Its Classic Tyre Safety Season at Vintage Tyres!

We have launched a major campaign this spring in order to raise awareness of classic car tyre safety.
The issue was brought to a head when we analysed tyres recently replaced in our fitting bays and discovered that more than half the tyres removed were over 30 years old! Many also contained tubes of a similar age.

Following several reported incidents of fatalities related to the use of old tyres, the British Association of Rubber Manufacturers stated that “If a tyre is six years old and unused it should not be put into service; and in ideal conditions a tyre has a maximum lifespan of ten years.”
Old unused tyres can of course look like new - particularly if they are described as such; however the degrading process will continue unseen and once fitted the dynamic input often leads to sidewall cracking, delamination and ultimately catastrophic failure. Whilst a lot of the tyres in our survey appeared to be sound and some even had good tread depth, the performance of older tyres in terms of braking, grip and wet weather performance - or simply the ability to cope with the heat and stresses generated by running a tyre - is dangerously reduced.
As part of the campaign, we are carrying out free tyre inspections at our base in Beaulieu, open to any owners of classic vehicles. Our tyre experts will check the general tyre condition as well as the all important age of the tyre; and we will also be happy to fit and balance for free any tyres that need replacing.
For more information visit www.vintagetyres.com, email sales@vintagetyres.com or call Paul in our workshop on 01590 612261.
If you can’t get to Beaulieu for your free tyre inspection, we have also produced a leaflet covering classic tyre safety, which we will be happy to send you free of charge.

Vintage and Classic Tyres - Where are they made?

Chris, our MD, recently visited one of the world’s latest tyre factories. The hi-tech factory you see pictured here produces 15,000 tyres a day of all types, from motorcycle tyres, through crossply car tyres to high performance radials. The processes are computer controlled and the factory is laid out in the most ergonomic way to produce tyres efficiently – which is why it is over half a kilometre long! So where in the world would you find the latest tyre producing technology? In this case, Thailand!

Producing a tyre is a much more complex operation than most people assume; the old myth of pouring liquid rubber into a mould and popping out tyres every few minutes like wellington boots couldn’t be further from the truth. Tyres are assembled normally from about 20 different sub components all precisely positioned and guided by laser beams. Steel, Rayon, Nylon, Kevlar and some 30 different types of rubber can all go into just one tyre. It is amazing to think that all this technology and effort, and components shipped from the four corners of the globe go into the tyres on our classic cars!

When Vintage Tyres started 50 years ago, all the tyres we supplied were British made. Dunlop and Avon for example still produce their entire classic ranges in the original factories here in England and incredibly in many cases still in the original moulds. The difference in the tyres you buy today is that they are able to include all the advances in rubber compounding and technology in their classic designs. Even some Waymaster tyres are still made in the UK.

With the completion of our brand new “high tech” factory, we are confident having many of our Waymaster range produced for us in the Far East. Their lower manufacturing costs combined with rapid development in tyre production techniques have enabled the availability of quality tyres at a cost effective price.

Of Course many major manufacturers still produce classic tyres locally – Avon, Michelin, Dunlop, Pirelli and Vredestein all have factories in Europe. However, it is interesting to know that even in small volume classic ranges, production is common overseas in order to keep costs low; Ensign, Blockley, Excelsior, Waymaster and even Michelin all produce tyres in the far east.

So does it matter where your tyres are made? Well these days we as classic car owners are fortunate to have such a choice open to us. We are lucky that major manufacturer still continue to make small production runs of authentic tyres. The good news is that now it can also be less expensive to have good quality tyres on our cars.

Pictured here is a Riley fitted with Dunlop Triple Studs - the original triple stud tyre, and still made in England!

Dunlop SP Sport Aquajet - The Tyre Icon

As we now have back in stock at Vintage Tyres the Dunlop SP Sport Aquajet 185R15; we thought it a good time to look through the archives at some of the history of this illustrious tyre design, and find out how it became perhaps the most renowned radial ever.

During the 1960s, tyre manufacturer began to wake up to the advantages of radial technology, as first demonstrated by Michelin with their X used on the Citroen Traction Avant. A radial tyre is different to the then standard cross-ply by separating out the function of the sidewall and tread of a tyre. In a crossply, the textile plies of the casing run across the carcass diagonally, with each ply crossing the adjacent one at alternate angles. A radial tyre has plies which run around the carcass parallel to each other radiating out from the wheel centre, together with a layer of bracing around the tyre under the tread. This creates a tyre with a more flexible carcass but braced tread area.

Dunlop realised that they could harness this type of tyre design to create tyres which offered real advantages in performance, longevity and handling, and spent over 15 years researching the mechanics of grip in order to create their revolutionary SP Sport. This was a marked leap forward from not only cross ply tyres, but the SP68 and SP41 radials it superseded.

Dunlop focussed on the three main areas of achieving maximum grip. The carcass design should mean that the maximum amount of footprint is on the road. When this is achieved, on dry roads the main factor in grip is the type of rubber compound used. However it is on wet roads, or even damp ones, where the tread pattern really comes into play, and the Dunlop designers created a brand new type of pattern that actually “pumped” water away from the tread surface and out of special ducts on the side of the tread. These were known as aquajets, and that became the name commonly adopted for the new tyre. In this video: "Dunlop Aquajets in Action" you can see the aquajets at work. In fact they are so efficient, it was claimed that at 50mph they could “pump” a gallon of water a second.

As its advantages became clear and reputation grew, Dunlop’s Aquajet became standard fitment on the performance cars of the day, first being employed in different sizes on the Mini Cooper and Jaguar E type. It became the must have upgrade on anything from a Triumph Dolomite Sprint, through Ford Cortina, to Lotus Elan.

These great adverts from the period show how fitting an SP Sport could help you lead the life of an international playboy or spy when driving your Jaguar XJ6.

The Dunlop SP Sport Aquajet is still made from the original moulds, in England. The tyres produced today are better than they have ever been, as they take advantage of the latest compounds and rubber technology which means they perform and last brilliantly, whist retaining their authentic appearance and characteristics.

Now in stock are the 185R15, ER70R15 (205/70R15), 165R13, 145R10 and 165/70R10. This means the ultimate period performance tyre is available for lots of classics such as Jaguar Etypes, Lotus Elans, BMW 2002s, and Mini Coopers; and there are sizes being reintroduced regularly. If you drive an iconic car such as this, it makes sense to fit the iconic tyre.