Tires

Lee ODell

I'm posting this because I see at our shop, to often, cars comeing in with mismatched tires. Fortunately no Hudsons. Not all brands of tires with the same size markings are actually the same size. I have seen the same size tires almost one inch different in height, different widths, different tread patterns and different inflation ratings on the same car because the owner only bought one tire at a time. He ended up with 4 different tires that had 4 different handling characteristics and he wondered why his car did not handle like it should. This combination of tires can cause tire pull problems, which in most cases can not be corrected with front suspension alignment. That was true with this car. I say this so that when times are tough and 4 tires, at one time, are not in the budget at least purchase 2 tires at a time and put them on the same axle. Two in front or two in the rear. Also, for manual steering cars the effort to turn at slow speed increases as the tire tread width increases and when tire pressure decreases. Another problem that can raise it's ugly head is when a car see's very little use or is in storage for years or decades. Tires become harder, loose flexability and traction capability when not in use. It would be better to get a fresh set of tires if a long high speed highway trip is planned. Lee

Geoff

Wise words Lee. This is not a new problem. When I bought my 1928 esex 53 years ago, there were five brands of 500 x 20 tyres available, and they were all different profile, size, and tread. some were 6 ply, some were 4 ply, and some were 4 ply but denoted "6ply rating", but they never were as good as a genuine 6 ply. Even today, the sizes of particularly vintage tyres vary vastly between brands. For instance a 8-ply-rated Lester 650 x 19 is fully 2 inches higher than the same size Coker or Denman brand. I am still running 640 x 15 cross plies on my Jet, because the comparable radials available are 185 x 15, and are at at least 2 inches smaller diameter, which reduces the overall gear ratio considerably, and puts the speedo reading out correspondingly. If I go to a higher profile radial, the width is too great for the rim, and makes it difficult to remove the wheel from the rear. Best wishes,

Geoff.

Lee ODell

Hi Geoff. You sure are an early riser 3:40 AM. That is about the time I got to sleep this mornig. Your experiance with tires reminded me of when I bought a 47 Hudson PU 3 years ago. It had 16 inch tires on the the back and I only checked the size of one front tire which was 15 inch. My son sells tires so I asked him to get me two 15 inch tires. After installing the first tire he calls to tell me the other tire was a 14 inch. Here I had not only 3 different size tires but also 3 differant size wheels. Sense the 2 rear tires were not very good either I bought a complete set of matching wheels with matching tires a friend of mine had for sale. Have a good day. Lee

Geoff

I'm in New Zealand, hence 20 hours ahead of Pacific time. Remember, it happens here first!

Geoff.