Went to pick my car up today from the panel beaters but it wasn't ready yet because he had taken the tyres to Bob Jane to fit the new rims on. He told me he asked them to put the white wall inserts on for me but they said it's illegal (Im in QLD). Just wondering is there any truth to this or is it just something they said so they don't have to bother putting them on?? I had white wall inserts before and never had a problem so this just had me stumped and confused.

I don't know if they are against the law...
have never heard anything about them causing problems..
I can't see them being illegal...

but then again its illegal to leave your car unlocked while You go and pay for your petrol... [or a window down] in NSW

Some tyre shops insist on having tubes in the tyres in case they don;'t seal too well...


although a local tyre fellow told Me he's had no problems with them leaking...

back when they were very popular...
all tyres did have tubes in them,,,
[before tubeless tyres]

cheers

LEE

PS: even if they were illegal??
they are only fitted to enthusiasts cars...

If they're not they should be!

They wear out the sidewalls of the tyres, my brother ran a set for a while on a 68 bug, they were fitted properly etc. and after a few months he took them off to put on different wheels and it looked like he'd driven a few thousand miles against a kerb....

never had probs with mine, i wouldnt run them if i lived on a dirt road though maby thats what caused the prob with wear. I am sick of cleaning them but they just look too good to get rid of
-deon

when i get my car back tomorrow im gonna go somewhere and get them put on cause even if they are illegal they look good!

I've had them on 5 cars (all RTA / MVR Inspected) and no problems except for burnouts, they tend to shred themselves. The cheaper ones are know to break off at high speeds and under load.

Remember they need to be seated twice in the bead to ensure a good fit.

Everyone seems to have there on 2 cents of this subject, so it's your choice at the end of the day

You may want to have a chat to someone at your local transport authority, I don't know if they can, show you something in writing on the matter.

I love illegal shit but i try to be safe LOL,But they call those inserts flappers because they flap against the side wall of your tyre and can cause a side wall blow out.Not a cool thing to happen!

i had them on mine for about 3 years, no problems whatsoever, looked good and didnt wear the wall of the tyre out at all. guess they just need to be fitted properly.

It's not the fitment but the tyre/rim combo. If the tyre has a bit of bag it constantly rubs the flapper and will wear the tyre sidewall. How much is the question.
A bus with 155's recently in my shop had only about 5000 miles on them and the tyres had a worn groove nearly down to the canvas.

Yep they look kool, but not for me, not good if you drive fast.

Wow. Look at all the problems the old inserts are causing : ) I have a hot rod background and only know of 1 person who had sidewall wear and that was because he had 295/50/15 tyres squeezed onto and 8 inch rim, just like what Matt said. He changed to 12 inch wide rims about 3 years ago and they're still going strong today. There are a lot of hot rods getting around these days with inserts and most of them do a lot of k's, but as for legal, I've never heard of anyone being pinged for them. I have them on my car because they're a lot cheaper than buying proper white walls.

Remember that when these items were readily available and "looked cool" we all had cross ply tyres which were much stiffer in the walls!!

I had one place knock me back on fitting radials on my 5 studs without having a tube in there. Seems the law wants the tubless tyres fitted to safety rims only.

DH

What about white wall paint?? Where do you get it from??

just go to sams redwalls and get them etched in, think its costs about $100 for 4, about the same as the flappers.

weres sams redwalls?

well apparently Bob Jane ended up putting the white walls on but they didnt last very long they flew off and broke according to my panel beater. so im never buying white walls again might try and paint them on next time.

at the VW nat's there was a stand that was doing the whitewalls on your tyres,I personally do not use them ,years ago when the tyres were all cross ply they looked good,on the other hand there wasn't much avvailable except for wide wheels and tyres as the owner requested. The Americans tended to use a very wide cross ply tyre on a small rim with a white wall,not a good combination.a good tyre/rim with radial tyres combination is the best compromise.