Wheels

[Dieschelan]

Hi

Should I need a tube for the stock wheel? I will put the pirellis in 145 HR13 and are tubeless. I know that the new wheels don’t need tube but the original wheels?

Cheers

Diego

[richardcox_lotus]

Depends on their condition!

My rear wheels have tubes....the fronts don’t

Regards
Richard

[69S4]

My wheels will seal with tubeless but lose pressure over time so I'm forever pumping them up. Its been far easier to put tubes in - they go from year to year without pressure loss.

[ericbushby]

It is never clear.
Even the workshop manual recommends Goodyear G800 and Dunlop SP. Sport with tubes, but Firestone F100 tubeless. This is for the early wheels without the extra ridge on the inside that is seen on the later Sue Miller type wheels. I have two old wheels and two new. No problems with tubeless tyres in the ten years I have had it.
Dougal from Longstone tyres sometimes contributes to this forum. I wonder if he reads this and can clarify it for us.
Regards
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

[h20hamelan]

One thing that I find works, for those which dont get regular use, is tyre grease-goes between the rim and tyre.A thin amount is all that is required.

Some motorcycles run sealant when going tubeless. To me, this is just harder to cleanup.

[mbell]

I would base my decision off the tires. If they are tubeless ties don't fit tubes, if the tires are for tubes fit tubes.

[Robbie693]

If tubes are fitted and you get a puncture they go completely flat very quickly, something to consider if the wheels don't have a safety bead.

I ran tubes in a set of SP10's, which are supposed to be tubeless, and they were generally ok but I did have two instances of the tube twisting causing a deflation. This is caused by the ridges in some tubeless tyres. Fortunately they happened to me at low speed. Dread to think if it had happened on the motorway.

I've now gone tubeless but with new wheels

Robbie

[69S4]

If tubes are fitted and you get a puncture they go completely flat very quickly, something to consider if the wheels don't have a safety bead.

I ran tubes in a set of SP10's, which are supposed to be tubeless, and they were generally ok but I did have two instances of the tube twisting causing a deflation. This is caused by the ridges in some tubeless tyres. Fortunately they happened to me at low speed. Dread to think if it had happened on the motorway.

I've now gone tubeless but with new wheels

Robbie

I did have that happen at about 70mph on the motorway - the front nearside went from normal to flat in about five seconds. The car didn't do anything stupid, it just started pulling very strongly to the left but was still controllable. I pulled over thinking more 'what's going on' than 'thank God I've survived'. At least it was on a normal motorway with a hard shoulder. It might have been different on a new, improved, 'your safety is important to us' smart motorway.

[Dieschelan]

Thank you for the answers. Possible the best option is to fit the new wheels?
Are these wheels identical to the original wheels?


Cheers

Diego

[Andy8421]

Thank you for the answers. Possible the best option is to fit the new wheels?
Are these wheels identical to the original wheels?

I am not sure they are available. Sue Miller had a batch made, but I believe they sold out. It is possible she has had a new batch made since then.

Good luck.

[ericbushby]

Hi Diego
The `Sue Miller` new wheels were not identical to the originals, but they are very similar and look the same without close inspection. The weakness with the original type was that the centre was prone to distortion. Sue`s version was made from thicker steel to improve this. The rim section also has the safety bead incorporated as you would see on a modern wheel,
Sue had 100 wheels made and I managed to get two. It is a major commitment to order another batch. Some owners have placed a speculative order to encourage the production of more wheels.
With more support she may go for it.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC