Re: [DML] Reproduction tires needed! Re: Front Tires still needed

[". ." <klo@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tires were becoming scarce back some seven to ten years ago and it is not a new problem as today.  Who knows in the future?  

I had played with the idea of some years ago as to get after market wheels/rims and I came across many reasons in not doing it.  The after market wheels 
that may or can fit our DeLorean are very few and those that do fit in my opinion, are not a good in the visual harmony match with the lines and style of the 
DeLoreans.  Besides, safety in the ?abilities? of he wheels to perform properly was a major factor.  There was also the cost to have them altered or to have 
them to fit with shims and adapters was another problem.  The DeLorean's four holes pattern doesn't make it any easier, then there is the proper spacing 
necessary to have the wheel and tire to sit in the wheel well correctly and to perform properly.

It will be great if some company or vendors on this list can engineer and manufacturer wheels that will be able to be fitted with the many size tires that are 
offered by the tire manufacturers at the present and a good part of the future to come. 

In the almost ten years that I have own my DeLorean, I had gone through four sets of tires and I am on my fifth set and I will be needing another set within 
the next year?   I do drive in NYC's traffic of "stop and go" daily and on very long trips, which do wear the threads on my tires and the suspension as well.  
Then there are other reasons why I need tires as my explanations below.   Anyway, every time I set out to seek tires, it became a quest. The last set of tires I 
got two years ago were Michelin's Pilots and it was just beginning to be offered by Tire Rack.  Now, I understand Michelins and others are not available at 
this time and Michelins are not planning to run another batch.  They did it the first time "a test run" as I was told.  They are a VERY good tire for all around 
use!  (I still like the Pirellis as first choice.)

The unavailability of tires for the DeLorean at this time again, will bring the subject of after market wheels.   If we can get compatible after market wheels, it 
will help ease the selection of tires and hopefully they will be in visual harmony with the lines of the DeLorean.   Besides the style to be looking well with the 
DeLorean, they must also be able to take the dynamic stress and load that they will be subjected to.  This was a subject that I had discussed with Rob at PJ 
Grady and many other wheel suppliers, was the question of the safety and dynamic load bearing.   Can the after market wheels be able to handle the weight 
and momentum of the DeLorean on hard turns and maneuvers as well the potholes of the roads without incurring premature wear and failure.   When I used 
to be in the automotive industry, I have seen many wheels from all different types of vehicles that had been destroyed by potholes or what the owners had 
put them through.  Many of the wheels look good, but they don't fair well as they should when they hit "simple" potholes or put through their paces.

As for myself, I had two experiences of tire and rim blowouts on the DeLorean, which I would like to share.  I had an original front rim and tire destroyed by 
a pothole and a metal trim on the FDR East River Drive some years back --- NOT FUN!!!  It was early January some years ago and it had snowed a day earlier.  
They had plowed the FDR highway for the snow and the plow's shovel had ripped off and displaced part of the steel trim to be sticking out in the air from the 
edge of the curb of the right hand lane.  To complicate matters there was also a deep pothole in apex and the front of the curb while one has to make the 
turn.  Now there is a quick turn, a pothole and steel trim sticking out?  A great combination for disaster.   The depth and the condition of the pothole itself 
can create the lost of steering control.   At the moment of impact and the blowout of the tire, I was able to control the steering and drive and get off the 
nearest exit, it was difficult to control, but it was manageable.   The consolation prize during the incident?  The stiffness in the sidewalls of the tire had 
offered some control as to bared the weight of the front end and allowing me to keep control of the DeLorean as to drive on the tire itself and not on the 
rim.  Anyway, I did get off the highway safely and changed it to the spare tire and quickly detoured from work directly to PJ Grady that morning for a new 
front wheel and two front tires.  

The other incident was also in winter two years before this previous one above.  It was a cold cloudy Sunday and I had started out early in the day heading 
upstate NY with the DeLorean.  It was nightfall when I started to head home back to NYC and it had started to snow very HARD.  When I got back to NYC, it 
had accumulated up to three to four inches of snow in the city.  The NYC Sanitation had plowed the streets and they had accidentally moved one of several 
large metal plates covering a trench that a construction crew had dug up on the famous street of The Bowery.  This trench was two plus feet wide and one 
plus foot deep, running completely across the road.  It was also filled with snow and water as slush, which made it impossible to be visible at night and with 
the heavy falling snow coming down, it was helping.  Anyway, I was one of the many vehicles that had either lost one if not two tires and wheels and front or 
rear suspension ripped off.  There were a dozen vehicles that were sitting on the side and many more around the corner of the block awaiting for the tow 
trucks.   

The damage that I had sustained in that incident was a blow out to my front passenger tire when I had hit the edge of the trench.  There was a cut to the 
sidewall of the tire but no damage to the aluminum wheel.  Since I was three blocks to the garage where I park, I just drove back and had replaced the front 
tire with the spare.  The next following morning went to PJ Grady to get the tire replaced.
 
What I do believe is that in both of my incidents, is that the OEM aluminum alloy wheels had played a big part in the out come to my DeLorean and my 
safety.  They held up!

I am not an engineer or an expert on this subject, but I can tell you from what I have experienced and what I have learnt from others, the OEM alloy wheels 
on our DeLorean?s are the best in it's engineering.  If they are to be replacements in the future, the wheels will have to be just as strong and able for the 
safety of the driver, the passenger and as well as the people and property surrounding or sharing the road with the DeLorean.

I know that Rob has on his Green DeLorean wheels that are no longer available on the market and I see that DMCH has after market wheels on their 
company's DeLorean.... If these wheels or others can take the punishment other then a "dainty fast drive" and if they are "do able," maybe this is the way we 
should go? 

My two cents?.

EVERYONE?SAFE MOTORING AND HAVE A VERY HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Kayo Ong
#5508
Lic 9D NY



----- Original Message -----
From: mike.griese@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 00:42:18 +0000
Subject: Re: [DML] Reproduction tires needed! Re: Front Tires still needed

    
> 
> Because of this, it's extremely unlikely that more than one manufacturer
> is going to do a production run for this small of a market, so there won't be 
> any choice.  All performance cars and most passenger cars these days are 
> running larger wheels with lower profile tires.  Our best alternative seems to 
> be larger wheels with the correct offsets in order to get a choice in performance
> tires.  
> 
> --
> Mike
> 




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