145R15

Claude, you may remember posting by me a few months back referring to the fact that I was having a 15” car tire mounted to an unmodified 15” motorcycle rim. Of course, there was a small “discussion”. I stated if the tire blows up or failed than everyone could say “we told you so”. If it didn’t then everyone would say “he was lucky”.

I must be one lucky SOB. 3500 miles later, I’m still here, and the 145R15 is still going around & around. It makes one heck of different in comfort and handling. It shows no signs of wear. Yes, I would and will do it again.

But it is dangerous because of the high pressure needed to seat the bead. DON’T DO IT YOURSELF. Have a professional do the deed. They did without question. I brought up all the concerns, as posted, more than once and they had no issues or concerns. After I had mine done, a friend did also and that shop had no concerns either.

I’m not saying for anyone to go and do it. Read and talk to others, then make up your own mind.

This posting was sent to me:

Nov 18, 2006 Hal Kendall wrote this on SCT:

Re: [SCT] rims...and tires...again....!

Again, with respect, the secret is HOW one goes about the
installation. It might take 2 hours or four hours or longer to
gradually allow the tire to seat. And with oddles of tire
lubricant. The problem is that most who try this blow the carcass up
to 60 or even 75 psi or more - then kapooie. And yes - I have photos
of them exploding - all in the BIG size. To date, I have never heard
of any smaller 125 or 135 going bad. This reflects experience both
in the US and in Europe.

If you have heard of ANY tire in the 125 or 135 size that has
exploded, please let us know.

If the difference is in fact 1/8 inch, then the stretch is only 0.8
percent. The cables are normally steel. The elastic limit is
reached at about 2 x 10-4 in/in, which is about 2 percent - so there
has been zero damage to the steel cables. But that is not what
fails - it is the rubber to steel bond. The steel actually pulls out
of the rubber. And it does so quite catastrophically - as in BOOM!
The tire is torn at one point beginning on the innermost edge next
to the rim, then propogates outward to extend almost to the tread
belts. And this has been proven to be repoducible. They will always
fail in this manner, if they are going to fail during installation.

As to the other point about service life - if you can get them
fitted - I have yet to hear of a single case where the tire has
failed in this fashion AFTER installation. Abnormal wear due to
incorrect alignment of course does not count. You are just ripping
off the tread. I had a MC tire fitted to a MC rim that lasted just
700 miles due to incorrect alignment. That does not count either.

Advise if you have evidence to the contrary.

But like I said - I certainly am not recommending this practice.

Hal Kendall