Alvis 12/40
When I bought the 12/40 last year it wore some Firestone 20-in 475/500 tyres, a couple of which showed significant wear on one shoulder. This imperfect alignment may or may not remain – it’s hard to be sure how long the tyres have been on the car. It steers well but will need to be checked – I’d be swapping boots if it were a younger car, so why treat something older and slower any differently? The contact patches for pre-war cars are tiny in comparison to their weight and it’s as well to have fresh, pliable rubber with some decent tread left.
So to Vintage Tyres in Beaulieu, helmed in recent years by ex-classic Cars staffer and later freelance bod, Ben Field. While his fellow tyre wizards Scott and Tim began stripping the covers from the rims, examining the tubes and assessing the state of the Dunlop artillery wheels, Ben told me something I didn’t know. Which is not a first. To wit, the vulcanisation process continues indefinitely, meaning the Volvo Amazon tyres I’ve been storing in dry, cool, completely dark corners of my loft may not be as fresh as I thought. Actually, Ben was reassuring about this, pointing out that eliminating the chances of UV damage will raise the shelf life a bit… just not forever.
Scott found some pinches and patches on my old tubes so new Michelin items appeared, but the really good news was that the wheels seemed serviceable. I left the spare at home, stupidly, which I’d like them to have examined – it makes gentle tinkling noises when moved, as though half a pound of rust flakes is migrating around inside the spokes.
On to the interesting process of balancing. I’d had a crack at it with my uncle, Malcolm Scott, when we fastened each wheel in turn on to a nice, freerunning front hub and let it settle. By sticking wheel weights on in surprising quantities we thought we’d got all four to sit wherever we left them, but it was pretty unscientific. At Vintage Tyres they have a nice portable device that carries the wheel horizontally and gives you an indication of imbalance with an inset circular spirit level. This, however, is very old school and only comes out for shows these days. For significantly more precision they mounted each wheel with its fresh tube and Ensign 450/475/500-20 tyre on an electronic balancer. You spin the wheel by hand, the machine has a think and lights up two red arrows when the spot requiring weight is at the vertical. And the results did not always match my previous efforts…
With the new tyres and balanced wheels back on the car, I was itching to take it out and feel the improvement. But it is still without a propshaft, because all kinds of fun has been had in converting a hopelessly vibratory, much-abused original shaft to a more secure Hardyspicer type. Details next issue, I hope.