[T3] Tire failure?

[Jim Adney]

On 20 Jan 2011 at 12:48, Dave Hall wrote:

> I had a tyre go completely flat in freezing weather, just sitting in the
> drive.  I don't think the valve froze as the cap was on, but I think some
> water froze between the bead and the rim.  I couldn't find any other
> explanation.  Once the cold weather went, the tyre was fine again.

In extremely cold weather, the rubber bead of the tire can get so hard that it 
stops sealing against the rim. For this reason, people in northern Canada, in 
places like Churchil, on Hudson Bay, always put tubes in their tires. That's 
for temps of -40 and below, so I doubt that is what happened to you.

> We get freezing days after rain quite often, which plays havoc with door
> locks if the water seals are not perfect. 

Our winters often start out with 3 days of rain, immediately followed by 
freezing rain and then a hard freeze. In other words, everything gets 
thoroughly soaked, then quickly frozen. So we also have trouble with door locks 
getting frozen. Those are fairly easy to free if it's not too cold, but often 
it turns out that the rubber door seal is then frozen to the body of the car, 
so getting the lock released is just the start of the battle.

-- 
Jim Adney
jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, WI USA