I would say that tyres were one of the most interesting and important aspects of our operation at Bewick Transport, from running a single D1000 shod on 1000x20 Mich X then the switch to 1100 X 22:5, now that was a great step forward IMHO as it reduced a 6 piece wheel assembly to a 2 piece tyre and wheel !from those first 6 1000X20’s plus spare the number of wheels/tyres we ran grew to many hundreds which necessitated employing our own Tyre fitter from the mid 70’s and he re paid his wages many times over ! The tales I can tell about tyres are almost endless, if of course, the brain cell will function properly and not go “blank” from time to time ! Cheers Bewick.
One of my employers decided to save a few bob by having four new tyres on the rear axle of my 8-wheeler Atki. He thought he had the bargain of the year when he “did a deal” with the manager of our local tyre company. “Just run the lorry into his depot on Saturday afternoon and he’ll have them fitted for you in no time”, he told me.
Come Monday morning, off I trundle with my load of coal bound for London when I heard the familiar sound of a tyre blowing . Slowed down and crept into Witney where there was a handy bus stop with a phone box opposite. As I came to a halt , another explosion from the back end signalled a second brand new tyre giving up the ghost. The noise was a bit fierce at 5.00 am between the walls of a row of houses, causing a couple of curtains to twitch.
I’ll give him “bargain bloody tyres”, I’m thinking as I dialled the boss’ home number and waited for him to realize that his phone was ringing and stumble to the phone.
When he eventually answered, I told him that two of his fabulous new tyres had just blown. Just then, two further explosions, one after the other caused even more curtains and a few upstairs lights to come on.
“What on earth was that noise?” asked the vehicle’s proud owner.
“That was the sound of the other two tyres blowing”, I informed him, politely.
Fitter, Transit van and four tyres were with me within the hour and the subject was never mentioned again, although the firm did change it’s tyre company just after!
I had lots of different experiences with tyres in my years as an employed driver, many of them disasters with remoulds or caps, which as you will recall had a tendency to cause a great deal of damage if they blew off. Mudguards, brake pipes and rear light clusters fell victim when the treads parted from the casings. 
When I ran my own business I made the decision to use only first life tyres, not always premium brands, but new tyres all the same. The only exception I made to that was when I ran a concrete mixer, it was on rubber suspension and it ate efin tyres!! It didn’t do a great mileage but I was changing tyres on the drive axles regularly, it just wasn’t worth putting new tyres on, (apart from the front axle, no remoulds here). I never ever had any damage to the vehicles caused by tyre failure, although I did have my share of flat tyres over the years. Twice over a period of one month I ran over the hooks from ratchet straps causing front wheel blowouts, but I never lost control of the motor. Although my temper and language were out of control at the lazy barstewards who deposited the hooks on the motorway !!! Regards Kev.
We had our own tyre fitter at Ballidon, Harry Stubbs (who almost got flattened when the loaded dumper demolished his shed!) who had previously worked in the quarry and had been there from demob after WW2. He was meticulous about tyres and was very carefull to match the rear ones to avoid winding up the Foden diffs which could easily happen if mismatched. We were on tubeless tyres for the road lorries by the time I started there, as can be imagined the tipper fleet was hard on tyre wear and damage so he was kept busy! We tried various makes, can’t remember them all, but I had a set of Cavalier retreads fitted down one side on the rear of my Sed Ak and blew two off on the first load to Coventry, but they reckoned if they stayed on for a week or so then they would be no trouble and that seemed to be the case actually. Generally they became damaged before they wore out, steel at foundries and on construction sites made a mess of them and it was difficult to avoid it really. On some road jobs, Motorways usually, a deep trench would be planed out in the carriageway and we had to drive sideways loaded down into it to reach the paving machine. The axles would dig into the trench wall (it seemed like the truck was going to tip over sometimes!) and the tyres would rip on the sharp edges and then after tipping you had to climb back out again and that was difficult with two driving axles pushing you forward all the time and the gang yelling at you to ■■■■ off as they wanted the next lorry into the trench! The tyres would drag sideways along the edge, one Volvo actually knocked its tipper pump off of the gearbox as it bottomed on the side of the trench, that didn’t please the gang with oil everywhere! 
So we didn’t get many ‘new’ tyres, just part worn ones! 
When I drove for a private haulier on a Foden six wheeler I had an offside rear outer blow out on the A50 between Uttoxeter and Blythe Bridge and ATS from Uttoxeter came out and changed it (without taking the wheel off) and fitted one of their own Sterling remoulds. Next day heading for Chase Terrace I feel a ‘womp’ and sure enough the same tyre had split on the inside right around the rim! I tip my load and call at ATS Lichfield, a young lad took it off and said “you kerbed that” and I asked him how I managed that when it was the inside edge of an outer wheel? “Can’t give you warranty on it” so I asked to see the manager. Upshot was the manager diagnosed a faulty sidewall and told the lad to put me another on FOC. While levering the new tyre on (another Sterling) the sidewall split!! The lad said it would be fine," yeah right, try inflating it" I told him. Of course it wouldn’t inflate and he was getting in a temper by then so the manager finished the job off and away we went.
Next day, loaded with tarmac for Waddington, I turn onto the A17 at Newark and BANG, pulled into a layby and the same tyre had exploded taking the mudguard and lights etc with it! ATS came out from Newark and fitted me a reputable tyre; “we don’t stock Sterlings as they can’t stand heat” the fitter said. Gaffer tried to claim for the repair to the lights and mufguard but to no avail, three tyres on the same wheel in three days is going some though even by my standards!
Pete.
Bewick:
I would say that tyres were one of the most interesting and important aspects of our operation at Bewick Transport, from running a single D1000 shod on 1000x20 Mich X then the switch to 1100 X 22:5, now that was a great step forward IMHO as it reduced a 6 piece wheel assembly to a 2 piece tyre and wheel !from those first 6 1000X20’s plus spare the number of wheels/tyres we ran grew to many hundreds which necessitated employing our own Tyre fitter from the mid 70’s and he re paid his wages many times over ! The tales I can tell about tyres are almost endless, if of course, the brain cell will function properly and not go “blank” from time to time ! Cheers Bewick.
Yes I also was impressed with the switch from 1000 x 20 to 11 x 22.5 tubeless tyres on trailers anyrate.
Always specified Michelin and although the resistance from many drivers was there, eventually they came round. On Middle East work, I usually gave a couple of inner tubes " just in case " but the tubeless tyre proved just as reliable and the back up from ATS and Michelin was first class
I myself am an ex tyre fitter, a couple of stories spring to mind, one is when a guy who had had two tyres go on a Range Rover on the motorway, got out and said to me I wouldn’t do you job for 500 pound a week to which I replied for 500 pound a week I’ll do it in the fast lane for you, as he walked back and left me to it, the other was cutting tread into solid fork lift tyres to avert a stoppage at a cold storage depot. 
When I was running our business my favourite tyres were Michelin as in my opinion they were the best available especially as we did a lot of straight line miles into Europe where temperatures could rise into the high thirties the standard of tyre choice was important, although on the whole Michies were dearer than other brands I found in the long run they paid dividends and another plus was when they were worn out every one and his uncle wanted your old cases for remoulding and we had a cash man which was a bonus. In the end Michelin got too big for there boots and started charging a premium which was too high to pay for there waresfor there wares and this is when you start to look for alternatives.
As well as this I always fitted tyres in a set across an axle and even if we had part worn we paired them up to match as I was a firm believer in this method and in the long run it paid dividends. Also regular tyre pressure checks were of importance, remember when I drove abroad when we were waiting for the kettle to boil on a stop we would go round with a hammer and knock the tyres to see if we got the correct bounce bearing in mind the trailers we were pulling were not ours but in the old days if one had a blow out it was not uncommon for a couple of fellow countrymen to stop and help the wheel change, not like today toot and carry on driving, cheers Buzzer.
At Stirlands we had a tyre fitter named Ray Brown his nickname was “Mongo” as he was built like a brick outhouse and was a double for Mongo out of the film Blazing Saddles
He had a 100 lorries to look after and 400 trailers all our tyres came from National Tyres and sometimes Ray did get help but mostly he did it on his own
Also he made sure that he’d pair up tyres to limit uneven wear and he took great pride in making sure all the wheels matched in colour
I think that tyres must be one of the most abused parts on any vehicle, particularly on cars where I’m sure the average owners ( not lorry or ex-lorry drivers of course) rarely check them…they’re put on and forgotten about …and only checked at service by the garage…
Retired Old ■■■■:
When he eventually answered, I told him that two of his fabulous new tyres had just blown. Just then, two further explosions, one after the other caused even more curtains and a few upstairs lights to come on.
That was the sound of the other two tyres blowing", I informed him, politely.
R.O.F…thought I was the only one that had happened to…and it only happened the once…
Loaded tomatoes at Weymouth, I had all the paper work for all the loads… On-route back to Southampton there was a nice family pub with a garden attached, across the road was a big lay-by, the pub was busy, a nice summers evening…
The rest of the lads had got there about 15 mins before me, pulled into the lay-by, got half way across the road when a tyre let go, JHC…dust and crap flying everywhere…scared the crap out of everyone, including me, people even came out of the pub to see what the noise was…it blew half the rear mud guard off and even bent the light bracket, hell of a force behind it…problem was it was a super single ( Highway '40 ft trl )and it wasn’t a popular tyre at the time, so it took ages to get the tyre company out to fix it. ( We carried spares for the tractor unit and some trailers, but not the new S.S. )… Fortunately for me I had to get back to the yard to complete all the paperwork, so had to swap with a rather unhappy chappy who didn’t get back to the yard till well after mid-night…there was one late trunk that night !!
Well I will say one thing this Tyre thread has certainly stimulated comment ! Buzzer you “are a bird of my plucking” as the saying goes as I can ID with everything you have said you might just as well have been talking about Bewick Transport where tyres are concerned and the Stirland fleet sounds about a similar size to Bewick Transport. But the posts are also most interesting particular the tale about those ■■■■■■ Sterling remoulds which I hasten to add we never tried ! The hammer tapping Buzzer mentions is a fool proof method of swift tyre checking down a trailer rank although I never reckoned much to ■■■■■■■ about with checking actual pressures when there was no need ! I recall been reluctantly persuaded to allow National Tyres to do a weekly tyre pressure check on Saturday mornings on the units and trailers that were present in the depot on that day. Well I wasn’t convinced and I had a bet with the National manager that there would be 2 or 3 “flats” on Sunday or Monday ! There was ! I changed a trailer wheel on the Sunday morning myself and there was ■■■■ all wrong with the one I took off, only the valve had caused the problem with the National bod ■■■■■■■ about with them. There was another two or maybe three flats IIRC on the Monday morning !!! Straight on the phone to National and did I give that ■■■■■■■ manager a real “earful” end of “tyre checks”. It took some living down with our own tyre fitter as he was even more sceptical than I had been. But all the years we had our own fitter we fit our own tyres and it was only at the few and far between breakdowns we occasionally had that a “foreign” fitter was allowed near our motors. The only tyres I allowed to be fitted at a breakdown was a new Mich or at worst, on a trailer, a Mich Remix. Then as soon as the unit or trailer re appeared in the depot our fitter removed the new tyre and mated up the worn one with a similar tyre of the same tread depth. On a couple of occasions I recall that a trailer came back into the yard with some obnoxious ■■■■■■■ case of an indetermined make, so without ado off it came and I returned it to our local supplier with the comment to send it back to wherever and tell them to stick it where the monkey stuck it’s nuts ! Our standing instructions were MICHELINS only but some of these tyre firms a long way from home took the opportunity ( or liberty) to get rid of spurious cases into breakdowns and hope that there would be no come back ! Probably most of the times there wasn’t any come backs 'cause the firms that experienced many breakdowns didn’t no any different because they probably neglected their tyres anyway ! Cheers Bewick, PS more to come I promise.
I sometimes wonder if there is not something better than inflated rubber tyres that could be used instead. Could it be that tyre companies are suppressing development of a long-life indestructible alternative. Research and development has gone ahead in leaps and bounds in other sectors of vehicle manufacture but tyres have been round, black and made of rubber for more than a century. Is it the case that tyre manufacturers don’t want to put themselves out of business?
Buzzer is spot on about Michelin turning arrogant which IIRC was in the later 80’s but they did “come the acid” as far as I was concerned in the mid 70’s when we started to have difficulty in getting hold of 1100X22:5 Mich X and it turned out they were shipping a lot of the UK manufacturer abroad because the prices were better ! Up until that time I was a dyed in the wool Mich new case buyer, plus some Remix’s and in around 1972 I did start to have some of the worn Mich X & ZA cases sent to Bandag for recapping with their, then, new ZZ pattern which I used on drive axles and I’ve got to say that Bandags did us well and I can’t recall us having any serious problems and I continued using them for many years until our tyre policy changed towards just purchasing new cases and I sold off the worn ones to the ex Bandag manager who had started up on his own account as a Tyre dealer. Now back to those arrogant ■■■■■ Michelin ! in mid 76’ I was struggling to buy all the Mich cases I wanted and just at that time BL had run into Political problems with using Bridgestone tyres as OE so they dumped on to the market '000’s of B/Stone tyres on wheels and they came on the market at an extremely “good” price 
So I thought why not ! so I bought IIRC 24 1100X22:5 wheels and the first motor we fitted them to was a new 8LXB Sed/Atk. They performed just as well as the MICH’s although the worn cases weren’t as welcome or as valuable as the Mich cases of course but no problem they had been cheap so it didn’t matter. But this episode was a “nail in the coffin” for Michelin as they were no longer the exclusive supplier of “rubber” to Bewick Transport and matters only deteriorated further over the following years. But that’s another story ! Cheers Dennis.
This is the new 8LXB Sed/Atk stood in the depot AUG '76 resplendent with the ex BL Bridgestone tyres ready to enter service. We had removed the OE Mich X wheels that the unit was delivered on ! Cheers Dennis.
In my youth i used to take great pride in duplicating a Pirelli Carriload pattern so you had a job to tell it had been recut 
Don’t mention Michelins, from my early days on 7.5 tonners shod on X’s that gave the impression you had 4 wheel steering in the wet, something that cropped up time and again on Mich X’s and XY’s when i moved onto artics.
Had a set of ZX’s on my, car, Ventora, back in the day, they were bloody awful in the wet just like the lorry versions, swapped them out for a new set of Goodyear Unisteels which hadn’t long been released, like having a different car.
I should add, the trouble was that those old Mich’s lasted so bloody long they’d go rock hard by the time they got down to recut stage, they were fine when new.
Remoulds.
When on the rolonoffs we had lots of recaps on the double drives and we had blow outs every week, usually taking the mudguards and lights with them.
Oddly enough one i had recent experience of one, usual make from the past, first one i’ve seen for years didn’t know they were still going, how shocked i was when the tyre fitter pointed out the tread was separating.
However, on another job my then boss put a brand new Daf 2500 on the road and i was issued it, spat me dummy out when he took the new tyres off the drive axles to save them for steer axles, and put a set of Kenprest remoulds on.
But had to eat my words, to this day they were the best gripping set of drive axle tyres i’ve ever driven, you could not unstick em, and they took some punishment cos that little Daf could be thrown around like a sports car with a short tipper trailer on the back.
While we are on this subject I recall a mate of mine who ran a Range Rover which he bought new, he went to the local dealership complaining of excessive noise and vibration when driving on the motorway, he was convinced there was something wrong with the drive line and wanted an answer, any way a technician was summoned to accompany him on a test drive to hear for himself the noise but as he entered the passenger seat he said to my mate I know what the problem is without us going on this test drive so my mate said how do you know, the technician said to him go and get a set of Michelin tyres fitted and all that vibration and noise will disappear so he did just that and low and behold the car drove perfect after that, Buzzer.
Good choice of thread Bewick 
Started work at my local haulage co at 16 and was quickly ‘allowed’ to be the tyre changer… 
Mostly because the other old boy didn’t like doing them. Split rims were bloody hard work but I was 16 and stupid, and I was ‘living my dream’ of working with lorries, with a view to eventually getting my licences (which I did )
The arrival of tubeless was a godsend but the changeover period was difficult at times. We used to run 11 22.5’s, 10.00 x 20’s, 900 x 20’s and 8.25 x 20’s on one of the coaches. Michelin’s were only ran if they came on a new vehicle. Usually it was whatever was cheapest but, thankfully, never remoulds. I remember Semperit’s being good, especially on steers and Firestones being rubbish, especially on steers! Good Year and Pirelli were other favourites.
Anyway, eventually I progressed to being a Driver! Heading up the M5 one day I had a blowout on the rear of the unit. Bye bye mudguard and lights 
Another guy came out with another tyre slung in the back of the company Rapid Response Vehicle ( a 1977 Vauxhall Victor estate 3.0l petrol! ). We fitted it, let the jack down and it was flatter than the bugger we had just taken off…cue me losing it with the other guy and a very slow trip up the hard shoulder to the next junction, dropping the trailer and bobtailing back to the yard. Shortly after that, I had had enough and jacked… I always prided myself (and still do) on doing the best job I could and the flat spare really, really made my teeth itch
Onto the next firm - a far more professional outfit. Michelins specced from new and left on the vehicle, never swopped out. It was a yard full of quarry tippers, which are notoriously hard on tyres but the Michies used to stick with it remarkably well. A lot of distance work involved and blowouts were unheard of…
The only slight deviation from the norm was that I had the only 6-wheeler - all the rest being 4-wheelers - so I used to get all the second hand steers from the 4’s put on the back of my 6 to run them out. All XZY pattern so never a problem and usually always well matched. Fast forward a couple of years and my lorry was up for MOT.
The boss decided to fit 8 new Michies on the back and leave them on there. Obviously they are a little shiny to start with and need bedding in. I’m on one of the usual runs, which involved quite a twisty road for 15 miles or so… Gently travelling along (in normal tipper driver mode… ) see’s me broadsliding a loaded 6 wheeler around the first bend and very nearly throwing the lot into the field…
Back to the yard that night and off came the new tyres, on went 8 nice part worns and normal service was resumed the next day…
Happy days
Just built up 4 Avon drive 11 225s what tough tyres very heavy certainly didn’t need any help sealing ! But the 2 hancook fronts very floppy so gave a squirt of lighter fuel seeing as my brother has stolen the home made cheeter , yrs ago we had a tyre bander for this but my dad let people borrow it who used diesel which ate the rubber rather than coaksite and tyre soap ,it’s suprising how many people are afraid to blow tyres up , I leave the valve core out to start with and use the end straight on the pipe rather than to restrict the air by using the gauge inflater ,I’ve inherited so many tyre leavers now it’s mad ,melco ,halco Michelin type and others a heavy bar for knocking the first edge on ,and some angle iron beade breakers ,also a winder for repairing tube tyres .
Great thread this 'innit Semperit now there’s a brand I tried a few of on fron’t steer’s so long ago I can’t recall the end result but they were nothing exceptional, they had a similar tread pattern to Mich X. Now then, purchasing new trailers and trying to ensure that they were delivered with Mich X was a feat in itself ! I recall visiting the Crane Fruehauf factory at Oldham around late '76 ( formally the Boden factory) where they were building us 6 new 40 ft tandems, great can’t wait to have them delivered/collected but I dropped a grenade into the meeting by asking that all the trailers would,of course, be supplied on Mich X tyres ! Oooooooo! ■■■■■■■ 'ell el silencio ! The Sales manager was a chap called John Gough and he informed me that all CF would guarantee was the trailers would be supplied on British manufactured 1100x 22:5 tyre equipment ! “■■■■ off John” !!! but I have got to admit defeat here as they told me if I didn’t want to accept the trailers with whatever tyres they came on “tough” they were in such demand they could sell them anywhere !! So in the event 3 came on Mich ( goodwill gesture I believe ) and 3 came on Pirelli Cinturatos Ugh! Pass the ■■■■■■■ sick bucket !! However I was desperate for trailers so I had to “swallow it” but to add insult to injury about a couple of months after the trailers had gone into service ( and two of these poxy Pirellis had failed) this Slimy ■■■■ from Pirelli turned up in the depot to “thank” me for spec’ing Pirellis on three new CF trailers ! WHAT ! you cheeky ■■■■■■■ ! you can ■■■■ right off out of this yard and stuff those two failed cases up your arse on the way out. I can honestly say I never ever bought a Pirelli voluntarily throughout my time in the industry ! I also have a confession to make here, John Gough went on to become Northern regional Sales manager for Mercedes Benz based in Wakefield so it was a welcome re acquaintance for me in 1990 IIRC and all I would say is he did us proud as far as Mercs were concerned, but he reminded me on more than one occasion about TYRES ! the ■■■■ ! The next episode will be about ordering trailers with 2 spares per trailer ! Cheers Dennis.
Punchy Dan:
Just built up 4 Avon drive 11 225s what tough tyres very heavy certainly didn’t need any help sealing ! But the 2 hancook fronts very floppy so gave a squirt of lighter fuel seeing as my brother has stolen the home made cheeter , yrs ago we had a tyre bander for this but my dad let people borrow it who used diesel which ate the rubber rather than coaksite and tyre soap ,it’s suprising how many people are afraid to blow tyres up
Hiya Dan’l, I seem to recall that one of Henry Cookes Seddon 32/4’s had two Avon front’s on when I bought their remaining motors in late '76 and IIRC one shredded on the M6 at Stafford shortly afterwards. But having been out of it for nearly twenty years now I can only observe the tyres on big commercials out of the drivers window of our car ! Bridgestone seem to be popular nowadays ? In the later years I used Bridgestone and Toyo as well as Mich on the units and Yokahama and Hankook on the tandems and then Mich, Bridgestone and Goodyear on the tri axles. In the later years running Bewick Transport we spent on average £10,000 per month on Rubber and we ran a very tight and careful tyre policy with minimal failure and maximum mileages per case. All our trailers had Hubodometers fitted to the front N/s hub cap so we could keep and eye on individual trailer mileages which could vary wildly. Cheers Dennis.
Denz’l my dad thinks the Avons were like that to make the steering lighter ? ,I wouldn’t have a Bridgestone as the shoulders wear off down to the soft compound and look iffy ,the hancook are good but the casing don’t make much money as its claimed they show cracks on the in side ,the Michelin tyres on John Thomas’s Erf A series date from 1968 and not a perish in site !