Jim,
My TD has 4.1 gears, Firestone 5.60x15 with tubes, and it goes just
fine, as fast as I dare drive it, without vibration. It's not tubes that
cause vibrations necessarily. The Owners book points out that the tubes
should be installed with their heavy part adjacent to the tyres' light
part, and tubes and tires were both marked.
I don't know--we just put the tubes in the tire so that the valve went
through the hole in the wheel--no effort expended to find light/heavy
areas.
As to the bead slipping off the rim, it seems to me that the beads
stayed on the rims when the cars were new and that it's the air pressure
that holds the tire in place, not the tube that holds it in place.
Yes, there were "safety" rims advertised once, but I don't know what is
is that makes them "safe" I'll stick with my theory that the tubes
aren't necessary with skinny bias ply tires unless the tire people tell
you to use them; that radials may require them because of their
incredibly better adhesion. Michelin, for one, is insistant that
"radial-type" tubes be used. They say that conventional tubes will split,
giving you the very blowout that you didn't want to experience.
Bob
On Fri, 10 Oct 1997 23:31:44 -0400 (EDT) JMerz140@aol.com writes:
>Dave & Bud,
>I have NOS Dunlop Gold Cup bias ply tubeless tires (5.60x16) which I
>originally installed without tubes. Held air just fine for many years
>just
>sitting in the basement but one of the members of the local MG Car
>Club said
>tubes should be installed. The reason cited was that the type of rims
>we
>have will allow the bead of the tire to slip off the edge of the rim
>under a
>sudden or hard turn. I don't expect to encounter this hard turn
>condition
>but safety is obviously a factor. It was explained that American cars
>of the
>day have a "safety rim" which has some kind of a bead retaining
>feature built
>into the rim that resists the bead of the tire slipping off to cause a
>sudden
>deflation of one or more tires. So, I stuck tubes in the tires just
>to be
>sure.
>Now that I have the 4.3 rear end, I also have the scuttle-shake
>problem at
>higher cruise speeds. Balancing helped but didn't totally resolve the
>vibration problem. Now, I'm told that I should have tubeless tires
>with
>tubes to solve my shakes. From what Bud says, it sounds like I won't
>be much
>better off and probably make some scavenger very happy with a near new
>set of
>bias tires and tubes. I also read that bias tubes are different than
>radial
>tubes so I get the short end there too! It's beginning to look like I
>should
>leave well enough alone tire-wise and just be happy that the engine
>isn't
>flogging itself to death when I hit 60 or 65 MPH.
>I'll be looking for more opinions on the subject. Jim
>
|