OK, today was a tyre day in the Shed.
To set the scene, while I was sorting GiSelle out originally I put a set of new Nankang tyres on her. Because of the rather sad condition of the lower arm bushes after a very short while, the fronts wore considerably on the outer edge. Once I sorted (or so I thought) the lower bushes the first time, I somehow managed to stuff up the toe setting quite dramatically, resulting in more wear on the outer edges of the second pair. End result, all four boots are looking a bit second hand.
I'm now confident that I've got the lower arm bushes right, and the toe setting is to spec.
So I've bought a set of four new ones, the same type again since they're available an relatively cheap. ($80 each plus delivery from Tyroola in Sydney)
Since a couple of the ones on the car are still quite usable, and my spare wheels had old Michelins of indeterminate age on them, (They pre-dated the DOT dating mark standard!) I decided to strip the spares and fit the new ones to them.
Yes, I know I could just trot down to the tyre store, hand over a wad of readies and drive away refreshed, but part of being a Tinkering Loony is craving the satisfaction of doing things oneself.
First hurdle was to break the beads on the old Michies. The bead breaker integral in the generic tyre changer bolted to the floor just wasn't co-operating so I did a bit of lateral thinking. Who would have thought that a four post hoist with a D-Special on it would also be a really effective bead breaker? I positioned the tyre so that when I lowered the hoist, the bar would press down on the tyre and such it proved to be!
Onto the changer, a brushful of detergent around the bead and off they came. Now to the nub of my gist, so to speak.
One of the spares was fitted tubeless, while the other two were fitted with tubes. I know the front ones on the car at present are tubed, but I'm reasonably certain the rear ones are not. (Just went out to check and, unbelievably, both valves are at the top of the wheel under the wheel arch so I can't confirm at present).
Now I'm aware that tubeless tyres are only supposed to be fitted to rims with the "safety ridge" rolled into them to prevent the bead pushing into the centre well in the event of major pressure loss. This was why the front ones were fitted with tubes by the local tyre bloke because he reckoned they didn't comply.
Now that I've had a good sticky beak at these rims while cleaning them preparatory to painting, it seems to me that the outer "bead settling area" has a slope which to me would seem to indicate at least a partial attempt at providing the safety ridge concept. By this I mean that the surface between the edge of the centre well and the outer rim is actually sloping towards the outer rim. The photo shows it best I think.
So I seek the Collective Wisdom of the Brains Trust and crave guidance therefrom.
Has anyone else any input to offer? I would be reasonably confident that fitting the tubeless tyres tubelessly would not be an issue, but if that constitutes an infringement of an obscure ADR requirement I guess a tube can be inserted. I just would prefer to not have the hassle of tubes.
Any and all comment and guidance is welcomed.
Cheers, Pottsy.
To set the scene, while I was sorting GiSelle out originally I put a set of new Nankang tyres on her. Because of the rather sad condition of the lower arm bushes after a very short while, the fronts wore considerably on the outer edge. Once I sorted (or so I thought) the lower bushes the first time, I somehow managed to stuff up the toe setting quite dramatically, resulting in more wear on the outer edges of the second pair. End result, all four boots are looking a bit second hand.
I'm now confident that I've got the lower arm bushes right, and the toe setting is to spec.
So I've bought a set of four new ones, the same type again since they're available an relatively cheap. ($80 each plus delivery from Tyroola in Sydney)
Since a couple of the ones on the car are still quite usable, and my spare wheels had old Michelins of indeterminate age on them, (They pre-dated the DOT dating mark standard!) I decided to strip the spares and fit the new ones to them.
Yes, I know I could just trot down to the tyre store, hand over a wad of readies and drive away refreshed, but part of being a Tinkering Loony is craving the satisfaction of doing things oneself.
First hurdle was to break the beads on the old Michies. The bead breaker integral in the generic tyre changer bolted to the floor just wasn't co-operating so I did a bit of lateral thinking. Who would have thought that a four post hoist with a D-Special on it would also be a really effective bead breaker? I positioned the tyre so that when I lowered the hoist, the bar would press down on the tyre and such it proved to be!
Onto the changer, a brushful of detergent around the bead and off they came. Now to the nub of my gist, so to speak.
One of the spares was fitted tubeless, while the other two were fitted with tubes. I know the front ones on the car at present are tubed, but I'm reasonably certain the rear ones are not. (Just went out to check and, unbelievably, both valves are at the top of the wheel under the wheel arch so I can't confirm at present).
Now I'm aware that tubeless tyres are only supposed to be fitted to rims with the "safety ridge" rolled into them to prevent the bead pushing into the centre well in the event of major pressure loss. This was why the front ones were fitted with tubes by the local tyre bloke because he reckoned they didn't comply.
Now that I've had a good sticky beak at these rims while cleaning them preparatory to painting, it seems to me that the outer "bead settling area" has a slope which to me would seem to indicate at least a partial attempt at providing the safety ridge concept. By this I mean that the surface between the edge of the centre well and the outer rim is actually sloping towards the outer rim. The photo shows it best I think.
So I seek the Collective Wisdom of the Brains Trust and crave guidance therefrom.
Has anyone else any input to offer? I would be reasonably confident that fitting the tubeless tyres tubelessly would not be an issue, but if that constitutes an infringement of an obscure ADR requirement I guess a tube can be inserted. I just would prefer to not have the hassle of tubes.
Any and all comment and guidance is welcomed.
Cheers, Pottsy.