Tom,
Try removing the wheels and with it laying flat on the ground, spray a
soapy water mixture around the bead on each side. It's likely that the tire
has some debris accumulated around the rim/tire bead. Could be rust or road
debris from some hard cornering/low pressure. Given that we all enjoy
taking the curves at speed, don't risk driving on cracked tires. A long
time ago (with my first Bugeye), I had a blowout of the right rear tire
while going around a left handed curve. I ended up crushing the lower rear
fender in the process.
I'm running P185/60D13's, but I have Panasport wheels and offset rear
springs. The one thing I was told by a tire expert years ago is to not
mount too wide a tire on a rim as it will cause a tire to have "bow-in" and
wear improperly. I would inquire with a few tire experts to see what the
widest tire is you can correctly mount on a Rostyle. BTW, are they 3.5 or
4.5 inch width?
Gerard
At 1:05 AM -0400 9/30/99, Tomsjetta@aol.com wrote:
>Hello list-
>
>You've all been so helpful so far, I am very appreciative of your support.
>I'm in a quandry over the tires on my car. To start, I'll remind you that the
>car in question is a '78 Midget with Rostyles. Overall, I'd say the tread is
>pretty good, but these are hardly new tires. I kind of get the feeling this
>car has really not been driven a lot the past few years. There is a bunch of
>very tiny but consistent cracks on the sidewalls. Worse, there is a slow leak
>on both tires on the driver's side. I have owned the car for almost two
>months, and twice now both tires have lost 10 lbs of pressure each since I
>filled them up with air.
>
>Also, one of the front tires appears to toed in a bit. The car tracks fine,
>but it's clearly at a slight angle. I think a simple alignment job will do
>the trick. Also, my steering wheel is way off center while driving straight.
>I find this annoying and cosmetically unpleasant for one, but more
>importantly, I can't get a read of my tach when I'm driving in a straight
>line.
>
>If I go to a tire shop, can they correct this? Also, does the list have a
>favorite tire choice for this car? My local tire dealer tends to want to sell
>whatever tire they are being told to push, which is not always the best tire
>for the car. If I walk in there knowing what kind of tire I want, I should
>make out ok.
>
>As always, I eagerly await your advice....
>
>Tom
>78 Midget
G G Gerard Chateauvieux
E A
R R pixelsmith@gerardsgarage.com
A A
R G Pixelsmith on Duty
D E
S http://www.gerardsgarage.com
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