Hi guys, this is a long story and I hope it will start an interesting discussion.
My 1988 Toyota FJ 62 is just nicely run in at 490 000 km. It had the standard steel split rings, and we did a trans-Africa trip in 2011 with these. I learnt a lot regarding tyres, inner tubes and the need to put talcum powder in the tyres from locals, including a tiny little Arab guy who took five minutes to dismount and mount a split rim, something which two husky Supaquick workers wrestled with for 15 minutes.
The lack of people who understood split rims and can provide inner tubes prompted me to buy four Pro-White rims and convert to tubeless. Two of the split rims were kept as spare tyres. One has an old Bridgestone on, the other had a newer (2018) Bridgestone, but a tyre specialist pointed out that I had, on one of the Pro-Whites, a 20 year old Continental. So we swopped them around with the Continental going on the spare.
The BFG had a patched tube inside, and one morning about 30 km outside Letaba rest camp in the Kruger Park it blew with a loud thud. It seems that the tube had worn through at one of the patches and the air, instead of venting as I would have expected through the split rim, blew a part of the thread off the tyre. There was no heat involved when I changed it, also because of sufficient baby powder.
Tiger Wheels were helpful and agreed with the diagnosis. They pointed out that the Bridgestones were not made to have tubes, but could not really come up with an alternative.
Second issue is the rims. The pro-whites are thinner steel than the old split rims and, despite relatively light duty, shows paint cracks and rust at points on the 'spokes' which I think are due to stress. Various tyre people want to sell me very pretty mag rims. For me that is simply a no-go. I have seen alloy wheels crack or break while steel rims might bend but can be repaired. The cost is also a factor.
So I have two questions: Do I go back to the split rims? Is there a place in Pretoria where they still know about these rims, tyres to match, and still carry talcum powder? Or are there steel rims that I can trust? The ProWhites are not bent, but I will not trust them under extreme conditions.
Second, what tyres can go with split rims? I did ask Michelin through agents, but the answer was that due to COVID their people do not visit agents.
I will try to attach a few pictures and look forward to fellow traditionalists' comments.
My 1988 Toyota FJ 62 is just nicely run in at 490 000 km. It had the standard steel split rings, and we did a trans-Africa trip in 2011 with these. I learnt a lot regarding tyres, inner tubes and the need to put talcum powder in the tyres from locals, including a tiny little Arab guy who took five minutes to dismount and mount a split rim, something which two husky Supaquick workers wrestled with for 15 minutes.
The lack of people who understood split rims and can provide inner tubes prompted me to buy four Pro-White rims and convert to tubeless. Two of the split rims were kept as spare tyres. One has an old Bridgestone on, the other had a newer (2018) Bridgestone, but a tyre specialist pointed out that I had, on one of the Pro-Whites, a 20 year old Continental. So we swopped them around with the Continental going on the spare.
The BFG had a patched tube inside, and one morning about 30 km outside Letaba rest camp in the Kruger Park it blew with a loud thud. It seems that the tube had worn through at one of the patches and the air, instead of venting as I would have expected through the split rim, blew a part of the thread off the tyre. There was no heat involved when I changed it, also because of sufficient baby powder.
Tiger Wheels were helpful and agreed with the diagnosis. They pointed out that the Bridgestones were not made to have tubes, but could not really come up with an alternative.
Second issue is the rims. The pro-whites are thinner steel than the old split rims and, despite relatively light duty, shows paint cracks and rust at points on the 'spokes' which I think are due to stress. Various tyre people want to sell me very pretty mag rims. For me that is simply a no-go. I have seen alloy wheels crack or break while steel rims might bend but can be repaired. The cost is also a factor.
So I have two questions: Do I go back to the split rims? Is there a place in Pretoria where they still know about these rims, tyres to match, and still carry talcum powder? Or are there steel rims that I can trust? The ProWhites are not bent, but I will not trust them under extreme conditions.
Second, what tyres can go with split rims? I did ask Michelin through agents, but the answer was that due to COVID their people do not visit agents.
I will try to attach a few pictures and look forward to fellow traditionalists' comments.