MTFCA Forum

I haven't been doing much since my wife passed, but started to go for a ride and saw a cut in one of my tires ( don't remember hitting anything or anyone) When I got the tire apart I found a homemade flap (looks like an old inner-tube was pressed into service) And I don't know what to say about this

Possible factory defect or maybe it cracked and delaminated.

Cracking and delamination. What is the age date code on the tire?

OilyBill wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 17, 2026 1:23 pm

Cracking and delamination. What is the age date code on the tire?

Those are the first two things that I thought of, too.

It's an OLD Universal tire, the only markings are the tire size and 4-ply

Tires decay with age, even if they've never been unwrapped.

Tire ID codes started in 1971. If your tire has NOTHING like that on it, then it is at LEAST 56 years old. If it has the tire code, but no digits for actual date of manufacture, (last 4 digits added to the code in 2000). then it is from BEFORE 2000. Either way, I would say that you got your years out of it. Mileage is a different thing, but no one can make you drive it unless you feel like driving it. Your tires look like new to me, based on the appearance of the tread area.

You might want to buy your baby some new shoes, just for safety's sake.

A friend of mine, Paul Eoff, restored a 1910 EMF in 1954, and put new tires on it at that time. He used those same tires up until he restored the car for a SECOND time in 1984. He NEVER had a flat in all that time. (To give you an idea of what kind of tourer he was, the day the car was finished in 1954, on a Thursday evening, he did a final "Drive Around The Block" to check it out. The following morning, he left Tucson and drove the car to the HCCA 1954 Grand Canyon Tour. (All secondary roads up to the Grand Canyon for the tour.) The car was back on the road in 1987 after the 1984 re-restoration was completed, with another set of new tires, which it still wears today, coming up on it's SECOND 40 years of touring. (The engine still has the original babbitt in it as well. In 1987, he pulled a few .001" shims out of the bearings to tighten it up a miniscule amount, after the FIRST 40 years of touring with the car.)

The black and yellow tape is likely a much better solution than using duct tape. However, neither is necessary if a flap is used. Using an old tube for an improvised flap is OK, if it stays in place during fitting!

Allan from down under.

I drive the car frequently, but that was the spare that I put on the car two years ago when the first tire ran over debris in the road causing a flat and cutting the valve stem. I put the spare on and didn't think much more about it until I saw where it was coming apart. I don't know how long it was a spare tire but it always held air. Thank you for the info.

Tires deteriorate at different rates for a variety of reasons related to the tire itself and the environment around it.

Molecular decomposition and delamination. Adios to those tires!

As Allen posted above, wrapping a split rim with tape isn't necessary.

Why? Because you should always use a tire flap with a balloon tire mounted on a split rim.

If the interior the split rim needs some help, remove the rust with a wire wheel and then apply Rust-Oleum rusty metal primer followed by a coat or two of Rust-Oleum aluminum paint with a China bristle brush. Or, sandblast the rim and re-paint it.