Tire Innertubes

[Guest pssmls]

Today we drove my 23 Buick roadster convertible for the first time since I purchased it in pieces in the year 2000. My two sons have mostly worked on it with some help from me. Being 74 years young, I don't have the energy or strength to do much of that anymore.

We have been trying to sort out getting the veh running for oever a year. We finally found that the distributor cap was turned 180 degrees off. Once that was corrected, the wires sorted out, we got it fired up.

Now for the problem. As we were driving yeaterday, one of the tube stems broke or tore off of the innertube. We put on the spare today, which has a new tube in it. Today, while again test driving it, another stem came off. It looks as if it were cut, but I know it wasn't because we keep the veh locked in our garage.

As we removed the tube from the tire (yesterdays flat), we noticed the tube was stuck to the inside of the tire and was pulled out only with difficulty. I looks like there may have been water or a lot of moisture between the tube and inside of the tire. We found one of the stems at a 4 way stop sign, so it apparantly occurred while we were stopping. My son says it appears that the rubber is kind of deteriorated. Could that be the reason for the tube failures? Could there be other causes.

My Buick manual does not give the inflation pressure recommended, or at least I could not find it. It says to maintain sufficient pressure in the tires. The tires do not have the recommended pressure noted on the sidewalls, either.

One other thing occurred. As my son was exiting our driveway today, which is fairly long and steep, the brakes would not hold back the veh, so he applied the emergency brake, and left a streak of rubber from apparantly the left rear tire as he stopped before entering the street. There was no rubber streak from the right rear tire. He then adjusted the brakes and continued on his way. The tube that failed today was the tube in the right rear tire (we found the tube stem about 2 blocks away, down our street, at a 4 way stop sign, where he stopped the first time after leaving the driveway).

Please, could some of you give me your opinions as to the cause of these failures? I will purchase 4 new tubes, but want to be sure I don't have the same thing happen again. Thanks in advance.

[nzcarnerd]

I don't know the answer to your problem but there are a couple of things to think about. What pressure were you running the tyres at? My guess, if it is on tall skinny tyres (24 inch maybe?), is that the pressure should be quite high. I am reluctant to quote a figure because I don't own a car with this size. If it is too low the tubes will move and tear the valve stems. Your antique tyre supplier should be able to recommend the pressure to use. Do you have tyre liners fitted between the tube and the rim? They are necessary if you are on wire wheels, to prevent the tubes being chafed by the spokes. Even on wood wheels they are useful,because of the join in the rim.

[unimogjohn]

Your tires on the 23 are high pressure. I keep mine at about 60 PSI. You can go up to 65. The PSI rating should be on the tire also.

If you are shearing off the stem, then the rim is slipping on the wheel and cutting off the stem when you are making a hard stop. You should see evidence on the little wedges, which will show movement. Tighten down those wedges, but be careful not to over tighten or you risk pulling out the threads. They do have to be more than snug.

Hope this helps.

[Mark Shaw]

I keep my high pressure tires at 50 psi for a little better ride than you get at 60 or 65 psi. Unlike modern tires, these high pressure tires do not wear unevenly at the lower pressure.

Basically I agree with John's analysis, except that if the rim shifted on the wheel, it would not shear the stem. I think that due to the low pressure, the whole tire & tube may be shifting on the rim causing the stem to be sheared off.

As for the tube sticking to the inside of the tire; the method I use to install a tube in the tire is to use corn starch to help lubricate the tube and allow it to fully inflate in the tire without creases. This also goes for the flap that must be installed between the tube and the rim to prevent the rim from rubbing on the tube.

Mt 2 cents again...