Reid and All,
In the late 1980's I was spending a lot of time in
L.A. and started looking for a Healey there. I ended
up with an MGC GT (still have it)and a Bug Eye( sold
this one). While towing the freshly painted Bug Eye
with the freshly painted MGC (don't ask) back from the
paint shop on an L.A. freeway(I know, I know), a piece
of tread the size of your hand seperated from the
Metzger radial and began flapping against the RL wheel
well making an ungodly racket that startled the s--t
out of me. As I tried to slow and pull over the rear
breaks locked (something to do w/those aluminum slave
cyl's, MGC's are notorious for this), my articulated
rig did at least one artistic 360 in heavy traffic and
after bouncing off the jersey barrier came to rest
with heavy damage to both my cars and most luckily no
one elses.
I learned my lesson about old tires.
Best, JK
--- Reid Trummel <editor_reid@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Team,
>
> Just looking for some "anecdotal evidence" and
> thought maybe you could
> help...
>
> Over the decades I've read articles warning about
> the dangers of old tires,
> and yet I can't recall hearing of any actual
> problems with them. Some say
> you should not drive on tires more than 10 years
> old, or more than six years
> old, and tire sellers and quite happy to sell you a
> new set every year --
> for safety's sake, of course!).
>
> I do not doubt that for high-performance
> applications, such as for racing,
> it is always better to have the best and newest of
> everything, but for the
> occasional joy ride -- the way that most of us
> typically use our Healeys --
> it seems like overkill, at least based on my
> experience and the lack of
> evidence to the contrary that I have seen or heard.
>
> So my request is this: Please tell me if you have
> had any problems with
> tires that are attributable to the age of the
> tire(s). If you got a flat
> tire by running over a nail, the age of the tire
> isn't NOT the proximate
> cause of the flat -- I'm looking for stories of
> problems that were caused
> by, or the direct result of, the tires being old.
> No old wives's tales or
> "I heard of a guy who..." stories, please. YOUR
> personal, first-hand
> experiences, please.
>
> Anyone? Thanks.
>
> Reid
> Fearlessly driving on 15-year-old Pirelli radials
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