Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 4:46 pm Post subject: M38 tires and rims
I'm going to buy new tires for my M38 and all I see are Coker Firestone tires.
Is there another Manufacture,if so who and where can I buy them?
Looking at my rims I have three that are in lined with valve stem and lugs and one is not. I see the small hole on the one that is not lined up.
I have some that are welded and some that have rivets. what correct?
thanks
for the help
Mark
I just bought five used military ires from Russell's Military Vehicles in Cairo Ga. They're REAL military tires, not reproductions. I haven't received them yet but they're supposed to have 80 to 90% tread left and the price was $85 vs $135 for the reproductions. And no FET since they're used tires and no sales tax since they're out of state. But shipping is going to add about $18 per tire.
One of the things that I've found out about the reproduction tires that greatly concerns me is that they only have the "standard" amount of UV inhibitors and plastisizers in them. That means that they'll probably start cracking and dry rotting in just a few years, just like a normal passenger car tire. In fact, the tire companies warn trailer owners to replace their tires every four years or so even if they're not worn because of cracking. I'm afraid that that might also be the case with the reproduction military tires. OTOH, the tires made for the military have huge amounts of that stuff in it so they'll last for decades! The tires that are on my M38A1 are dated 1958 (or 53, I can't tell) and 1959! One of them lost a patch of the tread when I towed it home but they all still hold air fine and I won't be afraid to drive on the other three.
PS John at Russell's said that they're tires are a mix of manufacturers but most were made by Cooper (IIRC). He said that would send me a matching set (probably Coopers, since I didn't specify). They might be able to dig through their tires and get specific manufacturer tires for you but may charge more for that.
I should have the tires any day now. I'll post back here after I get them and get them mounted.
Joined: Oct 12, 2011 Posts: 27 Location: Auburn, AL
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 2:33 pm Post subject:
Hey Joe,
Did you ever get these tires from Ga.? I'm interested to know just how close to 80% tread they actually are and if you did get all of one kind of tire.
Richard
jeeperjoe wrote:
I just bought five used military ires from Russell's Military Vehicles in Cairo Ga. They're REAL military tires, not reproductions. I haven't received them yet but they're supposed to have 80 to 90% tread left and the price was $85 vs $135 for the reproductions. And no FET since they're used tires and no sales tax since they're out of state. But shipping is going to add about $18 per tire.
One of the things that I've found out about the reproduction tires that greatly concerns me is that they only have the "standard" amount of UV inhibitors and plastisizers in them. That means that they'll probably start cracking and dry rotting in just a few years, just like a normal passenger car tire. In fact, the tire companies warn trailer owners to replace their tires every four years or so even if they're not worn because of cracking. I'm afraid that that might also be the case with the reproduction military tires. OTOH, the tires made for the military have huge amounts of that stuff in it so they'll last for decades! The tires that are on my M38A1 are dated 1958 (or 53, I can't tell) and 1959! One of them lost a patch of the tread when I towed it home but they all still hold air fine and I won't be afraid to drive on the other three.
PS John at Russell's said that they're tires are a mix of manufacturers but most were made by Cooper (IIRC). He said that would send me a matching set (probably Coopers, since I didn't specify). They might be able to dig through their tires and get specific manufacturer tires for you but may charge more for that.
I should have the tires any day now. I'll post back here after I get them and get them mounted.
Sorry I didn't see your posting sooner. Yes, I got them and I'm satisfied with them. They're all Cooper tires and they're all pretty well matched. They have some light cracking on the outside but look completely usable. I don't know how deep the tread was to begin with so I can't say how much is left but it's a lot and I doubt I'll ever wear them out! If you send me your address I'll send you some pictures of them.
PS: The year code on them is "8" but I don't know which decade that was! But it was prior to the year 2000 because in that year they started putting 2 digit year codes on tires.
Joined: Oct 12, 2011 Posts: 27 Location: Auburn, AL
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 8:29 pm Post subject:
PM sent.
jeeperjoe wrote:
Hi Richard,
Sorry I didn't see your posting sooner. Yes, I got them and I'm satisfied with them. They're all Cooper tires and they're all pretty well matched. They have some light cracking on the outside but look completely usable. I don't know how deep the tread was to begin with so I can't say how much is left but it's a lot and I doubt I'll ever wear them out! If you send me your address I'll send you some pictures of them.
PS: The year code on them is "8" but I don't know which decade that was! But it was prior to the year 2000 because in that year they started putting 2 digit year codes on tires.
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