Rubber tyres

Has anyone opted for the moulded rubber types rather than the voulcanised rubber types, if so your thoughts would be much appreciated...

I would recommend going for vulcanised, you won't have to worry about tyres coming off, which some people have had happen with the moulded rubber.
Well worth the extra cost in my humble opinion!!... Could always go for metal strakes!!!.. That would make your engine a bit different!!

Regards,
Tony

The moulded tires I'm on about are the ones which are moulded straight on to the rim, are the ones your thinking of the ones that you fit yourself?!?

The vulcanised tyres, are the tyres which have been bonded to the rims when you receive them.

Mark.

I think there is a bit of confusion here.....both methods we use are vulcanised it just the process and finishing that's done in a different way. The process used for the last 6 years required rubber being cured on to the wheel and each individual wheel then had to be profiled by a person on a manual machine to create the tyre shape. The problem with this way is that because the tyres are individually turned matching the grooves and profile exactly so every one got an identical pair was much harder. We had people with large gaps (where more stones could get trapped) on one wheel and smaller gaps on another where a different person and the rubber company had profiled the rubber for example. At almost £300 per wheel and weighing close on 50kg with customers getting wheels a month apart it was difficult to manage and ensuring some one always got a pair. (One reason for this is that the vulcanising company would also deliver the wheels in batches and not as a batch of 100)

For this reason we have now invested in using high pressure injection moulding process. Rubber is still cured on to the wheel but the shape is already guaranteed as it comes out to the profile of the mould manufactured (one advantage is we can add extra detail like Dunlop Tyres to the mould for example)....this is not fool proof by any means (as one DCC customer found out this month) as we do still have to machine the wheel prior to moulding and ensure its concentric but we feel the consistancy, strength of rubber and profile have been improved.

Should any one wAnt further information or wish to see some examples of the new process then I'd be happy to discuss it with you. I'll also see if I can post some photos on here later of a wheel the quarter section of a wheel so you can see for yourself.

Dean

Dean thanks for the info, that has answered all of my questions. Can't wait for our second kit!
Cheers