Wheels & Tires

[Johnapool]

Having just read the entire thread, here are some comments (free, so you really have no problem discarding a few):

Wheaters, you are quite possibly working under a great disadvantage here, as you are speaking English to a bunch of Yanks. What is a tyre?
Also, we regularly, daily for many of us, drive relatively long distances at relatively high speed. Bias ply tires, especially ones that heat up, are ancient history. I expect to drive 75 mph in 100 degree weather, and find my tires only mildly warm when I stop for gasoline. I know England is only 400 miles long, so driving experiences as well as demands on vehicles are very much different there.

The key to tire width is the ratio of pounds to square inches of tire actually touching the pavement. I have a 2005 Scion Xb that weighs about 2200 pounds and wears 185/60/R15 84T tires. So, I have about 550 pounds (when unoccupied) on each tire. The Elio will have about 400 pounds on each tire. My Scion has so little traction it will spin the tires on wet pavement. I bought Michelins for it in an attempt to improve traction. No Luck. Since it was new, the Scion is garaged when there is ANY ice or snow on the road. The Elio must have a relatively narrow tire just to have decent traction, with such a light weight.

Saw lots of posts about "run-flat" tires...none about self-sealing tires. Here is a little clip about those.www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZPikiiKFw4

Finally, I am seeing lots of fear of flat tires. I have run high-quality steel-belted radials for many, many years now, and we just don't have flats. A nail causing a slow leak now and then, but I can't remember the last time I had a catastrophic tire failure that left me on the side of the road needing a spare and jack. I know it happens, but it is becoming a rare thing.

So, hopefully by the time I need to replace the tires on my Elio, premium-quality tires will be available, and flats will not be an issue.

 

[Smitty901]

I have not blow a car tire in over 30 years. Even driving the miles I do I can count the flats on one hand in our house hold. And those were slow leaks
On the motorcycle riding 20-60k a year in the last 30 years 1 flat.
I will carry a small plug kit like I do for the bike and not worry about a spare.
I

 

[goldwing06]

I have not blow a car tire in over 30 years. Even driving the miles I do I can count the flats on one hand in our house hold. And those were slow leaks
On the motorcycle riding 20-60k a year in the last 30 years 1 flat.
I will carry a small plug kit like I do for the bike and not worry about a spare.
I

funny story, the only bike flat i've had in many years was at the tire shop where i took a trailer tire to have it mounted. an object they had removed from a customers tire was laying in the parking lot where i turned around when leaving, found it's way into the rear tire. kinda hurt my feelings since it was a new kumho i'd just mounted for running on the dark side. ordered a new one and they mounted it for free. still going strong.

 

[tazairforce]

funny story, the only bike flat i've had in many years was at the tire shop where i took a trailer tire to have it mounted. an object they had removed from a customers tire was laying in the parking lot where i turned around when leaving. kinda hurt my feelings since it was a new kumho i'd just mounted for running on the dark side. ordered a new one and they mounted it for free. still going strong.

GW06,
That's got to be a B+tch, as it was picked up in their parking lot. I'm afraid to say 'Any Thing' about flats on a bike.
(I have ridden Many Miles over the years, on both bikes, with out one of Those).
Riding the Wing, this week-end, to Florida, I may regret even mentioning it.LOL
I'll just take like it comes.

 

[wheaters]

Wheaters, you are quite possibly working under a great disadvantage here, as you are speaking English to a bunch of Yanks. What is a tyre?
Also, we regularly, daily for many of us, drive relatively long distances at relatively high speed. Bias ply tires, especially ones that heat up, are ancient history. I expect to drive 75 mph in 100 degree weather, and find my tires only mildly warm when I stop for gasoline. I know England is only 400 miles long, so driving experiences as well as demands on vehicles are very much different there.

I think you are labouring (= laboring) a point, hopefully with a humourous (humorous) intent, about the differences in spelling between the two sides of the Atlantic. A tyre and a tire are obviously the same thing. Because my computer is set up for English English, rather than American English, if I type "tire", my spell checker corrects it to "tyre" and I've given up changing it back.

Surely you aren't under the impression that we still routinely drive to and from work on bias belt tires (cross ply tyres to us Brits)? My drive to work car actually uses low profile, run flat radials. I drive just under 100 miles round trip each working day on them.

We also have narrow roads with bends, so tyres/tires tend to warm up here too. Our motorway speed limit is 70 mph but most traffic runs at 80/85. From my numerous visits to the USA in years gone by (possibly 25 visits overall, at one time I was visiting twice a year), when I have usually hired a car, I have noticed that overall driving speeds are similar to ours.

We have a total of six cars registered to this home address, three of them mine. I also own two motorcycles. Only my Liege (a 1950s lookalike fun car) is fitted with cross plies and that is only because suitably sized radials are not available in the unusual size that the car is designed to use. I've attempted to explain that already.

 

[wheaters]

I have not blow a car tire in over 30 years. Even driving the miles I do I can count the flats on one hand in our house hold. And those were slow leaks
On the motorcycle riding 20-60k a year in the last 30 years 1 flat.
I will carry a small plug kit like I do for the bike and not worry about a spare.
I

Boy, oh boy!
Have you jinxed your next drive out, or what?

 

[ElioDigger]

I have been running with no spare or jack for 76k. I do have a air pump, some plugs and a can of green goo (goo and air pump from factory). no issue or concerns for me.

 

[Johnapool]

I think you are labouring (= laboring) a point, hopefully with a humourous (humorous) intent, about the differences in spelling between the two sides of the Atlantic. A tyre and a tire are obviously the same thing. Because my computer is set up for English English, rather than American English, if I type "tire", my spell checker corrects it to "tyre" and I've given up changing it back.

Surely you aren't under the impression that we still routinely drive to and from work on bias belt tires (cross ply tyres to us Brits)? My drive to work car actually uses low profile, run flat radials. I drive just under 100 miles round trip each working day on them.

We also have narrow roads with bends, so tyres/tires tend to warm up here too. Our motorway speed limit is 70 mph but most traffic runs at 80/85. From my numerous visits to the USA in years gone by (possibly 25 visits overall, at one time I was visiting twice a year), when I have usually hired a car, I have noticed that overall driving speeds are similar to ours.

We have a total of six cars registered to this home address, three of them mine. I also own two motorcycles. Only my Liege (a 1950s lookalike fun car) is fitted with cross plies and that is only because suitably sized radials are not available in the unusual size that the car is designed to use. I've attempted to explain that already.

Of course, it was all in good humor!! I just get a kick out of the seriousness I see on our forum sometime, and consider it my duty to lighten it up! I have truly enjoyed getting to drive on the Autobahn in Germany where you can really blow the soot out of the old pipes. It just doesn't take very long to get where you are going!! Our nearest thing is driving in Montana, where the speed limit is posted to keep the Feds happy. Last year a Montana Highway Patrolman tapped his brakes at me as I was about to pass him (unaware of his identity) at 90 mph. I backed off to 85 and he went on down the road happy.
At those speeds, it still takes well over 7 hours to cross the state. Wish we could cruise like that here in Missouri.
Cheers
JP

 

[Johnapool]

BTW, Wheaters, I looked at Liege cars on the forum over there. Cute little cars. Look like a blast. What kind of speed will Little Lucy reach?

 

[wheaters]

We got her up to a true 87 mph in Spain last month. Not bad for an 850 cc engine designed over half a century ago and only really meant to take coal miners short distances to work. The aerodynamics of the car mean it feels like you're going fast when you're not and those cross ply tyres, sorry, bias belt tires, don't have a speed rating and "grow" in diameter at speed so it's safest to keep the speed down a bit. She will cruise happily at 65 to 70 mph though. Should go a bit faster once the Suzuki G10 engine goes in.