Coopers on my cab

Now that you have modded the hell outta your ride, you have to find a way to get your car to stick to the ground. Talk about the different types of tires used here.

Moderators: kamzcab86, CalAltaDubber

CalAltaDubber
Frozen Guy in the Northern Country
Posts: 2012
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2004 11:10 pm
What year is your cabby?: 1987
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Contact:

Post by CalAltaDubber »

Normally I get a much better deal on top of the line tires. However, they are from another manufacturer. The only reason I bought GY is that is what is on the car.

I agree the valve and stem really didn't need replacing, but It is general policy here to replace them whenever a tire is replaced on a rim (comes from my avation background whew a valve core was never reused.)

I have learned a few things about tires and their manufacture over the last couple of years.

The life of a tire design (all manufactures do this) is very interesting. It is extreamly expensive to design and make the tread molds for a tire. Once designed the tire is in production for about 8 years or so until the design becomes obsolete. These first run tires are the ones you buy in the name brand tire stores.

As tire technology proceedes and a particular design is no longer good enough to be a top of the line tire, it is retired from sale at the name brand stores. But the tires are still produced for another couple of years. These "second" run tires are still marked with the brand name but sold in places like Costco. There is no road hazzard warrenty on them. They are considered to be out of production, obsolete tires.

After a couple of years the the tire is dropped from production, but that is not the end of the line. Tire companys will then use these old molds to make tires that use house brand names. Here in Canada, Canadian Tire has a line of tires called Motomaster, these are produced by a major manufacturer. Guess what, they are made from the molds on discontinued tire lines.

Finally after almost 15 years or so after the mold is first designed, it is then retired. Well sort of. Companies like Koker Tire buy the old molds which they use to make reproduction tires.
Phil

'87 Cabriolet, "Topless Bunny"
'88 Cabriolet, "Posh Bunny"
'04 Golf
'12 Golf Wagon TDI
'69 Manx type Dune Buggy (New Toy)

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