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Tyres remembered.

Talking about tyres this is funny-
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3WFVf6WaAE&feature=PlayList&p=7208A7A0E68D7515&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=14"]YouTube - tyre accident[/ame]
 
Even better is this one - amazing luck!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEYoU5BhGl4"]YouTube - Unbelievable Highway Accident... enTire luck![/ame]
 
In the early 1970's Dunlop Groundhogs were fitted to Mini Clubman Panda cars. The grip was fantastic but needed replacing after 3 to 4,000 miles. Michelin X would last over twice that.Drivers would say you could see the tread drop off them at the traffic lights.
The tyes on my present mpv have done 16,000 and still look good. They are Michelin Pilots. What amazing advances have been made in motoring but the roads seem a lot worse.
 
I think it was 1975 when the Dunlop Denovo was produced.
I worked for Dunlop those days, all you heard all day was explosions as they blew holes in the tyres of cars as they sped down the test track. ( Now the Fort Shopping centre)
 
Remember the Dunlop Groundhog Logo.I thought it was brilliant. Had my old Cortina covered in them.:):D
 
The best part of the whole thing:D:D At the time I could get really good discounts on Groundhogs but stuck to Pirelli on the advice of a tyre test expert.

A few years later I met the ex marketing manager for Dunlop who admitted that the marketing campaign was far better than the tyre ever was.
 
Bernie D'Boult said:
The best part of the whole thing:D:D At the time I could get really good discounts on Groundhogs but stuck to Pirelli on the advice of a tyre test expert.

A few years later I met the ex marketing manager for Dunlop who admitted that the marketing campaign was far better than the tyre ever was.
Click to expand...

Same with me, never used them, just liked the stickers:grinsmile:

 
Dunlops as you say very over rated, best reasonably priced radials at the time were pirelli cinturatos, after the michelin x they bought the magic of radial tyres to us all, fitted a full set to my 105e Anglia & nearly oversteered onto the pavement on the first corner, (bottom of our street fitted em myself in our back garden) remember cross plies following every white line & groove in the road?
 
Hello Frothblower ..I had forgotten about the logo and the Princess model in the photo. In the early 70's I remember having a set of Bridgestones fitted .I did not realise they were japanese until I cleaned the car. The early Yokohama tyres were terrible. I never thought Bridgestones would end up on F1 cars.
Just remembered the Denovo tyre was able to run after it was punctured but it was quite expensive.In those days I motored on a very tight budget and often it was a case of fitting Motorway Remoulds.Happy days, you could lift the bonnet and know what you were looking at (Volkeswagen drivers excepted they carried a spare motor in the bootlol) The old ones are the best.
 
All those expensive tyres! In early1970's I had a Morris 1000 convertable that was cherrished and used all day and all night. It went everywhere and I wore all four tyres down the casings. With not much money and luck I got four new ones from a man with lockup in Longmore Street at half the price of remoulds.

They came from East Germany. They were like iron. 20,000 miles later I finally gave up and sold them. The pips on the treads were still there. They might have been perfect for a poor chap.

They were in the dry. In the wet (or even the damp) they gave a good impression of driving on an oil slick over cobbles.

Wouldn't mind betting they may be going strong on a vintage vehicle even now.
 
I ran my early cars on Regent Remoulds from Kettering Tyres in Poplar Road, Kings Heath. I remember the place well as the one time there I had to reverse out and caught the lamp post which snapped off but fell away from the car over the road and smashed into three pieces as it hit the deck. The gaffer came running out and used the waste paper bin off the lamp post to cover the stump on the pavement. He then phoned the corporation to report it. They sent me a bill (this was in 1962) for £21. The gaffer reminded me about the lamp post with a laugh every time I went back for a new tyre. He looked on it as my lamp post being as I had paid for it.:D

Another tyre for you now.
 
In the 50s/early 60s the Dunlop racing tire was the F1 and others tire of choice. The likes of Moss, Brabham raced on them and often it was the Dunlop tire that made the difference between winning and not. It may not have translated into great road tires though. Michelin had strange looking radials that were vey smooth looking; hardly any tread to speak of and designated 'X'. Radials that required an inner tube (a Michelin radial tube). They looked so soft you would think that they would roll off the rim but they worked well and lasted. It was not long before radials took over and even sans inner tube. Although North Anerica was slow to change over to the new radials, as they were to use disc brakes, as they were to front wheel drive. It was all salesmanship here. Success was almost guaranteed if the new model was bigger and heavier than the last years model and more powerfull leading to where we are today. The big car did not go anywhere. It just went on to a truck chassis and was higher and could do more damage to a smaller vehicle. You don't see Dunlop tires here much anymore.
 
I don't know if anybody remembers the tragic death of world champion racing driver Mike Hawthorn on the Guilford by-pass in,I think,1951.He was driving a 3.4 Jaguar.The cause of the accident has never been proved,but there was a lot of talk about him using an experimental tyre,I think made by Dunlop,that had very unpredictable handling characteristics.A lot of respected motoring experts put the blame on these tyres,does anybody know anything more about this theory of this tragedy?....Mal
 
mallyb2 said:
I don't know if anybody remembers the tragic death of world champion racing driver Mike Hawthorn on the Guilford by-pass in,I think,1951.He was driving a 3.4 Jaguar.The cause of the accident has never been proved,but there was a lot of talk about him using an experimental tyre,I think made by Dunlop,that had very unpredictable handling characteristics.A lot of respected motoring experts put the blame on these tyres,does anybody know anything more about this theory of this tragedy?....Mal
Click to expand...

Sorry,bit of a senior moment there,it occured in 1959....Mal
 
I remember all those years driving on "Cross Ply Tyres", can't remember the makes, they hadn't got the grip that radials give, especially when they were nearly down to the canvass, the introduction of the MOT put a stop to that.
The tubeless tyre came along, but if your rims wern't up to it they would keep going down so you had to have tubes fitted anyway.

Goffy
 
This reminds me that when I left the Royal Navy in 1948 I worked at Dunlop for a short time. I remember a large round tank full of water with about 10 women sitting around it. Inner tubes on spokes went round the tank and the women's job was to look for bubbles. If they saw any that tube was taken off because it was faulty.

Does that qualify as the most boring job ever? 8 hours a day Monday - Friday and 4 on Saturday.

Old Boy
 
Talking of tyres, the front ones on my Octavia managed just over 40.000 miles, they were michelin pilots, needless to say thay have been replaced with more of the same.
 
I grew up around tyres as my uncle founded H.Botterill tyres,later Midland tyres on Constitution hill.
Most tyres were made locally in those days,doubt if that is the case now.
 
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