Hi all,

In the last few days the subject of tires has arisen several times.  Before we resurrected my dad's '67 Airstream this summer, we had to replace the 25 year+ tires. My dad was under the impression that split rim tires would be difficult and expensive to obtain, therefore he chose the tire resale route, to begin with. He was right - the split rim tires for the 'stream were impossible to buy- unless we bought them brand new. One day before we left on our "voyage", after chasing some disreputable dealers for second-hand tires which put us 5 days behind vacation "getaway" day, my husband and I opted to spend what was necessary to buy four new split rim tires. We subsequently felt safer on our 4 week holiday, though, ironically, we got a flat 600 miles from home and resorted to a very sad spare tire, which we hobbled on home with.

My question is this: as we searched for a tire dealer who had experience with split rims and also could provide the tires and tubes, we heard many comments "they're against the law in the States - someone died while inflating a tube", "they're very dangerous to replace", and "replace them with radials, you're way better off", etc. Is this true? Are split rims illegal in many states? I suppose most vintage Airstreams/?Argosys were outfitted with split rims - how many of our members have maintained the split rim tire, as opposed to more popular tires?

Bottom line - four new split rims, with tubes, cost us $580 Canadian (?about $100 U.S. - ;)). I would welcome comments from others on the List about this.

Thanks,

"Tire"d in Canada,

Denise (blairsmom@hotmail.com)