Tubes vs Tubeless on stock 16" rims...

[bamfordsgarage]

Our chief trouble on a recent road trip was flat tires. Several times a recently repaired tire went flat soon after, apparently as a result of an inadequate repair.

Our last flat repair was Saturday AM and that tire was down already by Monday.

Twice now I have had the tubes removed and mounted the tires as tubeless. First time was last fall and the tire held air for several thousand miles before the rim split open along the bead line, a failure I do not attribute to running tubeless. The second time was Thursday when I once again had the tube removed and the tire mounted tubeless with bead sealer. This one is holding air fine thus far.

I would be interested in hearing others' experience with running original-type bias tube tires, but tubeless, on original rims.

[Don Coatney]

I have new rims and run tubeless so I cannot comment to your question. But I will comment on tubeless. My opinion is that is that tubeless is the only way to go. Repairs with tubeless can frequently be made without removing the wheel from the car. You cannot do that with tubes. Tubeless will also run for many miles with a slow leak. Tubes go flat in a heartbeat. Finding a shop to repair tubes is next to impossible today as this technology is no longer required.

[Plymouthy Adams]

some things are just not worth the effort..plus I have read that tubes today are no dependable to any great degree..I also heard that if you want a quality tube..buy the equivalent size in a motorcycle tube lineup..the quality still exist here to my understanding..I also, like you have had tube new tube failure from just sitting in the shop..like you , quite some time after the mounting..explain the reason..can't except to say inferior workmanship..not so much on the installer but on the tube itself...only thing I have here that I would run a tube in besides my bicycle is the wire wheels for the Spitfire..as the spokes are laced through the rim..tube and liner are a requirement..you can get tubeless bias ply for the rim in question..the stem may be the prob but only till you get your hands on the special stem to mount proper should you have a oval hole..

[Scruffy49]

If you want to run a motorcycle tube, ONLY buy Dunlop tubes. The vast majority of the "others" are made in Taiwan and DO NOT last long. I put a new Kenda brand tube and decent used Avon on a friend's 57 HD and the tube held air for a whopping 15 seconds. The stem delaminated from the tube body. Have never had problems with Dunlop tubes, and I've had dozens of motorcycles over the last 23 years.

For a touch of added peace of mind, you can add the correct diameter motorcycle rim band to cover the rivets in factory Mopar wheels. You don't need them, but they won't hurt anything if you want them.

Fixing tubes is easy, any tire shop that deals with tractor trailers can patch them. 20" trailer tires are still tube type.

You can find the correct metal valve stems just about anywhere, even Wal-mart tire shops have them. Had a new set of 4 put in the antique Ford and Dodge rims on my late 1960s horse trailer a couple months ago. They sell brass ones, if you want chrome, hit up a motorcycle shop. You can even get chrome with 45 or 90 degree stems, short for bare wheels, long for ones with full wheel covers or trim rings. $4.95 to $12.95 each.

As long as the tire shop doesn't try to use an all rubber unit they will be fine.

[1941Rick]

I found on my car the rubber valve stem is not tight in the hole in the rim....with tube type tires the hole is oblonged....the tubeless stem will be loose.....if the tire man see this he will have to take care when filling the tire.....

[JIPJOBXX]

I use tubes in my 16" tires just like the old days! Why change when they worked for so many years.

[BobT-47P15]

I've had tubes for several years on my Chrysler wire wheels.....with both

radial and currently bias ply tires. Have only had one flat in probably

25 years. It was rather sad when I took that flat to the local Firestone

store and they only had one person who knew how to patch the tube.

[Uncle-Pekka]

During my 30 years of motoring, I've had three flats on full speed. All of them with tube type tires (and all in the 80's). It is really scary when a tire shoots flat in a two seconds at speed of 60 mph. Once it was a front tire. It was hard task keeping the car on the lane until it could be stopped. Brakes do not work evenly either when you have one tire flat. I NEVER will use the tube type again.

I was so happy when I found out Chrysler did tubeless rims already in 40's. I had my rims sandblasted and paint with industry epoxy before mounted new tubeless radials. The Dodge handles great now. No tire worries with tubeless units. Just like Don said above: If a tubeless leaks, it leaks sloo...ow. That is safe, even gives you time to plan where you fix the problem. Tubeless explosion is dangerous to men & machines, also leaves you on the highway.