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Hot Rods Towel City Tire Question

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by flathead26, Jun 25, 2014.

  1. flathead26
    Joined: Nov 2, 2008
    Posts: 14

    flathead26
    Member
    from tampa

    Has anyone run the Towel City cheater slick retreads. I want to buy a set for my
    26 Ford Roadster/ powered by a blown Flathead Ford V8.
    They offer them with pie crust edges and can cut full tread into the tires.
    (It's a dirt track looking tread) What I want to know is, can they handle
    120 mph, hard burnouts and do they make a lot of noise on the road ?
    ( like a snow tire might make)
     
  2. afaulk
    Joined: Jul 20, 2011
    Posts: 1,194

    afaulk
    Member

    Dude, they're recaps............junk then, junk now.
     
    Kevs56, Muttley and Jeff K. like this.
  3. gimpyshotrods
    Joined: May 20, 2009
    Posts: 23,333

    gimpyshotrods
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Now there's some attitude. Who pissed in your cornflakes?

    Properly executed recaps don't have a statistically higher failure rate than new tires. The numbers just are not there.
     
  4. k9racer
    Joined: Jan 20, 2003
    Posts: 3,091

    k9racer
    Member

    Some of the local circle tracks use them. My opinion they are hard and do not bite. They last forever if you don't have a cap come loose. Out of the20 towel city recap tires I have owned 3 have had caps come loose. lesson learned now I refuse to race at tracks where you are required to use the Towel city tires . They have been around 50 or so years but in my opinion Afaulk is more than correct. It is a used casing More than likely over 3 plus years old and the sugested life of a tire is 5 years.
     

  5. I ran tracks where TC tires were the track tire. They are available in different compounds so I've had some pretty sticky ones. It pays to be buddy buddy with the supplier. I've had a few of them over the years chunk on me, a small piece of the tread at the shoulder came off but it was still usable through the tread life. No matter, after 3 weeks they were off the car anyway. I'd move them around on the car as they wore.
     
  6. need louvers ?
    Joined: Nov 20, 2008
    Posts: 12,903

    need louvers ?
    Member

    Only had them a few weeks at this point, but I love mine! Very nicely made, well balanced, and a nice soft compound.
     
  7. LSGUN
    Joined: May 26, 2007
    Posts: 1,358

    LSGUN
    Member
    from TX

  8. need louvers ?
    Joined: Nov 20, 2008
    Posts: 12,903

    need louvers ?
    Member

    SAM_6166.JPG Absolutely!!! Daily driver, and it's been 115 a couple of times since I have put them on. If a recapped tire is going to die, that's when it does. Prior to this, I have run Hurst slicks on my cars and several other customer cars around town - mostly daily drivers, too.

    They took just about 2 ounces of Dyna beads to balance, and are silk smooth going down the road.There are many ways of "capping" a tire. Some of the big truck rebuilders simply glue a new tread to an old casing and send them out the door. There are more examples of this sort of capping laying in Arizona medians then probably any other place in the nation. The Hurst and the Towel City stuff is actually mold vulcanized just as a new tire is. That's what gives the tire it's distinctive "pie crust" outer. Kinda hard to remember, but most of the early slicks were vulcanized recaps well into the mid sixties. Just buy quality...
     
    LSGUN likes this.
  9. madmak95
    Joined: May 12, 2005
    Posts: 779

    madmak95
    Member

    Works for me. When we got these they had several different compounds .....hard to sticky. Being that this car is race only we got the stickies. hooks great.


    01.jpeg
     
  10. ebfabman
    Joined: Mar 10, 2009
    Posts: 505

    ebfabman

    I raced at a few tracks for a few years that required TC tires and never had a problem. Track champ at one of them and pts runner at another one. The only issue I can remember was an end of year championship race, the left rear had a very slight leak and we didn't have time to change it. The track was hot and as the race went on, enough heat built in the tire it never went. The car got real loose as the race went on but I won the race. The left rear was nearly flat when I pulled onto the scales.
     
  11. LMFAO
    You're on fire buddy. :D

    But as afaulk probably isn't going to answer you probably no one but I did stick my tongue at him before. Its a pretty ugly tongue and has been known to cause flashbacks.

    I have not run towel city tires as of yet, but they started out long, long ago building recaps for racing. drag slicks and then tires for roundy round. You usually only hear the bad about a tire and I have not heard anything bad about towel city tires yet.
     
  12. ev88f
    Joined: Jan 29, 2010
    Posts: 371

    ev88f
    Member

    I plan on picking some up in the future. I have to second P&B's comments that I've never heard someone say bad things about towel city
     
  13. I think that it wasn't until the later '60s that I began to hear about cold rubber recaps and it was like the newest thing. As a rule those are the one's that peal off when you are peeling out.

    Vulcanizing is a hot process and it is like welding the rubber in a sense.
     
  14. Based on my experience, they can handle 120, they can handle hard burnouts, and they didn't make a lot of noise on the road. They also lasted a long while being abused and hooked good. They also drove well in the rain when I got caught. Very predictable
     
  15. ive read a few threads on here re the towel city recaps and it seems everyone who owns them has good things to say about them. I bought a pair of radirs which are great tyres, only downside was it took 4 months to get em..
     
  16. Mo rust
    Joined: Mar 11, 2012
    Posts: 828

    Mo rust
    Member

    I put some on my coupe and my only complaint is it's a little squirrelly on wet pavement. I wish I had asked them to groove the middle section too. coupe3qtr.jpg
     
  17. flathead26
    Joined: Nov 2, 2008
    Posts: 14

    flathead26
    Member
    from tampa

    Thank you everyone for the feedback!
     
  18. Leatherface
    Joined: Oct 7, 2004
    Posts: 6

    Leatherface
    Member

    What size are your rear tires and wheels? Good combo!
     
  19. need louvers ?
    Joined: Nov 20, 2008
    Posts: 12,903

    need louvers ?
    Member

    The rears on my 'bucket are 28.5 X8" on a pair of 15 X 8 1/2" Americans.
     
  20. flathead26
    Joined: Nov 2, 2008
    Posts: 14

    flathead26
    Member
    from tampa

    [​IMG] I have had my 8 x 28 1/2 x 15 cheater slicks on the car for about 6 weeks.
    Daniel at Towel City ,really worked with me to be sure that I would be happy with them.
    They really look great on the car . One time I blipped it on a rough concrete surface,
    really hooked and actually hurt my back. Just drove 20 miles in the rain at 40-50 mph,
    car handled great, although I get really wet. Great tires!
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2015
  21. flathead26
    Joined: Nov 2, 2008
    Posts: 14

    flathead26
    Member
    from tampa

  22. Gold Dust
    Joined: Feb 15, 2015
    Posts: 112

    Gold Dust

    My buddy had some on his drag car and they did strange things the car would twist and the left rear tire would come off the track and he tried everything to fix it the car would not hook ,so the tried a set of wore out slicks and I swear the car lifted straight up shot out like a rocket it picked up 7 tenths .I would not believe it myself but I was there and watched the whole thing. I think they look great but you put any power to them it might come back and bite you.
     
  23. toucan
    Joined: Feb 15, 2009
    Posts: 1,083

    toucan
    Member
    from sc

    i think they look great and price aint bad.
     
  24. radirs have the right look and are not recaps. i went 168mph on a set. garllits went 200 on his radirs. i have done durometer tests on both makes of tires and the radirs are softer. i drive mine on the street regularly and compete on drag week with my radirs. if a tire can handle drag week it can handle anything.
     
  25. 4thhorseman
    Joined: Feb 14, 2014
    Posts: 261

    4thhorseman
    Member
    from SW Desert

    I'm running them on the street. My car traps in excess of 135mph at our local mile high track. Blown BBF in a 2400 lb car. For the strip I use Hoosier drag slicks but I like the Towel City's for the street as they will last much longer and are more stable cruising. I've made several full on, hard passes on the TC's on the long, flat, lonely desert roads outside of my town to see how they feel. I was very surprised at how well they hooked up. Not quite like a modern slick, but they grabbed very well from my experience. Lightly spinning but aggressively moving the car forward. They bit all the way at the top of first, and stayed hooked up through the 1-2 shift and on through the pass. 140mph and shut it down. I'd say they feel and work about like a drag radial.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2015
    falcongeorge and Crown'd like this.

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