Hey Guest!
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
6TTR3A
Jedi Warrior
Offline
<span style="font-size: 11pt">Last year I “re-tired” my 3A. I’ve been happy with Arizonan™ 165R-15s but since I have wire wheels I was also concerned about tubes. I asked my tire provider to check out my tubes as they dis-mounted the old tires, looking for any signs of distress, etc.
They admitted that they don’t deal with tubes and therefore didn’t know what to look for.
<span style="color: #CC0000">99.6% of tires sold today are mounted as tubeless, so I understood.</span> I provided new radial tubes and had them mount and balance the new tires. 2500 miles later, on my way from San Diego to Breckenridge, I had TWO flats !! I have 40,000 mi. + on “Miss Moneypenny” and never even a slow leak, much less a flat. I was fortunate on this trip to find tire shops on the way that were willing to work on a wire wheel tubed tire.
Ok, I’m back home and a week later on a short 240 mile trip I have ANOTHER flat !!! I must mention at this point that there were no repeats (RR, LF, LR) My luck holds out and once again I find a “mom & pop” tire repair shop, but this gentleman imparts some <span style="color: #990000">VALUABLE</span> information.
I had remarked to him that this is my third flat in as many weeks after years of trouble-free driving. He said <span style="color: #3366FF">“I’ll bet you bought all tires at the same time, and have about 2500 miles on them.” </span> Yes & yes, actually closer to 3000. <span style="color: #000099">“OK says he, here’s what is happening. In the last 2-3 years the tire manufactures have been using little gum-backed labels with bar codes on them to show that the tire passed a quality control check. The QC person usually affixes the label to the inside side-wall of the tire. There are other labels as well, sometimes three to a tire, usually on the inside sidewall. No reason to remove those labels before installing a tube, right? WRONG!! A radial tube is designed to flex with the tire sidewall but not at the same ratio, so what happens is the tube rubs against those little labels, wearing away the paper and now down to the adhesive. The adhesive prevents that part of the tube to flex (less than one square inch!) After 3 million or so rotations a pinhole develops on the tube in the exact center of where the label adhesive grabbed onto the tube.” </span> As he explained this he showed me the tube he had just removed and there was not one pinhole but TWO. A look inside the tire revealed two patches of adhesive corresponding to the tube holes.
<span style="color: #990000">Conclusion: If you use tubes in your wire wheels, be SURE you get any labels COMPLETELY removed from the inside of the tires before mounting your new radials.</span>
</span>[/size]
They admitted that they don’t deal with tubes and therefore didn’t know what to look for.
<span style="color: #CC0000">99.6% of tires sold today are mounted as tubeless, so I understood.</span> I provided new radial tubes and had them mount and balance the new tires. 2500 miles later, on my way from San Diego to Breckenridge, I had TWO flats !! I have 40,000 mi. + on “Miss Moneypenny” and never even a slow leak, much less a flat. I was fortunate on this trip to find tire shops on the way that were willing to work on a wire wheel tubed tire.
Ok, I’m back home and a week later on a short 240 mile trip I have ANOTHER flat !!! I must mention at this point that there were no repeats (RR, LF, LR) My luck holds out and once again I find a “mom & pop” tire repair shop, but this gentleman imparts some <span style="color: #990000">VALUABLE</span> information.
I had remarked to him that this is my third flat in as many weeks after years of trouble-free driving. He said <span style="color: #3366FF">“I’ll bet you bought all tires at the same time, and have about 2500 miles on them.” </span> Yes & yes, actually closer to 3000. <span style="color: #000099">“OK says he, here’s what is happening. In the last 2-3 years the tire manufactures have been using little gum-backed labels with bar codes on them to show that the tire passed a quality control check. The QC person usually affixes the label to the inside side-wall of the tire. There are other labels as well, sometimes three to a tire, usually on the inside sidewall. No reason to remove those labels before installing a tube, right? WRONG!! A radial tube is designed to flex with the tire sidewall but not at the same ratio, so what happens is the tube rubs against those little labels, wearing away the paper and now down to the adhesive. The adhesive prevents that part of the tube to flex (less than one square inch!) After 3 million or so rotations a pinhole develops on the tube in the exact center of where the label adhesive grabbed onto the tube.” </span> As he explained this he showed me the tube he had just removed and there was not one pinhole but TWO. A look inside the tire revealed two patches of adhesive corresponding to the tube holes.
<span style="color: #990000">Conclusion: If you use tubes in your wire wheels, be SURE you get any labels COMPLETELY removed from the inside of the tires before mounting your new radials.</span>
</span>[/size]
