<VV> Tire Advice

[Joel McGregor]

There is a whole lot more to it than that.  In high end tires (race compounds) that is generally true.  I've had hard tires that didn't last long and soft tires that lasted a long time.  It depends on the formula of the rubber, the construction and the tread.  All that said, I've had to replace very few tires in the last 10 years because of tread wear.  They usually fall apart long before the tread is worn out.  Sumitomo, Cooper and Nexen are the only ones that haven't fallen apart on me.  I haven't tried Michelin and the Coopers aren't worn out yet so they may not make it either.  They haven't been very smooth from day one.  I've been running Sumitomo 245/45R16s on my '65 Convertible and '82 Malibu.  I've worn out 2 sets on the Malibu.
Joel

-----Original Message-----
From: J R Read [mailto:hmlinc at sbcglobal.net] 
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2013 5:20 PM
To: Joel McGregor; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Tire Advice

Hmmmm,

As I understand it, they have to do with the hardness of the rubber.  Softer rubber wears out faster and has better grip.  Harder rubber lasts longer at the cost of less grip.

Later, JR