Re: Tire pressure?

Posted by Rusty O\'Toole On 2010/5/21 22:57:48

Up until 1954 all tires required inner tubes. The first car to fit tubeless tires as standard equipment was Packard in 1954. Chrysler followed in 1955 and eventually the whole industry.

Motorcycles and cars with wire wheels were the last to use tubes because of the difficulty of sealing wire wheels.

Inner tubes can be fitted if the tires won't seal due to rusty rims or tire flaws.

Tires with inner tubes tend to run a little hotter at high speeds. This is not an issue with the normal highway speeds of your Packard.

24 PSI was recommended when your car was new but this is too low. It gives a soft ride but 30PSI or 32PSI will make steering easier, improve gas mileage and increase tire life.

The H78-15 tire is a bias ply or bias belted tire that predates the radial tire in America. That number system was typically used in the 60s and early 70s. Unless your tires were specially made for an "old timer" they are very old.

All tires have a date code on them. It is the last 4 digits of the serial number on tires made after 2000.

The date code will be of the format "week of the year, year".

In other words the code date of a tire made today would be "2310" for week 23 of 2010.

Before 2000 they only used a single digit for the year, assuming a tire would not last 10 years.

So in that case the code would be "230"

Tires slowly lose their strength and resiliency as they age. By the time a tire is 5 years old it has lost half its strength even if it appears in good shape. So if your tires are more than 5 years old it pays to treat them with respect and drive slowly and carefully, or buy new tires.