CORRESPONDENCE.
Page 15
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Tyres and Speeds.
To the Editor of" THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir, —I have read with great interest Mr. R. E, Gibbons's remarks to the Press on the question of size of tyres : I had no idea that people were so unacquainted with the subject of the size of solid rubber tyres suitable for various weights. For instance, Mr. Gibbons, who otherwise seems to have great experience, tries a 2in. solid rubber tyre of some make unknown on a car weighing 37cwt. and capable of going 2.4 miles an hour. The tyres must have been crushed so as to be absolutely non-resilient, when you take into consideration the fact that a 2in. tyre is only capable of giving satisfaction on a ear weighing not more than tocwt. fully loaded. No wonder he gives up the 2in. section in three months the wonder is he kept it on, or, rather, that it remained on, so long. He then tries a 2iin. section, which would only be suitable for a car weighing when fully loaded not more than tscwt.; the wonder is that there was any improvement, considering how overloaded the tyres were under his 37cwt. car; in fact, there would be almost as little spring in them as in a wooden or iron tyre, which would account for his sideslips and reduced speed. There is, however, one strange point about his remarks, and that is that with an old 6b.p. Daimler he says he can drive a car weighing newt. at an merag,e speed of over 19 miles an hour on a run of ifs miles, ieclusive of passing through such large towns as Reading, Devizes, Bath, Bristol, and Weston-super-Mare, besides the numerous small towns on the road. This would seem impossible and as if he had made a mistake to the advantage of his Palmer tyre.
For the benefit of your readers, I have pleasure in giving you the following information :-For cars weighing, when fully loaded, not more than 25cwt., large sin. " high speed " section tyres are recommended, and for ears weighing not more than 35cwt., fully loaded, the sin, " high speed " section ; and as Mr. Gibbons's car weighs 2ewt. more than the latter, your readers can easily imagine what a serious mistake he made in trying a tyre 21 times smaller and more than zi times too small.
Motorists will find that at moderfel speeds the anxiety and expense of pneumatic tyres are the os.ly drawbacks to motoring, and reasonable drivers should not travel at more than about 20 miles an hour, on account of risks and inconvenience from dust, etc., caused to other lawful users of our British roads, which are unsuitable for hil,h seeeds.—Yours
faithfully, J. M. MActueleft. Shirland Road, Paddington, W.