Tires and tubes

[ron wilson]

Can anyone out there help me locate a couple of 165/70/10 tires and or tubes for my mini>

 

[dklawson]

One of the most desired 165/70/10 tires is the Yokahama A008. It's my understanding from another message board that while they are not obsolete, they are not currently in production. When I last looked, Tire Rack was out of stock. For a while Seven was advertising that they had them. Of course, you could also check Mini Mania.

It's in your best interest to avoid tubes. You should only need them if the flanges on your rims (where the tire bead sits) are damaged or rusty. Using tubes in tubeless rims is a good way to insure that from then on you'll have to use tubes. If you must use tubes, contact one of the racing tire suppliers. They may be the only place you'll find performance 10" tubes suitable for radial tires.

 

[ron wilson]

Thanks for the response. The reason I am considering tubes is if I cannot find any new tires the ones I have are well worn and are leaking at the edges of the wheel. That is the only reason I would use them. The car is only used for very short drives and car shows so sshould lst forever. But I get tired of pumping them up every weekend.

 

[dklawson]

If the car is garaged and seldom used in the rain, tubes should be fine. I found years ago that once you put tubes in tubeless rims, you stand a good chance of trapping moisture where it was not intended and allow rust to start forming. On a set of my rims where I had run tubes I found that the bead area and the valve stem hole were corroded and I could not go back to tubeless unless I restored the wheels.

I still think for 10" tubes you will need to contact the people who supply race car tires. It's highly unlikely you'll find them available through "normal" tire store type suppliers.

 

[ron wilson]

I bot a new wheel from Moss and a new tire from Mini Mania and this gives me a good spare so believe I will be ok for a while