new tyre advice

On or around Wed, 2 Nov 2005 19:58:31 -0000, "Paul" enlightened us thusly:

how worn is the other one?

's not critical unless you're pushing the limits of the handling. I used to tend to like changing disco tyres as a set of 4.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net, Paul blithered:

Could you not get it tubed?

Not legal. Or at least, tyre fitters will not do it for legal and insurance reasons.

Huw

In news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net, Huw blithered:

So its not legal to have a tyre fitted with an innertube?

If it's not reccomended/approved by the vehicle manufacturer as original/optional fitment then they won't do it. Unfortunarly with places like Kwap-Fit they apply this philosophy to Series vehicles, which were designed to run with tubes, but they can't tell the difference between a series and a defender.

Alex

In a tubeless tyre, that is apparently the situation as understood by nearly all tyre fitters. The OP could actually stick an internal patch on himself as long as the site is marginal to the sidewall and he realises that it might not last due to flexing. I've done several in that area and never had a problem. Tyre fitters will be rather cautious about patching in that area for two reasons, the first of which is that they prefer to sell a new tyre, the second of which is that they do not wish for any clever tosser to blame them if something goes wrong.

Huw

Perhaps "not legal" was pushing it a bit too far, but Huw makes a valid point. There are two principal reasons for not putting tubes in punctured tyres marked as "tubeless": since the puncture hole isn't sealed, water can get in and damage the tyre reinforcement; and the inside of the tyre may have ribs or other unevenness that may quite rapidly fret through an inner tube. There's far more deformation of tyre sidewalls with modern radials than there used to be with crossplies. It's a brave, foolish, or ignorant tyre fitter that will go against the relevant BS code of practice and the tyre maker's advice.

And you can get a new tyre for less than the cost of 3/4 of a tank of derv.

AIUI, the reason for not mixing new and old tyres on the same axle is because the diff is then working all the time, but I find it difficult to believe that 2 or 3 % difference in wheel speed matters a jot, or we'd never dare drive round roundabouts. I suppose there may be subtle effects of the different slip characteristics of different makes or ages of tyres, but since, even on the road, one wheel may well be on very different tarmac to the other, I can't get too excited.

Paul,

I wouldn't do that by choice, but if you have no choice, then I don't think it will do any harm (unless the other three are bald !). It will cause the diff to work - but that's what it does on every bend anyway.

I'm thinking of getting my D90 'before and aftered' - I'd be interested in your opinions.

Joskin

On or around Wed, 2 Nov 2005 23:03:02 -0000, "Huw" enlightened us thusly:

yeah, but it's basically crap. Nearly all the tyres are suitable to fit to a tube-type rim, and in that case, they have tubes. Tyres marked "tubeless" are suitable to fit to a tubeless rim - I don't think, apart from specials like beaded-edge tyres, there are any normal "tube only" tyres now. Some are specific: the Avons I put on the disco, for example, are marked "tubeless" and "on tube-type rim, use inner tube".

Does depend on the nature of the damage, though - if the casing cords are actually cut, rather than just a nail-hole or something, then it'd be right not to tube it.

The tyre bods round here are quite happy to fit tubes to such as discos in the case of a tyre that has chronic deflation syndrome.

On or around Wed, 02 Nov 2005 22:35:26 +0000, Alex enlightened us thusly:

Even steel defender wheels are not tubeless, except maybe recent ones. Earlier ones are the same as 109" sIII rims, from what I've seen.

"Autolycus" wrote

It matters more on some cars than others. IIRC there is or was a Volvo model that is particularly sensitive and prone to failure.

Huw

Not had a chance to have a good look underneath yet but my initial opinion is that chris does do a very good job, the only slight criticisms if any are that the clean up he does after the treatment perhaps could be better. i found that there was quite abit of waxoyl on the roof, this is from the enclosure he does the spraying in. not a big problem as it comes of with white spirit easily, also there was a little waxoyl on one seat again it cleaned of ok. my main tip would be to get a 9am slot because if you get a

3pm slot be prepared for a late night. we were expecting to get the disco back at 7pm but chris was running late and said it would be 9.30-10pm. we eventually got a call at 11.15 to say it was ready. by the time we inspected it paid etc it was 11.40 and we got back to leicester at 1.45am, the inspection was done by torch light hence the reason i did not spot the problems until the next day. overall its an expensive treatment but its a very dirty job to do and i am glad i got chris to do it.

Paul.

On or around Thu, 3 Nov 2005 09:47:48 -0000, "Huw" enlightened us thusly:

I'd heard that some of the 4x4 cars with electrically switched 4x4 can have problems if you fit new tyres one end and shagged tyres the other. However, the difference in effective diameter from new to worn-out tread is something like 20mm in 750mm, for LR-sized wheels, which works out approx 2.5%. Your're not, however, going to have a new+old situation as extreme as that for long, since if the thing's in regular use the old tyres will soon be worn out and get replaced with new ones, which will then only be 1 or 2mm different.