I need new Tires!

Well, I just got back from a 400 mile trip in my Spitfire! Awesome as usual, driving up island(we live on Vancouver Island British Columbia)to see my parents.

It was foggy, then it started raining half way there, and rain the whole way back. But, this did not stop me from having fun. The opposite. Even though I'm uncomfortable with subjecting my car to salt, the west coast rain on the other hand I find does very little damage.

But the vibration! The tires are "Uniroyal Rallye". They SEEM to be balanced with weights, but they definately vibrate a lot. These were the previous owner's choice, I've kept them on because they look O.K., tread is good. But they've started vibrating.
Does anyone have any good experiences with any particular tires?


Adam.
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1973 Triumph Spitfire.

try bringing the wheels to a shop to be balanced first. tires should be balanced and rotated every 6000 miles so it may not be that you need new tires. if they have a bubble in the sidewall or are worn down or cracked replace them. but just because there are weights there doesnt mean they are balanced. tires throw weights sometimes and they also wear which requires rebalancing. hope that helps
Randy

Hmmm. I guess that's a cheaper option. Thanks.


Adam.
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1973 Triumph Spitfire.

Yep, I suggest taking them to a reputable tire shop for inspection. If all they need is rebalancing you are good to go!
I bought a Used Nissan Pickup a while back, {It ran Smoothe up to about 50 mph} anything past 50 Mph and the tires on it vibrated also. Come to find out they were seperating in the tread. {a very dangerous condition} all four of them went bad one at a time. I won`t mention the brand name. But I have never bought tires at the largest retailer in america and never will.
Kerry
56 TR-3 TS 12909 L.O.

Yeah. I think I will try to stretch these ones out with balancing. They seem to be good tires otherwise, and seem to be dealing with the "unique" Triumph treadwear patterns quite well.


Adam.
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1973 Triumph Spitfire.

Sounds like the experience I had with my old Redlines.
We got back from a short 100 mile trip and the car was bouncing like yours. I took the tires to be balanced and the weights stayed the same and in the same place. It still bounced. I tried rotating the wheels and still bounced. I called a shop and asked if they could do an alignment and the serviceman asked what the symptoms were. He said replace the tires.

I finally gave in but kept one for the spare. Lucky I put it in the tire well with the valve stem up. Because of broken plies it expanded to a point that I could not get it back out. And when I did it was considerably deformed. Still had like new tread.

"Stretching them out" may be more literal than you think!

BTW - My TR no longer bounces.

If the tires check out O.K., you might try having the driveshaft balanced.

I have experimented with this.

I put new Michelins on my TR3A in 1990 when I finished my restoration. Then in 2001, they were 11 years old and had 43,000 miles on them. I was driving alone in Iowa on my way to VTR in Colorado. I got "ply separation". It vibrated really bad and when I slowed down coming into a town, the car felt like I was driving over a wash-board, but not as bad as if I was driving over railway ties. I got out and ran my hand around the tire on the tread. There was still at least 1/4" of tread left, but I could feel long 6" bubbles at various places around the outer diameter of 3 of my 4 tires. I bought 4 new tires in Cedar Falls and continued on my way.

I have heard that tires cannot be trusted if they are 10 years old. Even if they are brand new and have been lying flat in a stack for 10 years with no mileage on them.

Don't play around with bad tires. You life is worth more that the cost of new tires.

Don Elliott, Original Owner, 1958 TR3A

https://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/trebor/don3a_big.JPG

Pay them now or pay them later. Replace any tire over 10 years old if you value yourself and your passenger. It's one thing to keep an old set on wheels for shows, but for real life driving, you're pushing it after 10.

Probably is the tires. But it may also be that the bushings in your front suspension need to be replaced.

The Crypt Car drove like a washboard and
would even slide into other lanes. Scary.



It was the antique redline tires. They could have killed
me at any given moment.

d

Wow, Dale. That is bad. At least TR6's wear the WHOLE tire - unlike the Spitfire which just completely wears out the inside of the tire while the outside still has knobbies on it!

Adam.
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1973 Triumph Spitfire.

yes,like JKB says could also be your bushings etc. I think modern 60 series (which I run) are not the ticket for our old school suspensions. I wonder if going with a taller sidewall like a 75 would offer a less jittery ride, something closer to stock...since I have a stock suspension. Now you guys with a souped up suspension might be good with low profile tires I'm thinking my next tire purchase will be closer to stock, albeit radials.

TheAssociate said:

Wow, Dale. That is bad. At least TR6's wear the WHOLE tire - unlike the Spitfire which just completely wears out the inside of the tire while the outside still has knobbies on it!

Click to expand...

Adam, I know that used to be the case back in the days when pretty much all we had were bias-ply tires with stiff sidewalls. But since I started using radial tires (in the early 1970s) on various Spitfires, GT6s and Heralds, I've never experienced that problem again to any significant degree. If you do routinely experience that sort of uneven tire wear, I would suspect bushings and/or alignment.