The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop porta-walls/ slap on white walls

Howdy all,

I have found only one post regarding Porta-Walls. They are a wide white wall that is held between the tire and rim. Has anyone had any experience with these? I use my truck mostly on back roads and rarely exceed 50-60 mph. So I figure they might hold up under the limited use and low speed.

Thanks,

Panhead60

Look at my truck in the gallery. I had them on it for years with bias-ply tires. Never had problems with them at all except they finally got brittle and fell apart. The one thing you do want to watch is rubbing curbs as it will rip them badly. If you like the looks of them go ahead and put them on. I liked mine but I now prefer the black wall look.
Bill

I don't have any personal experience using them. I have a couple of buddys who sell them along with other hotrod & custom dress up parts. If you want to talk with them call 620-442-8500 (9 to 5 central time) & ask for Lee or Kirby.

Making a tubeless tire hold air with one of those things sandwiched between the tire and the rim will be fun, and getting a good wheel balance is just about a lost cause. I spent lots of years repairing tires with them installed back in the early 60's. I learned a lot of brand new vocabulary words!
Jerry

Thanks Gents,

I have radials on the truck now and I thought I might save a grand in tires and such. As long as I am having the rims powder coated, I may as well go for the Cokers!!

Thanks again,
Panhead

Porta Walls date back to the late 40s, maybe earlier. I had them on most of the 37/39/40 Fords that I owned as a kid. Never noticed or cared if they vibrated because with those old Fords you couldn't tell the difference. Looked cool though. Weeds

I bought a new Corvair Monza in 1961 with black tires and put Porta walls on it, the car shimmed something terrible. Had to take them off.

Last summer I found one made of steel, anyone ever seen one of these??

I guess there are pros and cons. I used tubes in my tires and as mentioned above they worked fine until they finally rotted away after about 8-10 years in use.

I've got them on my truck. The trick with radials is to use a thinner whitewall (I think mine are 2 1/2") to keep the porta-wall above the "pooch line" (my term for the bulge on the sidewall). No problems so far.

My Chevy came with those on it and they look terrible. The fellow that I bought the truck off of said that they were not what he had expected. They ripple and sag off the tire. Perhaps some kind of adhesive would help.
Thats just my experience but maybe different brands of these are more successful than others.
Cool concept!

I had them on a '52 chev and a '57 chev back in the mid 60s. They were on tube type tires and seemed to work ok. Don

Part of my weekly routine as a teen age driver back in the late 50's, was to wash and wax our beloved cars.....also jack up each wheel, let out the air, and with your thumbs, press the Porta-walls back in under the edge of the rim until the little ridges would "catch". If you had a fast car and were a little more aggressive with your driving style, you might have to make a mid-week adjustment.

I started my road life in a 46 Jeep wagon and Pop could monitor my driving habits by a quick visual check!!!! Being top-heavy, the wagon was quick to "spit" out the soft rubber bead....not all the way out, but just enough so there was a noticeable bulge at the rimline.....never gave it a thought that his concern was over safety issues and not just trying to restrict my driving "fun"! Getting my first set of "hand-me-down" REAL whitewalls was like winning the lottery. Great memories from a great time!!!!

Dave

Gluing them on does not work. I sold a set to a fellow who tried to glue them to the tires on his T-Bucket but they did not last.

these white walls were painted with krylon fusion paint from walmart and have held up for 6 months without cracking or flaking off!!!!!

[img]http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o235/marcelo54/paintedwhitewalls2.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o235/marcelo54/paintedwhitewalls.jpg[/img]

HMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!??

Thanks,

Something else to consider