1800: A Story and a Warning...

[Kauai1800]

Aloha Everyone,

I wanted to pass along a little story regarding the tires on my 1964 1800.

I was poking around online and saw some story called "Are Your Tires A Timebomb?" or some such sensationalist headline. Of course being the sucker for hyperbole, I had to check it out. It's on ABCnews.com somewhere I believe. Anyway, it was a story regarding tire dealers selling old (6 years plus) tires as "new". As we all know, the rubber in a tire will age with time, and buying one that is 6-8 years old and being sold as new could cause the tire to fail. And they then showed some pretty horrific wrecks and crash test footage that showed how violent of an event it was when these old tires failed. It's not a simple puncture type failure, but rather a full on de-lamination of the thread which can cause the car to go out of control. Pretty gnarly as we would say here.

They then went "under cover" to show how one could read the DOT (=MoT) codes and figure out how old a tire is. They found plenty of low-life tire dealers selling tires that we over 6 years since date of manufacture.

Well all this got me wondering how old MY tires were on my 64 1800. A set of Toyo 175 75R 15 oldschool whitewalls were on there along with the stock steel wheels. I have owned the car about a year and the tires looked OK.

(you can see them in this infrared photo of the car sitting down by the Hanalei Bridge):



They had deep thread, and though they did look a bit dry, overall they looked decent. Still I had no idea how old they were....


Then I found the DOT code and was puzzled at first...it read "011", whereas I was expecting a 4 digit code..something like 2202...which would be a tire made the 22nd week of (20)02.

Well I was pretty shocked when I did decipher my 011 to mean the 01 week of 1991! These puppies were almost 18 years old! Yikes!!



For all their TV hype, this story had caused me to see that I probably was riding on a timebomb.

So time for new tires, yeah?

Not sure about the UK, but here in the US about the best deal on tires is at Costco...and luckily my tiny island has one. And even more luckily, they had a sale on Michelin X Radials, a tire they make especially for these big chain stores. It's a great tire, and at only $88 each, can't beat the price. I got 4x of the 195 65R/15s installed for less that $400 total.

But here's the best part. I've never driven another 1800 besides my own, so I had no idea exactly how the steering was supposed to feel. It had always been VERY heavy and hard to turn at low speed, and I just figured that's how it was. But no. As soon as I turned the wheel I could see an amazing improvement...well, transformation might be a better word. I suppose the old tires were simply all hard and dry.

All I can say is wow. Glad I saw that shock TV story and remember to check those codes when you buy a used car. I heard the the UK regulates tire age more closely than they do here in the US. That's a good thing.

[222s]

Did the '011' have a small triangle next to it? If not, then those tyres were 1981.....

Tried to explain all this recently to a relative, as the Firestones on his MGA dated from '89.... I'll be seeing him again soon & will be unamused if it's still on those tyres!!!

[hairyapple]

I was under the impression that Coker tire had purchased the 195 Michelin molds or was that the 165? and were the only ones that had that size "Michelin" tire at $125 a copy. I went with Kuhmo @ $66.00 for my wagon since they were the only ones I could get reasonably. Anyway the code for dates is always the first 2 numbers are month of manufacture and the second, either single digit or double digit is the year? Is that correct? Any idea when this labeling started to be used?

[Derek UK]

Good to see things are moving forward again. Did you sort out the problem with your reverse catch? I sent pics. Put comments on your old thread.

[grantbennett2]

I once bought a mint renault 15tl which had just 8000 miles on the clock. The steering was very heavy, so I changed the tyres. It turned out they were from 1975. The new rubber transformed the car.

To be honest ever since my first morris minor in the 80s, I have always treated any new purchase to new rubber.

[Kauai1800]

Originally Posted by Derek UK

Good to see things are moving forward again. Did you sort out the problem with your reverse catch? I sent pics. Put comments on your old thread.

Thanks so much Derek! Yes I got your very helpful info, and was able to find someone here to sort the problem. They had to repair the gear selector "tabs", one had gotten bent, and since then the car goes into reverse perfectly. I still do need to make one of the lockout plates as you suggested, but that'll have to wait for now. No doubt this forum is the best place on the planet to help us 1800 owners out.

And if anyone can tell me where I can get new wiper arms...

I'm sitting here dying to go out and cruise on these new tires. I may just put off answering these emails for now and get out there and drive.

Here's a link to more info about these codes, when they started, etc.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=11

Cheers.

ps.. and grant your idea is exactly right - swap em out! I decided to keep these tires because they looked so retro, but never again.

pps...and I really need to turn the turn indicator lights right side up...one had been right and one upside down, and along came an unknown mechanic who turned the good the one wrong way. Now it looks extra dumb - but symmetric.

[B20F]

You can get new wiper arms from Scandcar Holland: http://www.scandcar.com/defframe.htm

http://volvoklassiekeronderdelen.nl/...8d9229a04b6ece

[brucelee34]

pps...and I really need to turn the turn indicator lights right side up...one had been right and one upside down, and along came an unknown mechanic who turned the good the one wrong way. Now it looks extra dumb - but symmetric.[/QUOTE]

That is just fantastic. So you ended up with both indicators upside down and you had no control over it.

[Kauai1800]

Originally Posted by B20F

You can get new wiper arms from Scandcar Holland: http://www.scandcar.com/defframe.htm

http://volvoklassiekeronderdelen.nl/...8d9229a04b6ece

Thanks so much for this. I'll have to search around on the forum for another thread about wipers and wiper blades. This is the last Achilles Heel in my ride. But I have not seen this parts source in NL, so I am happy for that indeed!

And last night I got to take the new tires out on some twisty roads, and all I can say is that I am astounded. The steering is 100% lighter, the car is more hooked up, and is clearly faster, with much more momentum during gear shifts. Also the tires are much quieter than before - so my crappy stereo sounds better. If I'm honest, the car handled terribly before, so now it drives almost as well as a modern car...
Makes it hard to sit here and work (cough) on a nice day like today.

I'll have to search the forum to see if anyone's put in the IDP sway bars and the results.

Also, I'll have to post a thread about how I almost ruined my front windscreen and my subsequent experience with auto glass polish (not cleaner - actual polish that grinds stuff away..). I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere.

It does have a happy ending though.

[B20F]

The heavier IPD sway bar really transform the handling IMHO the #1 in upgrading the suspension. Don't bother fitting the rear one though. Is a lot of work (drilling, reinforcing the mount holes) and it can make the car oversteer by surprise, especially in the wet. The front one is easy to install, costs maybe an hour in labor. It will go like on tracks. IPD has them on their website as a set. But they will sell you just the front one if you ask.