MTFCA Forum

Is there currently produced a STANDARD 30 x 3 1/2 inch clincher tire. All the tires that are currently available as far as I am aware of are the 30 x 3 1/2 inch OVERSIZE tires. These are in actuality 31 x 4 inch. Of course both size tires fit the 23 inch clincher rim.

did you check with langs, cokers, or speedway?

Phillip

'True' 30 x 3 1/2" tires haven't been produced for many decades.

During WWI, (1919) rubber mfg. had to slim the over 200 different tire sizes to just a handful, per government decree. After the Great War, some mfg. may have made true 30 x 3 1/2" but by my generation, no more.

So today, all are made 'Oversize' as you noted, and are 31x4.


Old Samson tire (on right) in true 30 x 3 1/2" compared to what you have today

Wonder what they did for front tires, since there aren't any 24" tires on the "approved" list...

Dunlop Cord chevron tread 30 x 3.5 tires are true, thirty inch tires. If you've ever seen them on a Model T, they look great.

Unfortunately, Dunlop quit producing antique car tires a few years ago but the molds were purchased by another company who produces tires under the Ensign brand name.

I don't know if Ensign brand 30 x 3.5 tires have yet to be produced, but it may be worth looking into. They are currently producing other sizes of clincher tires with the chevron tread that are identical to their Dunlop predecessors. Otherwise, you might be able to locate an NOS set of Dunlops.

The Universal ribbed 30 x 3.5 tires are slightly over 30 inches. You may also want to look into getting a set of those.

I posted a photo of oversize next to true 30 inch tires a while back. See this post which also mentions the Universal ribbed tires:

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50 ... 1439427044

I trust my 40 year old nos Wards Riverside clinchers more than any new ones I've seen. Also the tubes.

Thanks Dan for the great information. I didn't think standard tires had been made in a very long time but thought I would ask anyway. I guess that's just another case of our government knowing what's best for us, whether we like it or not! And their still at it today!
Thanks to Erik also thats good news, I'm going to pursue that lead. I really would love to be able to by new standard size 30 x 3 1/2 inch clincher tires for my cars.

The ribbed Universals are very close to true size and look great.

If Erik hadn't mentioned them, I would have.

Steve Jelf:

Dunlop quit making antique car tires around 2015.

When I mentioned locating a set of NOS Dunlops, my presumption is that they too would be fairly new, not 30 or 40 years old.

Also, Dunlops were made in England and extremely high quality (and very expensive).

Steve, your problem with the NOS Firestones is not typical. I would love to know how they were stored.

When I restored my 1912 chocolate van I was fortunate to be offered a choice of a new old stock set of Australian made Dunlops or Barnet Glass tyres, all of which were stored on a cool cellar. I chose the Dunlops, because they were produced later than the Barnet Glass ones, most likely in the late 1960's. They went on the car in around 1993, and first hit the road in 1995. To date they have done approx 30000km of mainly city driving and are still quite serviceable. I have had similar results with early 1970's production Australian made Olympic tyres, and source them whenever I can. Two of these only lasted a few years, which I expected as they were quite hard when fitted. Nothing available today comes even close to their quality or longevity.

If/when I run out of stocks, I will try the Blockley tyres coming on the market.

Allan from down under.