18" tyres

[gordon]

I have one brand new 8.25 x 18 tyre here in Scotland. It is commercial truck pattern and I think it was made for the MH-Fords in British service.

I bought this years back but it showed up after I'd sold the truck. I'll dig it out and post a photo. Brand new, properly wrapped / dark stored, never mounted.

( not cheap but will sell to a good home )

[Matt Austin]

Indeed, I wonder what the minimum number needed to do a small run might be?

So, if these tyres are next to impossible to find, what have people done?

Does one park the vehicle up, use other wheel/tyre combos, or use another tyre on the same rim?

It's all a learning process for me, and I appreciate your time.

Cheers,
Matt

[gjamo]

http://www.stausaonline.com/military/ndt.html

oops 8.25-18 claimed to be exstock

[Lynn Eades]

Graeme, Sorry I couldn't find them?

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Matt Austin

Indeed, I wonder what the minimum number needed to do a small run might be?

Not too many I believe, possibly as little as 20 units. However the problem is the mould, as they're not kept indefinitely. Odd sizes like 8.25 or 10.50 x 18 may no longer be in existence, and it costs around $30K to make a new mould. Basically a complete new tyre has to be developed, ideally using an old one in good condition as a pattern. You'd have pre-sell quite a few tyres to defray costs, for example 300 tyres at $100 premium. Generally that will be prohibitive, but as Lynn says we have the internet these days, so if we got our act together globally it may well pay in some cases, as the unit cost would be less with a bulk order. One obvious candidate would be original pattern 10.50 x 20 chevrons.

[Bob Carriere]

.... to get MOT certification for public road use. So 20 odds tires have to be donated to the authorities for destructive testing...... and if you are lucky you may get MOT certified the first time...if lucky.

I believe Wallace Wade from Texas was working of reprocucing 18 Gamma goat tires but could not finds anything about it on there web site.

Cheers

[Matt Austin]

Thanks folks,

I wonder if a short/mid-term solution for my vehicle in particular is to modify it to accept civillian wheels that may have a more available tyre size?

Cheers,
Matt

[Tony Wheeler]

I'm assuming the $30K figure includes certification, however I didn't enquire any further. Also the cost would vary for different tyres, and I'm told it's been done for quite a range of sizes, from motor cycle tyres to these Futurliner whitewalls, which I'm told cost $100K to develop. Not much of a market as there were only 12 Futurliners built, and only about 9 survivors known. Apparently this owner ordered only 20 tyres, which makes them rather expensive at $5K each! However it's peanuts when you consider these vehicles have fetched up to $4 million at auction. Same rationale applies for MVs, which might justify an extra $100 each for WD pattern 10.50 x 20 chevrons.

[gjamo]

No guarantees but it may be a lead.

http://www.nebraskatire.com/truck/car

[gordon]

One off, brand new,

GOODYEAR
MADE IN USA
10 PLY
SUPER HI-MILER

Ordinary truck tread, never fitted, dry / dark stored. I found the original invoice and it cost me £150 so will part with it for that, but it is in central Scotland so transport is liable to be a factor.

I've got several images of it and will e-mail them to anyone seriously interested.

Gordon

Gordon@Dodge.Org.UK

[motto (RIP)]

There was some talk on the G503 forum a while back about Coker Tyres doing a run of 11.00 - 18 tyres. Maybe a few enquiries in Coker's direction would encourage them to speed up the process if they are indeed considering production of this rare size.

David

[Bob Carriere]

....shows listing for 11:00 x 18 tires as available....?

Bob C

[Grant Bowker]

http://www.cokertire.com/1100-18-mil...dukw-tire.html

[Tony Smith]

Also a listing in that size on Universal Tire's site (one buck cheaper!)

https://www.universaltire.com/truck-...ndcc-dukw.html

[Mike Cecil]

...... and 10.50x16 directional Chevron pattern manufactured by STA in the USA also on the Universal Tire site

Mike C