor synthetic rubber formulas used by some of the overseas manufacturers. Everything I hear about the still USA made 21 inch tires is good. The ones I used on a car about fifteen years ago were excellent.
The tires almost make me want to play around with newer antiques.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2

Thanks Wayne. I'm looking at purchasing the whitewall version,at nearly $200.00 each (I need 5) it's a fair outlay. Safty-wise I need the tires, looks-wise I like the whitewalls, at least on the late closed cars.

The Firestones are the hardest to mount. They are the least flexible, but I believe they are the best.
They have a nice tread pattern. They really look good, like a Firestone tire from back in the day.

I put a set of 4 Firestone whitewalls on 21" split rims for a customers '26 roadster in December of 2014 and they mounted as they should. They were not exceptionally "hard" or "easy" to mount.

The experience Aaron is referring to is an issue with mostly Firestone 21" tires made maybe 10-15 years ago, or if he had a recent issue then he may have got hold of some 10-15 year old stock. There was an issue back then that appears to have been corrected. I have mounted several sets of Firestone and other 21" tires since that time period and have had no problems.

Thanks Aaron and Adam.

Adam

Nice to hear that you haven't had any real difficulty mounting these tires. Naturally they will be going on split-rims. I feel confident that I can accomplish the task as I'm somewhat familiar with mounting tires with tubes although I've never used a rim-jack before, but thankfully I have enough common sense that I won't ruin the rim. I'll be addressing any rim-jack question in another thread

Again, a big thanks to everyone for their help.

Charles.

Get some of those tire spoons from Lang's or other vendors. Use Murphy oil soap. Works great.
RDW

Thanks Richard!

The ones I am thinking about were six 19 inch tires for drop center model A wheels, a '32 Ford 18" drop center wheel and non-demountable clinchers on a '15 T.
All were about 10 years ago except the 18" which was 4 years ago.
They were all a bear to get on the wheel and pull the valve stem up and get it through the rim.
I mounted several other new tires at the same time without hassle.
I was not going to buy Firestone for my own cars, but after the posts above I guess I will. They should be easier to mount now, and I like the looks of them.

I have a set of "Firestone" tires on my '14 runabout (30x3.5 - all 4 tires). I ordered them from Lang's. They were obtained from "Universal" in Pennsylvania.
When they arrived, they were wrapped with tape that said in great big print "MADE IN VIET NAM".

Just because it says Firestone does not mean that they are made in USA!

Another thing about them is that they are stamped with "Gum Dipped", whatever that means.
What I have seen is that these tires bleed a grungy brown sticky stuff that just keeps coming out of the rubber for years.
It is very difficult to clean off, and if you do it just keeps coming back.
I am thinking I have heard good things about another company ("Coker"?) that makes antique car tires and they might be a better option.
Anyway, I am not very happy with the "Firestones" that I have.
Regards,
Jon

The 21" Firestones are made-in-USA and are of very high quality from what I can tell.

I just put them on my '25 Touring this spring. Some engine problems had me sidelined most of the summer, so I only have about 200 miles on them, and have yet to wear the nubs off.

Derek - I guess it makes sense that the 4:50 x 21" Firestones would be more likely to be "Made in U.S.A." due to the fact that it's not just the call for that size tire from the Model T "community", but probably because of the many existing '28 and '29 Model A's that also use that same size tire.

Jon,
No one is assuming that the Firestone 21 by 450 tires are made in the USA. We're taking Universal Tire's word for it that they are. They state it in the listing. Sorry that you have had a bad experience with your 30 by 3.5 Firestone examples. It's no fun being disappointed, especially after spending a decent amount money.