In a message dated Tue, 23 Jan 2001 12:36:29 AM Eastern Standard Time,
Twistblts@aol.com writes:
<< Hi, My first car was a '62 Herald station wagon (only one I've ever seen).
Its rear tires also tilted outward at the top. Shortly after installing a new
set of Michelin radial tires.... [tales of Whoa! deleted] >>
The type of tire might well have played a primary role in those incidents. Back
then, there were two basic types of radial tires: steel belted such as the
Michelins) and fabric belted such as Pirelli Cinturato, Dunlop SP Sport (SP41,
CB73, etc.), and other brands. At the time, it was widely reported that steel
belted radials had a tendency towards a more sudden breakaway at the limits of
adhesion, while fabric belted radials were much more forgiving in that sense.
For that reason, steel belted radials were NOT recommended on most cars with
swing axles -- particularly cars such as the Herald and Spitfire, and the VW
Beetle -- cars that were already prone to such behavior because of those swing
axles. To my knowledge, such steel belted radials were never a catalogued (or
factory-approved?) option on Heralds and Spitfires. Steel belted radials were
not a problem on either live axle TR2/3/4 models or the more sophisticated IRS
systems of the 4A/250/5/6. As such, Michelins were an !
approved option on those cars, a
lthough the true "value" of Michelins, aside from originality and the red line,
is debatable on the TR6. :-)
(Oh, great, NOW they tell me!)
--Andy Mace
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