Basic toolbox

[sail]

I've used this kit with tube tires and it works fine. :thumbsup:

I'm suprised to hear that, good to know.

 

[Member 10617]

Don't know if others have had this experience, but I just don't have blowouts or flats on the highways and byways any more. Perhaps it's the modern tires, or perhaps it's because I keep a pretty fresh set of tires on my cars at all times. Where I do have trouble is in parking lots and other areas in town where I pick up screws or nails, and the car invariably goes flat in my own driveway. Perhaps I am living a charmed life.

 

[vagt6]

Me, too, Ed. It's attributable to "clean livin'".

 

[TR3driver]

I don't get flats nearly as often either, but it does still happen. In fact, on the way to a date with my now wife, I actually had two flats in less than two hours! The first one was caused by a bolt that I apparently ran over in an industrial area. Not sure if it qualifies as a highway or byway, just a 4-lane divided street.

The second was on the 710 freeway, where I imperfectly dodged an accident in progress. Fellow in an older Honda Civic had started to change lanes and then changed his mind, without realizing that a Toyota had already taken his place. Some kind of chrome strip came spinning into my lane, and apparently the end of it caught a sidewall just right. Took another 10 minutes or so to go flat, but the tire was ruined.

Fortunately she was sympathetic, and since I was nearly at her house by the time the second one went flat, she came and rescued me. We had dinner while the shop mounted a new tire.

 

[Member 10617]

Randall,

Two flats in less than two hours. The car gods were not with you that evening!

This reminds me of the time when I hit the rim of a truck wheel that had somehow peeled off and was deposited right in my lane at dusk. It gave me quite a whack and destroyed a tire. So, you are absolutely right, these things can happen. And for this reason, when in the Triumph I am anxious to get out of town and away from occupied areas and highways until I reach some of the less-traveled paved country roads in this area. Bolts and sharp objects do fall off cars, trucks, and tractors on these roads, but perhaps not very often. Moreover, I'd rather change a tire on a nice country road than on the side of a highway.

Having driven since I came of age in 1957, I am amazed at how reliable tires have become over the intervening decades. Used to be I'd have flats several times a year back in the stone age.

Which leads me to add -- on an entirely different topic -- that I am also amazed at how long one can go nowadays between oil changes. Used to be we had to check the oil at every gas fill-up and probably add some, and changing it was a constant thing. A car friend has told me that the reason cars last much longer these days may have less to do with better engineering than higher quality oil. Which gives us some hope for the longevity of these 50-year old cars we are driving.

 

[70herald]

A car friend has told me that the reason cars last much longer these days may have less to do with better engineering than higher quality oil.

Oils and the engineering really go hand in hand. Modern engines have tighter clearances which need better oils which allow tigher clearances which need better oils........

 

[Member 10617]

Good point.