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CARELESSNESS—AND YOUR TIRES 255
:V.
This Sort of Wear Is Caused by the Tires Being
Out of Alignment
and inviting blow-outs. Unnecessary
skidding is another way of adding to the
tire costs. Taking the corners too fast,
and viciously engaging the brakes cause
skidding. This may be all right for the
rich man, but the poor man can't afford
it. It tears the tread away in strips.
Repair all cuts in casings, even to
puncture holes. The open hole permits
tlirt, moisture, ami air to get a chance at
the fabric, this latter resulting very often
in blow-outs. When discovered, the hole
should be cleaned thoroughly with gasoline
and plugged with one of the various
plastic compositions that are being made
for this purpose.
Don't use a straight-sided tire on a
clincher rim, or vice versa. This practice
always results disastrously. The
beads on tlie casing are so different that
no one should mistake one for the other.
The ordinary motorist has a perpetual
grouch against tire companies because
they refuse to sell him racing tires. One
naturally believes that a tire that will
"stand up" under a grind of 500 miles
at tremendous speed must of necessity
be a good road tire for him, but such is
not the case. Racing tires are made hard
and brittle by over-vulcanizing, and cannot
stand the roughness of touring. The
motorist can see just what this kind of
tire would mean to him by running his
car a hundred miles on sandy roads some
summer day, when the temperature is
one hundred in the shade. His tires will
over-vulcanize with this treatment, and
their life will be less than half normal.
Remember that rubber has a few natural
enemies, such as sunlight, oil, air, and
water. Sunlight relieves rubber of its
life—its enduring qualities; therefore it
should be kept out of the sunlight as
much as possible. The "spare" should
be carried within a tire cover. Oil and
grease soften rubber, and for this reason
the tire should be thoroughly washed once
in a while with soap and water.
The following of these simple suggest
i o n s is no
more than
applying the
"golden rule"
to the tire.
If the motorist
will keep
his tire as he
should, the
casing will
give him
good mileage.
If all of these
rules are
broken the
owner should
not begin to
howl "defective"
when a
b 1 o w- o u t,
which he has
been inviting
by his actions, Just a Little Bit of Patching
occurs.
Would Hav * Sai : e £ T his Cas "
ing. a Week Earlier