MTFCA Forum

I've been replacing rubber stemmed tubes with authentic Schrader and Dill valve stems for years, and have never had a problem until today, with a foreign tube. The valve stem cores in the American tubes used to twist out easily, but not this foreign tube! I had to carefully drill out the core from the tube with about three different size drills until the wall thickness became so thin, that it finally came out. This tube is made in India. They really bonded that core to the tube! After I got the core out, I was able to stretch the area where the core was to accommodate the new (old) valve stem.

What I don't understand about tires and tubes is, they must be selling more of them these days than they did in 1960, when you could still buy them from a Monkey Ward catalog for $15 for a tire, and $3 for a tube! When I finished my '25 pickup ten years ago they were still making tubes in the USA. What happened? I still think the demand for those tubes is greater now than 50 years ago, so why discontinue them?

Steve, you make a good point re relative dollar values. However, what happened to the quality????? Most of today's stuff is not fit for purpose.

Allan from down under.

I been eyeballing motor cycle wheels, and thinking they shure look close to 30x3 1/2, on some of them, like Harley, they got to be made in USA don't they/Richard G

Richard, till recently mag wheels on Harleys were made here in South Australia. Just because it is an American brand, doesn't mean it's American made. I tried buying an American made belt at the Stockyards in Fort Worth in 2010 and I guarantee they represented less than 5% of the stock.

At least Harley were interested in maintaining some semblance of quality in their wheels, unlike the clincher tyres that are foisted on us in today's market.

Allan from down under.

Guys,

I'm not one of these anti-capitalism guys by any means, but I have seen first hand what happened to the quality. It went into the pockets of the owners and stockholders. They have whored themselves out for the almighty dollar. I have witnessed first hand, and I do mean first hand, this taking place and was actually tasked by my superiors to do it. As a design engineer I saw the material thickness of steel used to make lawn mower decks reduced multiple times as well as a reduction in the number of fasteners that hold one together, to the point of ricketiness (If that's a word). All to save a very few cents on each unit. That's CENTS, not dollars, and I do mean FEW. The logical thought would be "I'd be willing to pay a few cents more to get a thicker deck and some handlebars and wheel brackets that don't sway under the weight of a push mower", but that is not how it works. The way it works is that they can take those few cents out of a mower, charge you the same price, and pocket the few cents......times 26,000 units per day! Do the math over the course of several months. It adds up to real money. THAT'S what happened to the quality and I'm sure inner tubes are no different.

By the way, it didn't stop there. All was fine as long as "We had our best year ever". The first time "We had our second best year ever", the heads began to roll. The third round of that got me and better than a dozen co-workers. That was several years ago now, but they just announced that plant was closing, putting about 1000 people in the unemployment line. It is/was the largest employer in a fairly small town. They were making tons of money....but not as many tons as they told their stockholders they were gonna make, so somebody's gotta pay the price.

I believe every word of the above post. However, Snyders, and Lucas, and Universal are all collectors of antique cars as far as I know. If that's the case, since they have to use their products themselves, why are they letting the quality slip? Everyone want's to get the best price, but why do it at the expense of your customers? An example is the vulcanized valve stems that I hate so much. Why can't they supply a tube with a hole in it for the valve stem, so we can put in our own? After all, the USA companies did it way back when they were still using these old style stems. Apparently, the Model A guys are more into authenticity that we are, because a Model A supplier called A&L had correct valve stems for Model A's reproduced several years ago, and they are perfect! They even have Schrader on them. I thought they got Schrader to remake them, but they didn't! My guess is Schrader didn't care enough to do it, so A&L did it for them. I know it must have cost them a bunch, but they care!