<VV> Radial tire "tales"

[kenpepke at juno.com]

Ken said ...
Even today most radial tires are replace due to failure rather than worn out tread.
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The best handling EM I have ever driven was equipped with a set of 'polyglass' retreads that I took off a wrecked car in the junk yard!  That car would generate such high lateral acceleration that I worried about it 'tripping' over its own traction.   

I would suggest looking closer.  Lots of worn out & dead radials yes but, most have some usable tread life ... Because they were able to hold air pressure, unless punctured, people could and did run bias tires into the cords on a regular basis.  Radials most certainly do 'blow out' but not all that often.  They do become so lumpy, bumpy and wiggly that they must be replaced and usually before the tread is gone or even before the wear markers are showing.  There is no question that a radial has a lower rolling resistance and as a result runs cooler ... so cool in fact, that they can be run almost flat without the driver even noticing.  The Michelins that I mentioned earlier are the only set of radial tires I have ever owned that did not at lest loose tread shape.

I drive about 20 miles each way to work daily and there is not a day that I don't see cars with failed radials on the shoulder.  Of course there is a lot more traffic on the road these days but it still at lest seems like there are a lot more flat tires now than years ago.

The real trick was selling customers on the 'feel' of radials.  The tire companies were the winners here.  Construction on radials requires much less hand work and as a result are actually cheaper to produce ... and sell at a higher price.  Great marketing!  Almost as good as the repair shops that charge extra to do disc brakes :-)  Ken P--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seth replied:
Sorry - That just cannot be true. Tire shops are full of old worn-out radial tires. Maybe at 80K miles. Maybe at 18K miles (My Corvette fronts!) But in a numerical basis it must be 20 to 1 easily. Probably more. Just as a "for- instance" - When was the last time you had a blow-out on a car? I honestly cannot remember. It must be 20 years or more. And I have worn out and replaced a lot of tires in that time. Like Chuck, I have raced on lots af very safe non-radial tires. But a distinction should be made. Speaking only of current tires, and excluding reproduction tires for Concours, non-radial tires are only built for racing OR cheapest possible price. I wouldn't drive on the street on them, just race!!  <grin> - Seth 



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