[DeTomaso] [Fordnatics] Tire choices for TractionLTD

michael at michaelshortt.com michael at michaelshortt.com
Sat Mar 29 08:33:44 EDT 2014


Once upon a time, I bought another GMC motorhome and started to drive it
home on the back two lane roads south of Ocala. I made it 12 miles when the
front left tire destroyed itself and the motorcoach veered sharply into the
oncoming lane in the path of an orange juice tanker semitruck.
Luckily, I had just enough time to manhandle the moho (with an adrenaline
shot to be sure) back into my lane except for my driver's mirror assembly
which was sheered off by the tanker truck.
That was the second time that I have cheated death with a semi truck. Have
you ever seen what makes up the front construction of a motorhome (esp a
vintage model like thr GMC), fiberglass, stamped metal frame and a giant
windshield?
It was discovered that the GMC tires were 10 years old, which is common on
mohos because most never see high mileage, they sit outdoors and slowly dry
rot.
That's when I started paying attention to date codes.

Michael Shortt
On Mar 29, 2014 12:35 AM, "Sean Korb" <spkorb at gmail.com> wrote:

>    Probably not an issue for racing and I agree that greasy tires can be a
>    lot of fun and are more forgiving but...
>    Watch those date codes.  If your tires are hard because they are old
>    they might be dry rotted.  That's pretty dangerous.
>    sean
>
>    On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 8:29 PM, Peter Russell
>    <[1]pcrussell50 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>      If by "turned to stone", you mean that the rubber compound got hard,
>      then that's exactly what happened to mine.  Which is probably why
>      mine have lasted for so long with tons of tread left.  I don't mind
>      exchanging the grip for durability... Even though it's an open track
>      car.
>
>      I had a championship american iron racer drive my car with the rock
>      hard tires in my intermediate lapping group (level 3 out of 4), and
>      he decimated the field which included stis and Evos on R compounds a
>      viper a Corvette or two.  Until I even begin to approach that skill
>      level I'll keep learning on the hard stuff.
>
>    On Mar 28, 2014 4:20 PM, "Big Al" <[2]molinky at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>    And I have had the exact opposite experience. Chinese truck tires.
>    Turned to stone in about 30K miles. Never again. If it's not made here
>    it stays on the rack. I have had decent luck with off shore motorcycle
>    tires however.
>    Al
>    On Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 3:31 PM, Peter Russell
>    <[3]pcrussell50 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>      Re the whole deal about cheap tires possibly not lasting... Not
>      always.  I have a set of 275/40/17's on my track car that.  were the
>      cheapest tire offered in that size by tire rack... Back in 2003...
>
>    --
>    Sean Korb [4]spkorb at spkorb.org [5]http://www.spkorb.org
>    '65,'68 Mustangs,'68 Cougar,'78 R100/7,'60 Metro,'59 A35,'71 Pantera
>    #1382
>    "The more you drive, the less intelligent you get" --Miller
>    "Computers are useless.  They can only give you answers." -P. Picasso
>
> References
>
>    1. mailto:pcrussell50 at gmail.com
>    2. mailto:molinky at gmail.com
>    3. mailto:pcrussell50 at gmail.com
>    4. mailto:spkorb at spkorb.org
>    5. http://www.spkorb.org/
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>
> DeTomaso mailing list
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-------------- next part --------------
   Once upon a time, I bought another GMC motorhome and started to drive
   it home on the back two lane roads south of Ocala. I made it 12 miles
   when the front left tire destroyed itself and the motorcoach veered
   sharply into the oncoming lane in the path of an orange juice tanker
   semitruck.
   Luckily, I had just enough time to manhandle the moho (with an
   adrenaline shot to be sure) back into my lane except for my driver's
   mirror assembly which was sheered off by the tanker truck.
   That was the second time that I have cheated death with a semi truck.
   Have you ever seen what makes up the front construction of a motorhome
   (esp a vintage model like thr GMC), fiberglass, stamped metal frame and
   a giant windshield?
   It was discovered that the GMC tires were 10 years old, which is common
   on mohos because most never see high mileage, they sit outdoors and
   slowly dry rot.
   That's when I started paying attention to date codes.

   Michael Shortt

   On Mar 29, 2014 12:35 AM, "Sean Korb" <[1]spkorb at gmail.com> wrote:

        Probably not an issue for racing and I agree that greasy tires
     can be a
        lot of fun and are more forgiving but...
        Watch those date codes.  If your tires are hard because they are
     old
        they might be dry rotted.  That's pretty dangerous.
        sean
        On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 8:29 PM, Peter Russell
        <[1][2]pcrussell50 at gmail.com> wrote:
          If by "turned to stone", you mean that the rubber compound got
     hard,
          then that's exactly what happened to mine.  Which is probably
     why
          mine have lasted for so long with tons of tread left.  I don't
     mind
          exchanging the grip for durability... Even though it's an open
     track
          car.
          I had a championship american iron racer drive my car with the
     rock
          hard tires in my intermediate lapping group (level 3 out of 4),
     and
          he decimated the field which included stis and Evos on R
     compounds a
          viper a Corvette or two.  Until I even begin to approach that
     skill
          level I'll keep learning on the hard stuff.
        On Mar 28, 2014 4:20 PM, "Big Al" <[2][3]molinky at gmail.com>
     wrote:
        And I have had the exact opposite experience. Chinese truck
     tires.
        Turned to stone in about 30K miles. Never again. If it's not made
     here
        it stays on the rack. I have had decent luck with off shore
     motorcycle
        tires however.
        Al
        On Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 3:31 PM, Peter Russell
        <[3][4]pcrussell50 at gmail.com> wrote:
          Re the whole deal about cheap tires possibly not lasting... Not
          always.  I have a set of 275/40/17's on my track car that.
     were the
          cheapest tire offered in that size by tire rack... Back in
     2003...
        --
        Sean Korb [4][5]spkorb at spkorb.org [5][6]http://www.spkorb.org
        '65,'68 Mustangs,'68 Cougar,'78 R100/7,'60 Metro,'59 A35,'71
     Pantera
        #1382
        "The more you drive, the less intelligent you get" --Miller
        "Computers are useless.  They can only give you answers." -P.
     Picasso
     References
        1. mailto:[7]pcrussell50 at gmail.com
        2. mailto:[8]molinky at gmail.com
        3. mailto:[9]pcrussell50 at gmail.com
        4. mailto:[10]spkorb at spkorb.org
        5. [11]http://www.spkorb.org/
     _______________________________________________
     Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
     DeTomaso mailing list
     [12]DeTomaso at poca.com
     [13]http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com

References

   1. mailto:spkorb at gmail.com
   2. mailto:pcrussell50 at gmail.com
   3. mailto:molinky at gmail.com
   4. mailto:pcrussell50 at gmail.com
   5. mailto:spkorb at spkorb.org
   6. http://www.spkorb.org/
   7. mailto:pcrussell50 at gmail.com
   8. mailto:molinky at gmail.com
   9. mailto:pcrussell50 at gmail.com
  10. mailto:spkorb at spkorb.org
  11. http://www.spkorb.org/
  12. mailto:DeTomaso at poca.com
  13. http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com


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