Had a trailer tire come apart on my way home from LARS. Yes I trailer my roadster on long trips now. I'm 70+ now and I've paid my bucket dues and it's a kool retro trailer. Anyway the tire only had a few thousand miles on it but it was 20+ years old. Let that be a lesson Gary. Bent the fender but the only damage to the roadster was a scuffed whitewall. Actually the tread came off first and I took the nearest freeway off ramp and was surprised to see it was still holding air. Thought maybe I could limp the couple of miles to my friend Dick's Camper repair in American Canyon but about half way there the tire blew and came off the rim and I had to put on the spare. Dick sent me down the way and I bought two new tires. Hopefully good for another 20 years. Maybe I didn't learn that lesson. I should live that long. Gary
Sounds like you had a lucky break there - it could have been a whole lot worse. A couple of tyres and some fixing of the fender is a cheap result compared to what might have been. Keep enjoying your hot roddin' Gary
20 years is asking too much for tires on anything,,what's the recommendation,,7 years you need to replace? You were lucky,you could have lost your car.HRP
what is even more fun is when the tread comes off the tire but not completely so a big chunk of tread keeps spinning around and beating the crap out of everything close enough to hit. when it happened to me I thought I grenaded my motor... BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!... sounded like a rod had come loose from the crank.
Hey Gary: Good to mess with you & your buds @ the show. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I had tires blow just sitting in the yard. Now I jack the trailer up with blocks under it & put the tires & wheels in the shop. Also good theft insurance. We made it home last night after spending a few days on the coast. A good trip & good times. Think I'll take a couple days for R&R after getting beatup on those So Cal roads. Thought I'd post a pic so you could remember who you talked to. heh heh he
Good to hear from you Bob. Both at the show and now. Glad you got home safe and well. A long drive for an old guy. Even in the luxury of a 32 roadster. Gary
Gary, I'm glad you didn't damage your hot rod, and I do understand the use of a trailer. Going on 77 myself and if it's over 75 miles one way, or if there's gonna be any drag racing or other vehicular abuse included, mine's going on the trailer, that's why I bought it! When I bought it, it had tires that really looked good, but the previous owner had never replaced them in the 10 or so years he owned it, so I bought new trailer specail radials for it. Friend had a spare on a service truck ( the kind with a hybraulic boom on back) mounted up high on the side of rear body and the tire hadn't been on the ground since he bought the truck years before. Well one day it exploded while sitting in his backyard! I've had 2 to come apart on trailers, one on a pop up camper, and one on a tandem axle travel trailer. Both times they damaged the wooden floor in the camper, and both times I had to change them on ths side of a busy Xpway, one in downtown ATL and the other in downtown B'ham AL. Scarey as hell both times, 70 mph cars inches from me as I mounted spare. NO MORE!!!!!!!! In the days when radials were a rarity, we all used old worn out car tires (bias) on our race car trailers till they no longer would hold air, but that ain't a good idea with radials. My theory is that the steel wire in the radials rusts and then shit happens, but that's just a theoryof mine.
HRP suggested 7 years---I don't know, but I do know that 12 years and only 2000 miles is NOT insurance that they won't come apart. I lost a 9" x 3" chunk of rubber out of the driver front on a bridge at 65 mph the other day---managed to turn around and run her home on the belts....am I lucky or what?? I also learned a lesson.
Nothing wrong with a trailer.....I would rather look at a trailered "T" at a show, than a 59 Chevy 4 door that drove there. Love your "T"!
20 years on trailer tires? Don'tcha know no better? Coincidentally I bought my 18' flatbed 20 years ago and we made seven trips with my crap from Illinois to Florida. The trailer sat rarely used until lately. It was behind a shed where no direct sunlight reached, under trees, up on stands, with boards also protecting the tires from any possible sunlight. All four still looked like new. Gave the trailer to my son to haul his racecar on. First trip one tire blew. As he replaced one with another used tire, one of those 20 year old new looking tires would either peel the rubber off or blow. It's a fact that newer tires are only good for seven years. It's nearly impossible around here to buy a used tire. Sadly the tread lasts longer but the case does not. Glad things were not any worse and you had a fun trip.
Gary, Don't feel too bad .... I had the tread peel like an orange on a Cooper Discover LT radial 10 ply tire on the driver inner rear wheel of my F350 dually last December ... It had been on my truck only (3) months & the date code showed it was manufactured in 2012 .... Took out my front diesel fuel hose - pretty much destroyed the fender .... I ended up replacing the whole dually bed a few months later. Jim
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