So today, I finally had a bit of time to take the car to Tires Plus
to have the
tires taken off the Rostyles and put on my new Cosmic wheels.
As you all know, the Rostyles are 14x5. The Cosmics are 14x5.5.
The tires are Kumho 795 Touring, size 185/70R14.
Tires Plus couldn't get the tire on the wheel. And they showed me the
problem.
The channel down the middle of the wheel is much more shallow on the
Cosmic
than on the Rostyle. You can see that instantly just looking at them.
I just measured the Cosmic, a 2x4 across the edges is 1.5 inches.
The put the tire on the machine and they can only get about 60% of
the bead
on before the rest is too tight to pull over. the rim. The guys were
afraid they'd
tear the tire.
So. Does anyone have a solution? It it just go ahead and pull it over
the
edge, or are they right, it could tear.
Would a tire specialty shop be better? Would an old time tire guy
(Dwight
McCullough, who is an MG guy) have better luck, or know better? I
originally
got the tires from Dwight, he's a Tire Rack semi-distributor. He's
good, and
cuts good deals, working out of his house. I would have gone to him
in the first
place, but time is at a premium and he's the other side of town.
Probably an
hour drive.
Would 175/80R14s go on easier. Would the side wall be taller then and
more
flexible?
On the good side, Tires Plus didn't charge me anything, though they
certainly
could have. I got 8 valve stems (they cut the old ones off the
rostyles and already
installed them on the Cosmics. Plus an hour plus of labor. And they
use Nitrogen
to fill tires, and charge for that.
Which brings up one more question, why Nitrogen?
Paul Root
ptrmgb@gmail.com
77 MGB
99 OBS
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