When do you discard your innertubes?

When do you get rid of your inner tubes?

  • Whenever I put on a new tire.

    Votes: 29 43.9%

  • A specific number of years based on useful life.

    Votes: 5 7.6%

  • Fix them until they decay and can't be fixed.

    Votes: 33 50.0%
  • Total voters
    66
  • Poll closed .
C

Commander Toasty

Member
I got a flat from a puncture. Going for a new set of tires in Spring anyway so that isn't an issue, but the question of patching the tube comes up and makes me ask: When do you toss your tubes?

When you put on new tires do you go to new tubes?
Or some specific period of years, such as five or...?
Or just keep patching them until they turn to dust?
 
Why patch a tube? New tubes are cheap insurance against future failures!

I replace the tube anytime the tire is replaced or removed. I only remove the tire if it has a flat or is worn out.
 
Depends on what it's going on. I just put a new set of tubes on a 1931 Willys Knight Beautiful car, all had slow leaks. But I put a used tube/tire on a 47 Ford because the guy didn't want to put alot of cash into a car he drives once or twice a year.
 

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Yeah, but where can you buy good ones anymore? I've got 40-year-old tubes on my Tudor that don't leak, but the brand new ones on my motorcycle have to be frequently topped off.
 
I kind of get a kick out of fixing a flat with a little patch, some glue and a few hand tools to like new condition.
 
I agree with Bob. I've had real bad luck with ALL new bicycle tires and tubes, and 10 of the 12 Goodyear Regatta tires I've used in the past 10 years have had sidewall blowouts and/or ply seperation with only 30% tread gone or less, and Goodyear wouldn't do a thing about it.
 
ive had the exact same problem as chicago bob
the new tubes are junk!!
i was quick to point the blame on china,BUT they were made in the USA
4 flats on four new tubes,all because the seams separated,the tubes in my other cars have held air since the 60s
 
All the tubes I have bought in the last five years have been junk.One set never made it into the tires.I had put a little air into them,then hung them up in the cellar.Less than a year later I went to use them,every seam was split.I bought some new,supposedly better tubes,and I have to air them up every month or so.Both my roadster and tudor have pre-1970 tires and tubes,and both hold air just fine over the winter.I would rather use good looking older tubes than buy the new ones.
 
Wow! I had no idea this problem existed with the new tubes - see what you can learn on this site?

On first thought I would say it must be some chemical our EPA has banned, but since most tubes come from offshore that can't be the answer. I wonder what it is?
 
Three years ago I replaced the tires and tubes on the 31 SW Sedan. Bought the tires and tubes from a major supplier of vintage tires.

The tires are just fine. The tubes are junk. These are tubes made in the USA. They will not hold pressure for more than two weeks or so. Plus three of the four developed really small pin holes. They've been patched but continue to develop these pin holes. I'm in the process of changing to tubes from Bratton's. Now, as a tube goes bad, due to the pin holes, I replace with a Bratton's tube. The tubes from Bratton's hold air just fine.

What burns me is that the tubes that were on the car were over 40 years old. They were Firestones with rubber stems. They held air just fine. I could check them once a year and they would have lost maybe a pound or two of air.

Guess were are just stuck with junk tubes no matter where they are produced.
 
All my bad tubes were made in the USA.When I say they split at the seams,I was not entirely accurate.While they have some split seams,most of the problems are on the inner part of the tube,where it ride on the rim.They are textured there,and there are thousands of little splits,one next to each of the little texture marks.When I was at LB one day(I live near them) I asked about the tubes.They seemed to know of a problem,and said we don't have those anymore,we have the good ones now.I have them in my truck but they need air every month.I have a set of 29 cent tires and tubes (Insas)on my old 30 truck,I put them on in the mid 80's.They have been sitting for 5 years now,actually 5 years last September.I was playing with it last week and they still have 35 pounds.The old Socony-Mobil spare with a red tube on the truck still had over 30 pounds in it. It;s funny somebody else mentioned they hoped we could get some made in Mexico.In the early 80's brake drums for trucks and trailers that were made in Mexico started showing up.They were cheap,but most of us driving and working on trucks turned our noses up at them.Now,when I do a brake job on a truck or trailer I look at the drums and say,oh good,made in Mexico.One other tube story,about 3 years ago I replaced a tube in a tire on my bucket truck.10:00X20,used to be the most common size in the world.The truck tire place had to order it,everybody has gone to tubeless.A couple weeks ago somebody was standing next to the truck and he said the air just whooshed out of the tire.The stem had rotted right out of the tube.Sitting high and dry,the truck has only been driven around the yard.Now I'm taking a tube out of an old tire at the junkyard for it.
 
Last year, prior to my 9300 mile trip around the country, I bought 5 new tires and 7 new tubes. I was pleased that the tubes were made in Denmark and the rubber was quite thick.

On my trip I had 7 flat tires. One happened in my garage before I left. All seven flats were caused by large splits in the tubes in the dropped section of the rim. There were no holes, no chafing nothing. The tubes just split wide open. The Denmark tubes were purchased from the distributer of "the largest" supplier of Model A tires and tubes and "the owner of that company" wouldn't even discuss the problem with me.

I bought tubes along the way at Snyders in Ohio and Brattons in MD. I was uneasy with the fact they were all made in China.

There have been no flats on the China tubes either on the 4000 mile return trip or the 2200 mile round trip to Vancouver Canada or a couple of 500 mile local tours.


Richard
Anaheim CA
 
I've heard that Model A rims and tires with tubeless valve stems will hold air without tubes but I haven't tryed it. Has anyone?
 
Good tubes are hard to find. Most come from the Orient and a lot of them are junk. A few months ago I bought new 16" tubes from Berts in Denver.
Made in USA. The best I've seen for years. They are still available if you ask for the ones made in USA.

BILAZ
 
I bought some from Sammy Guthrie at Arizona Model A a couple of years ago, and they're great. Very thick rubber, and I haven't had any problems. I believe Sammy said they were made in Mexico.
 
Commander: I say keep the tubes until they turn to dust as you mention, even if you dont patch them. (I do carry an old fashioned patch kit in the car.) YOu can use them for pads, fillers, covers, etc. (To bad the black rubber tubes are no good for slingshots; that piece of Americana went the way of red rubber.) When it comes to "stuff," like old tubes, I tend to keep it sometimes to the distress of the boss around here. However, I must admit that I do get a sort of perverse since of satisfaction when I find some piece that solves a "honey do" project that the lady wants done. As someone said, junk is the stuff you get rid of 3 weeks before you need it. But hey, I'm not obsessive--the three old inner tubes I now have are enough for awhile and I hope the new Coker tires and tubes with about 1000 miles on them last a long time. All is well so far.
 
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I just repaired a 21" tire / tube with a slow leak last weekend... there was a small wire-nail embedded in the center of the tread-section.

Both tire and tube are Allstate.

It took running a rag around the inside of the tire casing to find the nail.

I repaired the tube with one of my trusty Victor vulcanizing patches and my cast-iron Shaler "Five-minute Vulcanizer".

Given all the reports of crummy new tubes, I'm going to hang on to my old ones.

I've been driving on tube-type tires as long as I've had my license, and usually, the only reason I replace them is due to a blow-out type tire failure or stem failure.
 
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