[E-Type] Re: Old tires

E-Type
1

I couldn’t help but reply about all these comments regarding old tires and
speed ratings.

I have been in the tire business my entire life (third generation in the
business) so I have seen one or two.

  1. This talk about using very old tires which I would consider anything over
    about ten years old is a recipe for failure. Typical tread separation
    conditions are preceeded by deep cracking in the shoulder area of the tire
    and then when subjected to extreme conditions such as very hot or very fast
    or both the tire will come apart. Sometimes preceding symptoms of a
    separation are low speed wobble (car kind of wobbles and is felt at 10-15
    mph).

  2. Tube failures are more common these days because the tubes available
    through most sources are not very good quality. Buy the best you can get.

  3. Speed ratings mean the tire is capable of sustained speeds up to the
    rating speed. It doesn’t necessarily mean that an H rated tire handles
    better than an S rated tire because there are some cheapo brand H rated
    tires that will not perform as well as a good quality S rated. Within a
    given manufacturer, an H rated will be a better performance tire than an S
    rated.

For higher speed ratings, especially when you see the same tire made in two
different ratings, ie: H & V rated versions of the same tire, the tire will
be basically the same, but there will be additional overlays usually nylon
cord over the belt layers to contain the tire at high speeds so the steel
belts will not delaminate with extreme centrifical force.

Speed ratings are as follows:

S = 112 MPH
T = 118
U = 124
H = 130
V = 150
W = 169
Y = 188
Z = OVER 150

(Quoted from the 1999 Bennett Garfield Tire Guide)

Burt Hoffmann
66 OTS______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

2

Burt:

For several months before the Michelin blew out in the
garage, my 65 developed a wobble (shimmy) in the
front end. When I replaced the Michelins with the
Avons, there was no wobble at all!
As far as tubes, that is also why I purchased the
Dunlop racing tubes from England; very expensive,
but worth every penny when consideroing what they were
going on.
			Don Hawley

Burt Hoffmann wrote:>

I couldn’t help but reply about all these comments regarding old tires and
speed ratings.

I have been in the tire business my entire life (third generation in the
business) so I have seen one or two.

Sometimes preceding symptoms of a separation are low speed wobble(car kind of wobbles and is felt at 10-15 mph).

  1. Tube failures are more common these days because the tubes available
    through most sources are not very good quality. Buy the best you can get.