I thought I would bring to your attention the response of a tyre supplier to a question of anticipated tyre life. It was a surprise to me and the attitude of the supplier was not what I had expected.

You may be aware that recently I completed an 11,262 mile journey in my 17" wheeled Box saloon from Buenos Aires to New York. I bought and had fitted 5 new Excelsior tyres from Northants Tyres. At the end of the journey they are all down to less than 1.5mm of tread, I had not expected so much wear.

This has to be set in context of course. The two other cars had 19" wheels and the three weighed in at 720Kgs, 820Kgs and mine was the heaviest at 840 Kgs and my car always was two up the others sometimes one up. The other cars had a set of Blockleys and a set of Avons, the Blockleys on the lightest car suffered no punctures and the wear was minimal at the end. The Avons had three punctures and were lightly worn, while I had more than 8 punctures of which one was my fault (pinched tube)

I asked at Beaulieu on Sunday if this was an exceptional rate of wear, the response being "8 to 10 thousand miles is all you can expect from a set of tyres, sometimes 6,000, the balance between softness to last without cracking and wear properties determines the low mileage. We are surprised the soft Blockleys lasted so long, the Avons are a different kettle of fish"

I dont know what to make of the conclusion but am sure I shall be changing my tyre supplier and tyre choice.

Oh and yes I have an axe to grind!

Location: Oxford Town in the wet afternoon, what happened to summer?

Hi Jack, a somewhat different scenario but, purely for comparison purposes; 4 years ago I fitted a pair of new Longstone 19" x 3.50 3 stud tyres to the front wheels of my 1929 Chummy. When new the centre tread depth (measured with a tread depth gauge) was 10mm, today after 8200 miles of fairly fast touring they measure 6mm tread depth. Therefore it seems reasonable to assume that they wear by 1mm for approx each 2000 miles of hard use. Extrapolating this, I expect to be replacing them with about 2mm of centre tread left when they have completed a total of roughly 16,000 miles.

For what it is worth 17" X 4.50 tyres and 19" x 3.50 tyres have virtually the same circumference so will turn almost the same number of times in a mile.

Ian Mc.

Location: Shropshire

The Chummy is fitted with Avon Triple Duty Sidecar Tyres 3.50 x 19.

After around 2000 miles the front tyres are almost down to 2 mm (from 3 mm new)and 'saw toothed' across the tread - after running with 3/4" toe out - recently corrected. Rears are down less than 1/2mm. I have now swapped front to back.



The tyres on the Latrobe Sports have just been replaced (after about 20 years!!) with Avon Triple Duty 3.50 x 19. The original tyres still had tread but given the age (suggested change at 6-8 years) and wall stiffness it was well time. There was only minor wall cracking.

Tony.

Location: Malvern, Melbourne, Australia.

I've always run my "transport" RP on Avon Sidecars. It' got through several sets over the years, but they've all lasted a good 30,000 miles.

We put a set of more expensive Dunlops - "proper" car tyres - on the PD and were very disappointed with the 15 to 20,000 that we got out of them, on a significantly lighter car.

Location: Herefordshire (with an "E", not a "T"!)

hi jack,

do you know what tyre pressures the 3 cars were running on.

personally I thought the blockley was a harder tyre. so it will run well on a lower pressure. I believe blockley suggest 22psi.

were as I find people having to put the avon onto 26 to 28psi being a softer tyre.

a softer tyre will need a higher pressure. otherwise I would have thought it will move more on the road, and give more understair.

tony

Tony Press

The Chummy is fitted with Avon Triple Duty Sidecar Tyres 3.50 x 19.






Tony.

Location: Farnham

Thank you David.

In answer to Tony B - I have been running the Avons at 24 psi but I am trying the 'recommended' 20 psi which seems better for ride and handling.

Tony.

Location: Malvern, Melbourne, Australia.

Location: Oxford Town in the wet afternoon, what happened to summer?