Heh heh. I guess I was 17 so what did I know? I ordered brake shoes from JC for my Morris’and what I got was just the shoes. They would just rivet them somewhere somehow. Never used them but gave them to the guy that bought the car. He didn’t use them either. No one knew how to do it anymore. Maybe in the 40s it was SOP.
I have seen a lot of new off the shelf Michelins put on a tread grinder to smooth them out (round), that is one reason most are so smooth when you get them, they also tend to dry rot crack on the sidewalls way faster then normal…
I see that too but the cracking rarely goes deeper than the surface and doesn’t affect the tire at all.
I have seen them many times in my area blow out from crows feet sidewall cracking…
One time a customer pulled up for air and as I was filling up the right rear, it blew through the cracked sidewall on her MB with only about 20PSI in it so far, she looked at it and said what do we do now… She bought a very nice set of BS and loved them… lol
I have seen a lot of BFG’s crack the same way but not all the way through… I think the thin sidewall (you can feel the difference) of a lot of Michelins passenger tires allows them to crack all the way through more so than other brands, never seen a truck tire do it though… You can take the sidewall once off the wheel/rim and bend it over to see how deep the cracks go…
It is also HOT and our roads are very hot most of the year and the heat is probably a factor in it also… Not an engineer, but I have seem more tires then most people in a 17 year span and way more than I care to ever see again lol…
Come to think of it I thought that tire was quite a bit lighter than I expected. I had to replace a mich tire to match the rest with just 1500 miles on it. I bought it over the counter at the dealer and thought boy these are light when he handed it to me. No point getting into the story.
The pressures Chevy recommended… but I can’t leave any car alone. I’d add a stab bar to.the front and a rebound spring to the rear, or a Z bar. Then a bigger cam, carbs ect.
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I think I had my corvair tires at 30 and never remember reading anything in the book about lower front pressure until a few years ago. It never went out of town anyway. Just had a boring life until snow days when we took it through the drifts.
Now same thing with my vw. Why didn’t they want the front tires lower in that one? I don’t think I would have liked that on the highway.
So basically, everyone likes to overinflate their tires, to some degree or other.
Well, I’m one of the minority who prefers to engage in this curious activity known as following directions.
You’re dam lucky you didn’t lose control of your Corvair, let alone roll over.
Chevy specified 15psi front, 26psi rear, with bias-ply tires, for a REASON: 90 percent of the Corvair’s powertrain(engine and transmission), were located above or aft of the rear axle. With modern radials, that might equate to approx. 25psi front, and 34 rear.
Running this tire pressure setup ensured more equal contact area front and rear, keeping the car connected to the road. But, as most Americans are very suspicious and independent people, who disliked being told what to do, they inflated Corvair’s tires to pressures then unheard of on passenger sedans, or whatever pressure they saw fit.
I believe that such over inflation was at least one contributor to many of the crashes involving Corvairs, the other being the simple rear swing-axle suspension design employed on coupes, sedans, and the Spyder trim.
Well not to worry, I sold the corvair in 1976. I do remember a classmate flipped their corvair one night in 1960. It was new so would have had the factory or dealer tire pressure yet. No one injured.
My wife’s 2005 Corolla arrived with the pressures all over the map, bought certified used in 2006. You think they’d care any more in 1960?
Love how these conversations evolve. Ask a simple question and we get personal histories, historical references and all manner of side stories. I don’t have as much a favorite tire brand as I do a favorite source. I’ve had good experiences with General, Yokohama, Bridgestone, Kuhmo and GoodYear, making me think that any major manufacturer can make a decent tire. For the past 15 or so years I’ve depended on TireRack when making tire choices and purchases. They offer the best selection, the pricing is transparent and my regular mechanic is one of their authorized installers. I have not regretted any of my purchases from them and have had one occasion to take advantage of the road hazard coverage they include with just about every tire.
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Because getting the basics right:
- Cold tire pressure
- Balancing
- Wheel alignment
Matter just as much as what brand or category of tire one gets.
At least that was the case with my car.
Anyone who would buy a set of new tires and not do a balance and alignment should just go with the cheapest tires they can find because they won’t last and they’d have something to blame for the crappy ride.
| ChrisTheTireWhisperer
November 21 |
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mdixter:
Ask a simple question and we get personal histories,
historical references and all manner of side stories.
Because getting the basic right:
- Cold tire pressure
- Balancing
- Wheel alignment
Matter just as much as what brand or category of tire one gets.
At least that was the case with my car.
Those three parameters will help even with “cheap” tires.
Fancy brand names and whiz-bang features are partly marketing.
Which will drive and handle better:
A Mercedes with the most expensive tires, but with:
- questionable balancing
- “in the green” alignment
- tire pressures too high, too low, all over the place(!)
A working stiff’s Honda with mid-price tires and:
- properly balanced
- optimized alignment
- tire pressures per vehicle mfg. specs.
?
Ask me how I know! 
For winter tires I have had great results with Michelin Xice and Bridgestone Blizzak, excellent traction, stopping , control in turns. Of course had to drive sensibly but I have passed people on hills as they were spinning trying to get uphill. For summer tires, I have had Michelin and Bridgestone, my son just got Pirelli on his car, ratings were very good, I hope they perform well. We all drive moderately, no high speed (5 or 10 over on clear highways)
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RE: Alignment
After two sets of Wranglers on my truck I switched to Michelins, was getting about 30,000 miles on the Wranglers. Hopefully I will get more miles from the Michelins.
Alignment recommended, Alignment report before showed exactly the same as when the truck was new 10 years ago.
When new, the truck exhibited very slight feathering of the sipes on left front, alignment did not help. Increasing tire pressure by 3 lbs eliminated the feathering. The Michelins are set at mfg specifications, no feathering after ~5000 miles. No apparent difference in handling or traction with the Michelins, though ride seems just a bit harsher.
RE: Corvairs, yes most owners were not aware of F/R tire pressures. At the Mobile I worked at when 16, all tires we repaired or sold went out the door at 30 PSI, we too were ignorant.
BTW, I wouldn’t mind having a 66/67 Corvair in my dream collection. It would be way down on the list.
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The pressure spread was to promote understeer. I.e. to reduce the cornering grip of the front tires to reduce the overall cornering grip. Swing axles tend to fold under when cornering hard. This reduces grip to almost zero causing a snap spin (oversteer). The pressures were designed to limit cornering forces so that would not happen.
There were a number of cars in that era that used swing axles… VW Beetles, Mercedes-Benz cars and others. Nader ignored those!
Ralph Nader, while well-meaning - and unfortunately the spoiler of at least one presidential election! - was, as are most people, uninformed as to tire pressures, and their effect on driving and handling.
He focused his cause mainly on Corvair’s swing rear axle design, while probably not even considering the role of proper tire pressure in that car’s stability.
Yes, he did ignore those other swing-axle cars, but let’s not forget that the VW Beetle had a weight distribution of 43 front/57 rear, whereas the original Corvair’s weight distribution was 36/64. There was a lot more mass hanging out behind the Corvair’s rear wheels, and that reality, coupled with the swing axles, led to some surprising handling if the correct psi wasn’t maintained.
But, all someone had to do (if they were aware of it…) was to order a camber compensator from JC Whitney or another supplier in order to make the handling more predictable. IIRC, it cost ~$20 for a Corvair owner to do that, but it likely would have cost GM about 10% of that amount if a camber compensator had been part of their original design.
In 1964, GM did add an anti-roll bar to the front, and a camber compensator to the rear, but that was a bit late for the folks who bought 1960-63 Corvairs.
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And GM fixed it in 1965 with the multi-link rear suspension which made the car really good. But the damage was done and the car was gone after '69
Much like the Pontiac Fiero… The 84-87 cars were pretty bad handling (and just bad!) cars. The 1988 car was brilliant with a completely redesigned front and rear suspension. But again, damage done and the car was dropped.