Wow! Anyone want to buy a yellow 77? Cheap?
Will
future former MG owner
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-mgs@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of WSpohn4@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2001 1:32 PM
To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: tubes in Radial tires ?
In a message dated 19/07/01 10:04:59 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
owner-mgs-digest@autox.team.net writes:
> I have been running tubes in my '80 MGB for the
> past 12 years. I have Rostyle wheels and started
> to prevent finding a bled-down spare, but now have
> tubed all 5 wheels.
> My dad first showed me the trick on his '74 B. He
> put his first tubes in in 1982. Today, my brother
> Matt is the owner of the car since our dad's passing.
> It has about 115,000 miles and is still running with
> tubed tires.
>
A properly installed tire (clean bead, good valve) will not leak, but
failing
that, a tube will certainly make up for less than pristine bead condition. I
have seen cars in storage for 20 years, BTW, with spares still holding air.
How long before they went into storage they might have last been topped up,
there was no way of telling.
Fitting tubes to tires that don't require them is probably no problem on an
MG, but they WILL generate more heat, which means that the tire rating that
you just paid a lot of money for is no longer valid.
I just went to considerable trouble to get the valves and beads working
correctly on my Lamborghini, as running tubes in a V or Z rated tire will
apparently de-rate them to much much lower ratings.
You might say that the chances of doing a sustained 150 mph plus are pretty
slim, even in the higher powered cars, and you'd be right. But let me add
one
more factor.
If you are ever involved in an accident that causes injury or loss of life,
and wind up in a lawsuit, you can bet that the lawyers suing you (and your
insurance company) will be adding allegations regarding the fitness of your
vehicle to be on the road, and if they can find ANY instance where you
negligently, or worse (as in the case of the tubes), intentionally reduced
the safety of your car, it may factor into the outcome of the case.
So if you intentionally reduce the tire performance, and this COULD have
been
a contributing factor in the accident, you may well regret your choice to
fit
tubes where they weren't needed, in place of routine maintenance. Even if
they were not the proximate cause of the accident, they WILL be used by a
competent lawyer to induce a settlement that you might not otherwise have
agreed to, had the totallity of the case against you (including the tire
element) been less.
Just one similar example - Fiero owners almost routinely disable their
parking brakes because a cheaper rear disk can thus be fitted. Sooner or
later, this will come back to haunt one of them, if the presence of a
properly working brake could have conceivably affected the outcome of an
accident they become involved with.
Worth thinking about, at least.
Bill
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