On 10/17/97 8:35 PM so and so Barney Gaylord said. (And I quote)
>
>On Fri, 17 Oct 1997 16:42:33 -0500 Bill Eastman
><william.eastman@medtronic.com> writes:
>>..... Do MGA's have safety rims?.....
>
>Just plain smooth bead rims like most other LBCs.
>
>Having said that, I must also say that I have been running tubeless tires
>on my MGA for the last 10 years and 125,000 miles, and you know how I
>drive. I have had two tires go flat from road hazards, and lose all air
>in a matter of seconds, both in a straight line, one on a paved road and
>one on a gravel road. Neither tire came loose from the rim before
>stopping.
>
>I also spent two years racing on street tires (radials) on stock steel
>wheels, and another year thrashing a set of race tires to death on the
>same stock steel wheels. I don't believe I have knowingly ever run tire
>pressures less than 25 psi, and I've never had one lose pressure from a
>bead separation.
>
>I have also run a few more sets of race tires down to the cords while
>mounted on my custom aluminum race wheels. I do sometimes run these
>tires with pressures in the 22-25 psi range, take corners faster than any
>sane person would ever do on street tires, and I've never had any
>problems here either. As reference to how much lateral loading these
>tires see, when I ran them on stock steel wheels I was getting stress
>cracks in a wheel every few race dates, which was the impetus for forking
>out the $$$$$ for the aluminum wheels. And as another point of interest,
>the race wheels also do not have safety beads on the rims.
>
>IMHO, the number one safety concern for any wheel/tire combination is to
>check the tire pressures regularly. I have absolutely no qualms about
>not having "safety rims". And I have just donned an asbestos suit, so
>let the flames begin.
>
>Barney Gaylord
>1958 MGA with an attitude
Good point Barney,
As one who used to mount wheels and tires (even on Big Cats
(Caterpillers) ) I never understood the point between "Safety" wheels and
regular wheels. I did all this whe the "new tubeless tires were a novelty
and tubes were a "norm". I never saw any diff betwwen the wheels. In fact
we used to pull tubes out and mount the "new" tubeless tires on the same
wheels.
Larry Macy
78 Midget
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