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MG MGB Technical - Tire Age & When to Replace Tires

Instead of adding even more to that huge thread on overheating, that led into tire replacements, etc. I decided to start clean on the tire subject.

I inquire of Dunlop about the codes on the tires on my 80B, while they haven't given me a straight answer on interpreting my exact numbers, they did provide a comment on tire age.

This is from GoodYear Consumer Relations.

"The Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) represents the position that
there is not one specific chronological age at which tires should be
removed from service because there is no data that supports a specific age.

Age is not the key, consistent maintenance, proper inflation and regular
inspection for treadwear patterns and damage are the keys to good tire
performance.

While there is no data that demonstrates a tire is less safe when it
reaches a certain age, for consumers who are concerned about the age or
condition of their tires, it is recommended they let a tire professional
inspect their tires."

For now I'm keeping the tires on the car, but I'm keeping a close eye on them.
R.W Anderson

"for consumers who are concerned about the age or
condition of their tires, it is recommended they let a tire professional inspect their tires."

TBH, I don't know who I would trust to inspect my tyres and tell me they were/were not safe to use.
Dave O'Neill2

An inquest here about the deaths of three when a coach left the road and hit a tree were told of a tyre which had exploded - it was twenty years old and had passed visual inspection.

The tread rules are well understood - there are no sidewall rules but if there is any cracking, the tyre should be changed. As a simple rule of thumb, tyres should not be used for normal driving after six years.
HTH
Roger W

yes there no concensus with 6-10 years being often quote but this can not allow for storeage conditions and tyres are designed to be used, lack of use doen't always seem to help but no clear evidence ti give you on that

quite strange but not unusual that new owners are more concerned about carbs than tyres - if a classic engine's not running well it will still run, part of the problem to lack of maintenance but it's no big deal, if a car don't run it's usually pretty safe, however a car that doesn't brake, steer or handle so well is a different matter

yes your tyres might still be safe but I very much doubt they proform anywhere near to the standard a fresh set would, how can you stretch and enjoy the car to it full potential in the sporting manner it was designed to go when your limted by such vital elements are the four small patches of contact with the road

this can't be about strict originality or you wouldn't be considering changing carbs perhaps you are concerened with visual or cosmetic value of the tyres which is fine for a show car but not so good for a car that is used on the roads

you're fitting a stereotype of owner to which I don't subscribe so I'm sure you'll be pleased to know I'll just watch your progress from now on and hope you prove me wrong

all the best RW
Nigel Atkins

You have 4 pieces of rubber about the size of your foot holding you on the road. If you have any doubt (and you obviously do by the question)about their capability, you should optimise this with new ones. 4 tyres represent a small amount in terms of owning/ running a classic, and the fact that people unknown to you are concerned about your safety,is indicative.
Michael Beswick

When I buy a new car (classic or otherwise) I change the tyres as a matter of course unless the history file includes receipts showing that the tyres are recent. Quite apart from anything else, I drive my wife and kids around in the MG from time to time, and I won't leave their safety open to unnecessary doubt!

I bought my GT in February, it is in good nick but I didn't know how old the tyres were, so I bought a new set without blinking. A rusty door bottom I'll live with for a while, an unknown tyre I just won't.
Piers Colver

My partner drives a yaris, less than 2000 miles a year. It's serviced on the dot every 12 months at Toyota. They have never mentioned tyres with this car, ( 6 services ) or her previous Yaris ( 8 services )
I do the odd track day, and I will change the tyres at 7 years.
c cummins

In California, it's illegal to mount a tire that's more than ten years old. RAY
rjm RAY

C Cummins,
for other manufacturers for very low mileage cars there are more service requirement than an annual service forget how they term it

the reason the garage doesn't say anything is because there are no visible signs and if they were to almost all of their customers would say they're being conned, they're quite happy to pay for cosmetics but not things they can't see that's why tyre tread patterns were made fashionable, never mind about safety performance but who wants to be seen in last season tread

yes the tyres may well still perform, even at that low mileage presumably the car is used more than 3-4 months of the year and not laid up 8-9 months

if a tyre age can't be found on either face of the tyre then perhaps the tyre is older than when the dating system started, my last car when I got it had a used 25 year old tyre in the boot
Nigel Atkins

Well I pushed a bit further with tire manufacturer to make the interpretation of the code for me to confirm their code system.

Now to bring in some information from the other thread that started this tire discussion; this is a 1980 MGB, 21,000 actual miles. It was well maintained, but not driven, and obviously stored indoors.

1st owner had it until around 1988, as that is when the repair/maintenance receipts start up with the 2nd owner's name. Mileage was around 19,000 in 1991 when tires were balanced by 2nd owner. This means 2nd owner only put 2,000 miles on the car in 22 years.

I assumed the tires were fine, because they sure look fine; like new. Which is why I questioned throwing them away, just for age; assuming they may be 20 years old.

Well, now that the tire code has been interpreted by the manufacturer, it turns out they are older than even I thought.

From Goodyear yesterday:

"The DOT you provided indicates the tire was manufactured in the 9th week of 1981. I would not be inclined to use tires that old."

It doesn't make sense that the tires may have been replaced just over a year after the manufacturer date of the car itself (Jan 1980), but the date on the tire is the date on the tire.

I thought the 91 on the tire was year, but it is week and year. (Dunlops in 80s had 10 digits in code, last digit is year, preceding digit(s) are week of that year - thus 91 = 9th week of 1981. Number of digits changes with following decades.)

So with 90% of the posts to my double discussion saying - suggesting - advising - scolding - praying that I replace the tires before I'm a statistic; I've started shopping for tires.

And thanks to all that really appeared to be concerned for my safety, repeatedly concerned in some cases. THANKS.
R.W Anderson

great that you’ve got it, don’t forget it wasn’t just your safety

now you know remember how the car brakes, handles and rides on those tyres and then see the differences with the new tyres (after 1-200 miles to ‘degrease’ them)

but more scolding

you were given a link and told about the DOT coding before you didn't need to contact Goodyear


for others that might need it -
this was the link given before it will help you date your tyres - http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html


for RW –
it says –

‘As part of the DOT code . . . Oddly this code is sometimes only on one sidewall so you might need to get under your car and look at the inward-facing side of the tyre. . . .’

‘Reading the code. The code is pretty simple. The three-digit code was used for tyres manufactured before 2000. So for example 1 7 6 means it was manufactured in the 17th week of 6th year of the decade. In this case it means 1986. For tyres manufactured in the 90's, the same code holds true but there is a little triangle after the DOT code. So for this example, a tyre manufactured in the 17th week of 1996 would have the code 176 ∆
After 2000, the code was switched to a 4-digit code. Same rules apply, so for example 3 0 0 3 means the tyre was manufactured in the 30th week of 2003’
Nigel Atkins

I looked in my daughters BMW Mini handbook and it says the tyres should be changed at 6 years no matter what the wear is. This is clearly in this cars service schedule and I would expect a Main dealer to flag this up the same way they would a cam belt change.
Nigel Atkins, as to servicing for low mileage modern cars, once a year is sufficent and to the same schedule, high mileage may mean less than 12 months between services.
c cummins

C Cummins, (sorry but you don't put your first name)
IIRC low mileage on at least my wife's modern car would mean more than just the same as an annual service, it's called (can't remember and can't look it up at the car's not here)

back to tyres
many car and tyre(?) manufactures recommend that tyres are changed at 3mm tread left rather than the legal 1.6mm (IIRC across 3/4 of the width)
Nigel Atkins

Thanks for that link Nigel.

This afternoon the Magnette is getting 3 new tyres to replace the 1985 pair on the front and the 1987 spare.

So now I've got to check the BGT and the road Midget for their ages, but they can wait a bit longer I'm not going to be able to afford new sets for all of them this month!

A
Andrew McGee

Andrew,
no problem, that link I put up often, that page and the other three pages on tyres and wheels are interesting and informative as is the rest of the website - http://www.carbibles.com/

as with Paul's excellent web site it's by one person so their very well researched finds and view that cover such width and depth there are bound to be the odd things that you might not totally 100% agree with 100% of the content but these seem very few to me

for others,
Paul's site - http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/hometext.htm
Nigel Atkins

Andrew,
also meant to put - take it easy on the new tyres for the first 100 miles (200 in the wet) and you might want to try a few extra psi in the new tyres than Driver's Handbook spec

circulation the spare to be used with wheel rotation

and remember to check your nuts after about 30 miles

don't let them torque the Midget wheel nuts beyond 61Nm (45lb/ft)
Nigel Atkins

"It doesn't make sense that the tires may have been replaced just over a year after the manufacturer date of the car itself"

You can't assume that, they could have been kicking around somewhere before fitting. Alternatively, they could have been fitted when the car was new, if the purchaser was very picky, and it wasn't purchased until 1981. Do you know first registration date like we in the UK do?
Paul Hunt

My apologies to C Cummins - I was wrong, sorry

I can't find anywhere in the service book for my wife's 5 year old modern car that it needs more than the annual service for low mileage, although the servicing requirements for low mileage and 'Extreme Operating Conditions' are confusing

out of interest it has -
'Low mileage indicates that the vehicle is used for journeys of less than 6 miles at a time (recurring daily), ...'

my apologies yet again I've remembered wrong
Nigel Atkins

For feck's sake Nigel.

Give us some level of recognition of experience will you.

I know you mean well but you can really get up folks noses when you state stuff like that you know!

And yes I'm aware of release coatings on tyres, rotations etc and torque levels and I don't need a chuffing handbook to tell me those things either.

And it's not the Midget if you read it again... it's the Magnette!!!!!

Honestly, try enjoying your own car without being trying to Mother us all.

Count to 10.... there rant over with now!

Andrew McGee

Yes, the information provided above and in the previous thread explained to a point how to read the code, but the code looks different on some of the tires. Sometimes the DOT is to left of numbers, sometimes to right of numbers. Sometimes 3 of the numbers are in a circle, sometimes 5 or 6 numbers & letters are in the circle. And then there are all sorts of other numbers around the DOT letters. The code isn't consistent, and the number of digits changes with decades.

I think this has cured me of buying high mileage rated tires.

I'll be shopping for 40-50,000 mile tires, no sense buying better; as the tires will be 10 years old before I get to half that mileage.

I have 60k on the 4.5 year old 80k rated tires on my Honda. I might just get to year 6 by 80k.
R.W Anderson

yeap I know it's for the Magnette

no rant from me now (far too hot) just saying

. the whole of the posts are not always meant for just the person initially addressed (yes I should make it clearer)
. the posts are read by other than just the addressee (in this case you)
. I don't remember who owns what models
. you implied you might be looking at changing the B and Midget tyres latter
. as for repeating things - I've repeatedly put the link about the tyre labeling yet you picked it up from this thread so good job I repeated it here
. I don't know or can remember yours or anyone else's knowledge - you didn't know about the tyre labeling coding (or had forgotten)
. if you don't need the information in any post then why read it
. I not good at typing or spotting my errors in wording or being able to do all the edits I need in the time (especially when site/computer is on a go-slow)

I do take your point though

(circulation was meant to be circulate)

ETA: fair enough RW, I expect less than 20k miles out of reasonably grippy tyres down to 3mm tread
Nigel Atkins

RW,

fair enough, I wasn't being over serious in the 'scolding'

I'd expect to get less than 20,000 miles down to 3 mm tread depth on reasonably grippy tyres so why not get more grip less mileage, more fun or better braking whichever you prefer

Andrew has put in Midget forum that for environmental reasons modern tyres may not last as longer as older tyres
Nigel Atkins

Hi All

I think if you put the question of the age of the tyres on a car belonging to any member of the general public you would find that very very few would at any time in their life have given this subject any thought. In fact I bet most of the public who do a small yearly mileage will have the tyres that were on the car when they bought it, still on it, until the tread is down to the legal limit. What do you think?

Ronnie
RA Potter

I think all this has to be put in context.

Kerbing can potentially damage your tyres, including bouncing over speedbumps (check out HonestJohns column in D. Telegraph/website); excessive sunlight can damage them (think the perished state of all the rubber stuff on all those Southern Californian re-imports a few years back); driving a car quickly where one doesn't know the history of the tyres eg a hire car, could be dodgy (I still do it!); buying secondhand tyres even dodgier.

It's certainly made me, at least, think about the boots on my well thrashed B, which are pretty old now.

However, are you really going to persuade somebody with a low annual mileage, garaged, well otherwise cared for MG TC, for example, to replace all their expensive tyres every six years? Methinks not. Would it be justified, even. IMHO, no.

Peter

P A Allen

Ronnie,
what you've put is quite possible but many low mileage cars could have their tyres changed well before the legal limit because of being advised at annual services (those that have them of course), if the car goes in for any tyre or tracking issues or other repairs or at MoT time

this would include a lot of retired people who do low mileage but maintain the servicing, perhaps for warranty (even though a lot of pensioners change their cars every 12, 24 or 36 months)


Peter,
you can only give people the information it's up to them if they want to take or believe it

I can't remember any supporters on here suggesting what the law should be on tyre age only about recommendations

those that want to drive their classic sports cars as designed for I'd have thought would appreciate the extra performance of tyres that were not old and hard through age and/or lack of use
Nigel Atkins

"until the tread is down to the legal limit."

And only then when they fail the MOT! You only have to glance at tyres in a supermarket car park to see how many are on the wear bars.

"circulation the spare to be used with wheel rotation"

I've never agreed with that. Each tyre develops a unique wear pattern on its corner, moving them to somewhere with a different wear pattern makes them wear rapidly to that, so bringing forward replacement. You are also stung for five instead of two (usually). I do move my ZS rears to the fronts when I replace the fronts, otherwise they will never wear out and age could compromise grip.
Paul Hunt

Peter,

I am one of those retired people who unfortunately can't afford to change my car very often. My daily car is just a year old and I doubt if I will wear out the tyres before the five or six years. Will I change them if they still look good, I doubt it. Will a Garage tell me the tyres are good but I need to replace them as they are too old, I doubt it. As I said before, the general public, who do small mileage annually will never even know that tyres have a limited life.

Ronnie
RA Potter

Paul,
unless you're very strict with the rotation of tyres usually you still only replace two at a time (in my experience)

I was also thinking of the pristine tyres that sit in boots unused and never fitted to the car, possibly for the whole life of the car (personally I don't carry a spare at all but we wont open that can of worms)

what I've always found is tyres I like wear quickly and those I don't wear slowly, I've got some I'm not keen on now and I bet they turn out to be hard wearing :)
Nigel Atkins

I too don't believe in rotating tyres, beyond using the spare alternately with the rears on a new car. Avoids buying four tyres at once.

Fronts stay where they are on the front, rears stay on the rear. They take on a 'set'.

I once had a puncture on the front of my daily driver; the spare had never been on the front, and after fitting it the noise from it resembled a wheel bearing about to fail. Told me all I needed to know.
John Bilham

so what happens when you fit new tyres then?

TBH I don't do much rotation but when I do it is to even out wear

personally I'd sooner replace tyres in sets of four and did so at last change, even the good tyres are not expensive for our cars
Nigel Atkins

"but when I do it is to even out wear"

Why would you want to? Surely if one corner is causing uneven wear you would want to know about it and correct it.
Paul Hunt

on my Midget I've got a modified front suspension with 2 degree neg and previously when I've noticed uneven tyre wear I've forgot to attend to it promptly, not a clever thing to do but my mind is easily distracted and then I forget
Nigel Atkins

I recently bought a bgt. I was concerned how old the tyres were and took them to a tyre shop for them to check. Verdict- they were fine. Using the link posted above I discovered that they are from 1988! Another tyre place confirmed this. I had been using them on the motorway! Scarey.
M Ratcliff

by a visual check they may look fine (and possibly may even be fine depending on their storage and use)

as with all visual inspections in such matters, it is to one person's opinion at that particular time

unless you were doing particularly sustained high speed or suddenly had to make drastic movements or braking of the car then you may be better on a motorway than a twisty country road or a road with lots of bumps and potholes

btw - I've read that generally 'summer' (all year round use for many of us) modern? tyres start to loose their efficiency at weather temperatures of 10 degrees C (50F)
Nigel Atkins

M Ratcliff,
I didn't want to give you the wrong impression with my last post so have cut and paste below from the thread ‘Car Suddenly Started to Overheat’ (down the page on this forum)

as I often use a photo of Geoff's car with that tyre but can never remember the details of the story

>>Geoff Ev, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

My 1980 BGT had four new tyres in 1991 at about 26,000 miles. After only another 1500 miles by 2007, I bought it.

After about a year, a leaking valve caused me to use the spare. I forgot about it, it had good tread and no apparent damage. A couple of months later, it blew at 70mph. It had spent the previous 17 years (at least) in the dark in the boot. It was a Dunlop with no obvious date marks, so I assume it was an original 1980 tyre.<<


Nigel Atkins

A lot of the degradation is due to UV light so the tyres on a garage queen will last longer. I dont think I would have the nerve to run them for 10 years though. The Firestones were 8 years old when they came off, still well legal in tread depth. I'm running Barums now, Conti's value brand. As noted above no point in 50K mile Goodyear Eagles on a car used for 2000 miles a year.
I dont run high speeds on motorways with a loaded car and incorrect pressures though where you are pushing your luck with older tyres.
Stan Best

I don't see the difference between an ancient spare tyre that holds air and these "space-saver" spares. They are both fine to get you off the hard shoulder and to a garage to get a new one. No more. OK, the space savers are either red or yellow and have "no faster than 50mph" written in big letters on the side but apart from that they are both to be used with caution.

I had an "interesting" moment with our family Espace and a space-saver one winter in the snow. These tyres are as good as bald and should also have "OVERSTEER" written in big letters on them! Definitely not fit and forget..... I replaced it with a real tyre and rim as soon as I got to the garage.
Mike Standring

Nigel - "so what happens when you fit new tyres then?"

Not sure what you're asking?
John Bilham

Just like to say thanks to everyone who posted here for waking me up to the issue. After wading thro' it all, I thought it would be worth checking the tyres on the V8. The fronts were Ok - made in 2009, just before I brought the car. The rears although visually fine with 7 mm of tread and perfect sidewalls had the 1994 DOT code moulded into the inner sidewall. Immediately replaced them.

Oddly, I replaced the spare tyre in 2010 due badly cracked sidewalls. This was also a veteran of the 90's and as far as I could tell had never been on the car. Possibly just holding in the air pressure and never being flexed results in a crystallisation of the rubber?

V Todman

In the UK, a Tyre Supplier may fit a tyre upto 5 years old whilst in many European Countries the MOT/TUV limits tyres to 10 years.
The normal summer tyre rubber will harden when cold thereby losing grip. The accepted changeover temperature is 7 Deg.C.
There are now available High Speed "Winter Tyres" for driving on below 7 Deg.C dry Winter Roads.
Some improvement from when I bought a new MGBGT in 1970 living in Jugoslavija and winter tyres were Knobblies with a Maximum speed of 60 MPH when the tyre got hot and the Stellite Studs came out like shotgun bullets.
Geoff F.
Geoff Farthing

Id change them every 3-4 years if you use your car as a weekend driver. Daily? 2-3 years.

Waiting for signs of tread wear and cracks on the sidewalls means theyre too old allready.

JS Ahlund

"Why would you want to? Surely if one corner is causing uneven wear you would want to know about it and correct it."

Cos the factory manual and driver's handbook recommend it?

Including the circulation of the spare....
Chris at Octarine Services

Hi John,
my post was a bit rushed as they sometimes are, I was mixing your answer up with Paul’s a bit

I was thinking if two new tyres are to be fitted to replace the front two on a B would the two worn tyres remain at the rear?


Peter,
>>Possibly just holding in the air pressure and never being flexed results in a crystallisation of the rubber?<<
I can’t think what the correct terminology is but I’ve always thought if tyres aren’t used the ’rubber’ compounds don’t remain (pliable – replace with correct terminology)

Geoff,
the change at 7C makes sense as the summer tyres lose their effectiveness at temps below 10C

Chris,
yeap that’s in the Driver’s Handbook :)

I’m all for changing tyres at 3mm tread after leaving one set to go down to 2-2.5mm as I don’t see the point of driving a sportscar like an old steady and heavy saloon
Nigel Atkins

"Cos the factory manual and driver's handbook recommend it?"

Like recommending engine oil for the gearbox, you mean ...
Paul Hunt

Yeah - you seem keen to stick to that recommendation and yet don't see the point in the tyre recommendation ....
Chris at Octarine Services

I do wonder whether the 'rotate the tyres' recommendation in the handbook was based on experience with cross-ply tyres, bearing in mind that radials were, relatively speaking, still in their infancy when the B hit the road.

When I bought a Midget in the mid-60s cross-plies were still fitted as standard, so I had the optional radials (Dunlop SP45s?) instead.
John Bilham

tyre rotation is still shown in the Owner's Manual for my wife's modern
Nigel Atkins

" you seem keen to stick to that recommendation and yet don't see the point in the tyre recommendation"

As I've already said, I've never found any need to depart from the recommendations for oils, but I can't see the point of concealing from myself uneven wear, or wearing them out faster and having to replace four or even five tyres in one go. Each to their own.
Paul Hunt

Paul,
the rotation generally is just at services so on a car that's used you'd notice uneven tyre wear before you rotated the wheels

it's when you notice uneven tyre wear and forget or do nothing about it and don't rotate the tyres that you can get significant uneven wear on one or two tyres

I usually buy four tyres at once because the wear to each tyre is about the same, the tyres for our classics are not expensive (unless you want period tyres perhaps?) so if there's even wear why not buy in fours

I usually get tyres in pairs for my wife's car as I'm too lazy and don't care that much for the modern to be bothered to rotate them plus the silly spare tyre is just not quite the same size as the other four and is on a steel wheel instead of alli, it's not a space saver but more of a slight mis-measure of the spare wheel well it seems
Nigel Atkins

Having read the rest of this thread I think the reason I don't rotate is that I'm lazy...
John Bilham

I'm lazy but also can't be bothered as far as my wife's modern and on my car I'm only pleased when driving it and only do anything on it because I can't afford to pay someone to do the work, I used to pay out hassle money, i.e. I used to give money to someone else so I didn't have the hassle
Nigel Atkins

Okay, since I started this mess, I better get my update in before bets are starting as to how long before I'm upside down in the ditch somewhere.

While showing a differential and block to prospecitive buyer last night, I learned he used to work in the tire business. So I simply showed him my Dunlops and mentioned how several people are trying to convince me to throw these tires away.

He looked at tires and said they look good, I mentioned they may have <5k miles on them. He asked why I would replace them and I said because they are from 1981 and 1989, 2 each. Oh, he said; replace them.

I offered up my final defense, explaining that if the plys/belts started to separate I'd feel that and I'd replace them.

He explained that the tread isn't the main concern, it is the side walls; they will have deteriorated and the side wall could go at anytime, being much worse of a situation than a tread issue.

He said he would only do city low speed driving with them, no highway use. And to replace them.

Two hours later, I was driving back home with new tires.

So, two final comments: 1) shop noticed no internal or external damage to old tires, but did say they are not allowed to service or sell anything over 10 years old, 2) from day 1 of my purchase of this car (30 days ago) I was impressed with how amazingly easy this car rolled, almost friction free; it takes some effort to get my 72B rolling out of my garage, the 80B with the old tires; rolls right out with the slightest push - suggesting a very hard rubber tire.

So, part 2: I'll never know if one of these 20-30 year old but new looking tires would have blown, but as one co-worker commented; I'd hate to see you not able to enjoy your retirement because you didn't spend a few $100s on tires.

So, part 3: Thanks to those concerned for my safety and well being.
R.W Anderson

great that you've got new tyres

from a previous post - >>great that you’ve got it, don’t forget it wasn’t just your safety<<

(this next bit is not for Andrew) - take it easy on the new tyres for the first 100 miles (200 in the wet) and you might want to try a few extra psi in the new tyres than Driver's Handbook spec and and remember to check your the tightness of the wheel nuts after about 30 miles from fitting

with the new tyres you'll find an improvement in braking, handling and ride comfort and noise

some owners add 2-6 psi above what DH has, I suggest in stages of +2 psi each time until too firm then drop back 2 psi

I missed putting about the sidewall issue in this thread for some reason so good to see - >>He explained that the tread isn't the main concern, it is the side walls; they will have deteriorated and the side wall could go at anytime, being much worse of a situation than a tread issue.<<

and >>suggesting a very hard rubber tire<<

I normally put something like change tyres that are old and/or hard through age and/or lack of use regardless of the tread depth left on them, I'll stress the side wall issue too in future

perhaps, after the run-in period, you could let us know how much better the new cars make the car as this is the main reason to change for some rather than a safety issue they don't believe in
Nigel Atkins

Another pic (same wheel as in Nigel's post)

Geoff Ev

As mentioned above, the tires are treated with a release agent to allow them to easily be separated from their molds. This is the reason that you should drive carefully, for the first few hundred miles, to remove this layer from your tires. It can be very slippery and cause an accident. When I would mount motorcycle tires, it would be the first thing that I would tell the customer. One such gentleman ignored my advice and while pulling out onto the highway, he dumped his bike in the middle of the road while I watched through the front window of the shop. Fortunately, the only thing injured was his pride. RAY
rjm RAY

This thread was discussed between 16/07/2013 and 02/08/2013

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