Blitz Tyres

[Jacques Reed]

Originally Posted by Scott Hamilton

I am looking at tyres for my blitz restoration and was wondering about this type that I found available in the US from universal tires and wallace wade.

They are 16 x 10.5.

Has anyone use these tyres for their vehicle restoration???

https://www.universaltire.com/truck-...rectional.html


http://www.stausaonline.com/tires/sta-ndcc/

Hi Scott,

They may fit just fine based on other restorers experience.

Just as a matter of interest though, I have been told many times that WW2 US 16" rims are a slightly different size to British rims. Often the tyres are embossed "To fit British Wheels Only" No doubt the subject has been thrashed to death somewhere on this forum.

Also the beads on British tyres are very substantial and are called square bead tyres. Found this out removing civvie 8.25" x 16" tyres originally from my Blitz. They smaller civvie tyre beads bend backwards away from the rim and become giant Chinese finger puzzles! The Simex info attached shows the cross-section of the military tyre very well.

I saw this firsthand too from the person I bought my first Blitz. He wound up using a rotary rasp to trim a bit of the bead off the 16" American military tyres he purchased as they would not go on the Blitz rim under any circumstance. He was an experienced restorer too so he tried everything before he got desperate.

If you want to use 9.00 x 16" tyres MRF (Madras Rubber Factory) from India produce a bar tread design which I have seen used on an F15A. Apparently they went on nice and easy with just the usual rubber lubricant. They were just sourced from a local tyre dealer in SE Victoria who got them in for him.

A few years ago Simex produced the T24 16" tyre for Commonwealth militaries.
A local dealer who has since closed shop in Melbourne imported a container of them from Singapore. Perhaps that may be worth a chase to see if Simex can still source them.

Have attached some info of general interest. The cut away view is an original Dunlop 9.00 x16" Trak Grip being removed the usual way after 70 years of rust build up.

Cheers,