The importance of "Bedding In" tyres

Tyres are manufactured using a mould (or mold if you are from the USA), which imprints the tyre tread and sidewall to the tyre as it gets squeezed into the mould surface under high pressure and heat. After the tyre is made and vulcanised the mould is opened and the finished tyre removed from it.

Why are tyres dual marked ?

Tips on fitting your wire wheels

Valve stem diameters and uses

For most "old car" applications the valve stem hole in the wheel rims come in 3 sizes, which are nominally:

Tyre size Equivalents

Some useful approximations for tyre sizing.

Remember that Radial tyres are on the whole 80% the diameter of the cross ply, so very often a tyre that is the equivalent could be small on diameter, but to get the diameter then it's a much "fatter" tyre, which often doesnt suit. We can always try and advise if you are stuck as to which Blockley radial tyre size you require! For example cars maufacturers that specified 6.40x15 in period would give differing radial options of 165R15 and 185R15. . . . you'll find tyre charts elsewhere saying 5.20x13 is equivalent to a 155R13, which is just not the case, and so on. But all the same the list below should prove helpful, and a useful start. And you can always get in touch letting us know what older car you have, and we can advise.

Why are metal valve caps safer?

Blockley fit metal valve caps on our Blockley inner tubes (on both rubber and metal stem) as a standard fitment. So why do we do this, when other leading inner tube manufacturers do not do this?

Blockley Radial Sidewall labeling

Blockley Radial Sidewall labelling

Why high speed rating?

We are often asked why all Blockley radial tyres have such high speed ratings - typically T (118mph / 190kph) on the smallest sizes, H (130mph / 210kph), V (149mph / 240kph) and W (168mph / 270kph), when the tyre sizes are usually fitted to vehicles with significantly lower achievable speeds.