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We just discussed this on another list I am also on
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Thing is, I have a 1989 Chevy Suburban I have
driven the wheels off of, and I stuck a mid-50's full hubcap on it to see if I
could put a set on - and promptly lost it, I know about where but never looked
because it's an on-ramp to a toll highway, and because it was a cap I'd been
carrying around for at least a year and no one would even go a dollar
on.
I put some full covers (freebies, mid-60's GM
caps) on a 1988 Thunderbird and lost a couple of them as well.
Radial tires put more stress particularly on the
front rims, and I have read stories of rim failures - primartly on post-1954
Studebakers. The sidewall has less flex to it, amd that flex ends up in
the rim. The GM cars which use kingpin suspension through 1957
(Olds, Pontiac) some sources claim it is not safe to use radials on at all, even
though the handling is much improved and the hot rod guys use radials on
straight axles with kingpins to no apparent detrimental issues.
You can probably get by on radials on stock rims
the lifetime of one set of tires, which these days can be more than the intended
lifetime of the car - when Forward Look cars were built, the average lifetime of
any automobile was around 10 years/100,000 miles (just going by the cars I have
come across in junkyards with inspection stickers or liscense plates that the
year is still discernable on). But you won't be able to keep full hubcaps
on the rims. They will walk, or pop off.
If you intend to drive the car daily, at
normal highway speeds, I highly recommend - as much frustration as it may be -
to buy the replacement rims from Stockton wheel - or to replace your rims with
late model Chrysler rims from a car which was sold with radial tires. The
reason I make the frustration comment is the stories I have heard about Stockton
Wheel are around a 9:1 good:bad ratio. It may be easier to just
use later model Mopar rims, especially if they are the same
diameter.
My only other suggestion would be to buy about six
of one style cap off of people's flea market dollar tarps no matter what rims
you use, and if you lose any, bend the tabs out more on the others.
If you keep losing caps, either go to some kind of bolt-on adapter a-la 1980's
GM wire caps, or try different caps - you can always stick the correct ones on
for show.
Bill K.
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