Can I run MT ET Streets w/o a tube?

[jaymac]

I don't think I can, or should, but my buddy is convinced that you can.
He's getting new ET Streets, and I offered to buy his old ones if he included the tubes, and he said "there are plenty of guys running them w/o tubes".

Can anybody set the record straight for me??

 

[Numbles]

You can run them without tubes. But do a search. This topic has been debated bofore.

 

[jaymac]

I'll try the search :damnit:

 

[jaymac]

That was the biggest joke of a search I've ever done in my entire life.
I found nothing.
I suppose I'll have to keep bumping this one!

 

[QDRHRSE]

You can. I have been warned not to only because of the danger of the bead breaking on the tire during launch when too little air is in the tire. Anyway, you most definitely can. The less power your car makes the safer it is.

 

[Rick 91GT]

Most guys run them with out tubes with no issues. I made 550RWHP 740RWTQ with no issues on a 26" x 11.5" ET STREET, no tubes..

 

[QDRHRSE]

I run the same exact tire with no tubes....I forgot to mention that. I'm a little leary of running less than14psi though.

 

[sirr0bin]

you can use dish liquid when you are mounting the tires so the air escapes slower, (spread it along the middle of the inside of the tire) but i've never heard of any problems related to losing the bead or anything like that

 

[jaymac]

awesome, it sounds good to me!!

 

[Rick 91GT]

14psi HOT worked very well for me, MT's site says the ET STREET actually likes higher pressures then the norm, if it doiesn't hook increase the pressure in small increments.

Most guys want to shoot straight to 10.

 

[jaymac]

you can use dish liquid when you are mounting the tires so the air escapes slower, (spread it along the middle of the inside of the tire) but i've never heard of any problems related to losing the bead or anything like that

What if the tire guys are mounting them for me? Will the regular grease work?

 

[maverick0716]

What if the tire guys are mounting them for me? Will the regular grease work?

The reason ET streets "require" tubes is because they are a bias-ply tire. The inside liner is very thin and not at all like the inside of a radial tire....therefore without a tube air will slowly (very slowly) seep out of the tire through the liner. It's not a big deal really, because the leak is usually extremely slow. What that other guy was suggesting was to coat the inside liner with dish soap to slow that leak down...it will work. They actually make a sealer specially designed for tires that does the same thing.

 

[QDRHRSE]

So, would tube slime like we use for out dirtbikes work? When we get a flats on the trail we inject some in and pump the tire back up and it works most of the time. I should try that....

 

[brands5.0]

I have 12psi in my et streets, the car sometimes sits for weeks at a time with no drop and my dads 1970 buick sits half the year and still holds air with arouns 20 psi in them

 

[jaymac]

Question: can any kind of tire patches/repairs be used on the Streets. I apparently ran over a screw sometime last night, and it embedded itself lengthwise in the tire, and we pulled it out, and no air escaped, but it's running a tube. We put water on it and saw no bubbles.
I guess the real test will be when we take it off and look from the inside, then try tomount it tubless and see if it hold air then.
But is there any kind of pre-emptive repair that can be done, maybe from the inside?

 

[Rick 91GT]

If it has a hole you'll need a tube, unsafe to run it anyway else now....

 

[jaymac]

even if it's not all the way through?

 

[sirr0bin]

even if it's not all the way through?

whats cheaper? a tube, or replacing a rim/wrecking your car when your slick blows out at 95mph?

 

[jaymac]

uuuhhhhh......probably a tube????

I know, I know, I just have to ask stupid questions to be sure

 

[Obsol3te]

So looks like someones going to run a tube now along with a new headgasket?