1980 Austin Princess mild custom - 1951 Lanchester LD10

Tyres are important. When I got the car it came to me on some tyres that I mostly chose not to look at because I knew I was going to be putting new ones on as soon as I had everything sorted out. I held off until I had a full set of spare steels and could find the tyres I wanted in the size I wanted at a price I could afford. That meant it wasn't until June that I got them, six months after buying the car. Part of this wait was job prioritising, there were so many other things I needed to sort out on the car to make it tolerable to drive and the tyres that were on weren't giving me any scary moments so I knew I had time. There were no obvious defects, the tread looked good, etc. so I just let sleeping dogs lie.

Eventually I found the Uniroyal Rain Experts I wanted in the size I needed and Peter had provided a full set of steels in the big parts haul which meant I wouldn't have to worry about the tyre place jacking the car up in the wrong place, or putting the wheel nuts on at a million torques.


So, what do all those markings on the side of the tyre mean? Here's a handy infographic.


Now you know. One important detail you should know on your tyres is the age. The recommendation is to not drive on tyres that are over ten years old because they start to fail about this age, something the Maestro did bear out as I'll come to in a bit. If your tyres are so old there is no date code, they are now museum pieces. If you have a date code that's only three digits long they were made in the last century and are really only for show. You want tyres with a four digit code, like this.


So let's assume you have tyres that are at least on a four digit date code, the next thing to check is the quantity and condition of the tread. The tread on this tyre which is on one of the spare steels is actually pretty substantial and in reasonable looking condition for a used tyre.


The sidewall, however, not so much. Those cracks are probably caused by the tyre being flat while it was on the car, uv damage and deformity of the rubber over a long period of time has made the rubber degrade. Damage like this can lead to blowouts, so a tyre like this is only fit for rolling a car around while it's being worked on and should never be used on the road.


What's the date code on this one then? Ah, 2001. That's a 20 year old tyre (at the time of recording) so very much past its use by date.


By the time I'd got everything together for the new tyres, the ones on the car were starting to worry me a bit in the wet, especially on adverse camber where the car would feel a bit squirrely if the conditions were just so. Now I had new tyres, I could look at the old ones properly. For some reason, the ones on the front have the sidewalls scrubbed almost smooth.


I can only assume the first owner was parking by feel with the front tyres to manage to do this. I'd also noticed after a short run on the motorway that tiny cracks had started to appear all over the tyres, especially in the treads. Definitely time for these to go.


One trek to the local tyre place and they had the new tyres on the spare steels, and the ancient tyres pulled off them and disposed of. Balanced with significantly less weights than either set of steels I have, and ready to go back on the car. I like that you can get a full set of wheels in the boot of the Maestro and still keep the seat up and the parcel shelf in.


New tyres always make a car look better, nice fresh black rubber draws the eye away from the less than perfect bits.


Let's have a look at what came off then. Those front tyres are both scrubbed smooth so I didn't know what brand they were until I got them off the car.


Flipping them over I find the brand on the back. Good old Runway Enduros, not the best tyre in the world, not the worst.


Date on these is 2010, so 11 year old tyres at the time of recording. Remember how I said tyres are good until about ten years old and then they start to go bad?




Look at what's happening to the tread on these. The tread is cracking and breaking up and tiny cracks are appearing in the tread itself. Funnily enough, these tyres are perfectly legal and would probably soldier on like this for quite a while. These will be fine as yard rollers, which is exactly what I'll use them for should I ever need to for any reason, but they shouldn't see the road again.


The tyres on the back are a bit newer, and a different make. It looks like the car had tyres replaced in pairs only when it absolutely needed them and not a moment sooner which is pretty normal for this sort of car. One thing I did notice is that the rear tyres and the spare are the same make and from 2012/13 and while one looks almost new (and has become the spare since at 9 years old and being kept out of sunlight it should be fine for a couple more years yet), the other two are badly worn.




When I took the spare out of the boot to check the condition, just to be sure I had a reasonable spare tyre, I was pretty surprised someone had even bothered to put it in the car. It was well on its way to being bald.


Happily, none of these problem tyres are a problem any longer. The abnormal wear is caused by a tracking issue, one that I've since had resolved but haven't released the video for yet, so I'm not getting that abnormal wear on the new tyres.

As in the video, I would urge you to check the condition of your tyres if it's not something you do regularly anyway. Problems with tyres can develop pretty quickly, especially when they're getting to or past the ten year mark. Fitting new tyres, or good quality part worns, is well worth it, especially in the colder and wetter months when grip isn't so readily available. Remember, tyres are the only thing keeping your car on the road so they're pretty important for your safety and your driving enjoyment.

I'd always been told ten, mind you I'd also never checked and I do try and make sure my tyres are less than five.

The tyres on my Austin are at least forty years old. Probably nearer fifty. They scare the bejesus out of me. At north of £200 each though, they will be the very last things I buy for it.

On lorries and busses, front (and any other steering axle) tyres need to be less than 10 years old to pass the MoT now.

Fame! Kinda. Always brings me joy to know other people got excited enough by the Princess to tag a picture and share it on the social medias, especially if they're nice about it because she doesn't look her best just at the moment.

Short vid this week.

Getting a new radiator fitted and playing the parts lottery with fan switches this time.

❤️

the princess was on facebook group "cars you don't see anymore" i was going to screengrab it but by coincidence got banned in between there and here.

i do have a habit of calling out those boring contrarians, you know people being deliberately apathetic to seem edgy or cool. but genuinely hadnt interacted with the group in months.... meh

Would the maestro engine fit in the princess..............