Singer Owner May - June 2005

Roadster Repairs

Ashley Crossland

My 4AC Roadster is generally very reliable on the somewhat low mileage per year that it now does, hence rubber components are tending to fail not from wear, but simply from old age and we've talked about this in the past. The company that I work for, for instance, sells certain rubber components and tells its customers that they will have a shelf life of say 15 years. This means that when 15 years is up, these parts should be thrown away whether or not they have ever been used! There will be a bit of leeway on this timing and there are a few tricks that will preserve the shelf life as long as possible, eg keeping the rubber parts clean, dry and free from oil and grease, out of sunlight, wrapped up so that oxygen (ozone) is kept away, not in a compressed state stored against other materials (seals on a nail is a no-no!), stored in cool, but not freezing temperatures etc.

So the useable life of rubber components depends on the particular rubber compound and what the duty is. And so we have a problem with old stock oil seals and brake seals bought as an 'insurance policy' years ago when they were available and which have now gone past their use-by date. My few past offerings to the Singer Owner have been on the lines of rubber parts giving up on me and I suppose I can continue the same theme this time!

It's a year or so ago that I had a high-speed puncture on the way to one of our regular rallies, the Newby Hall Rally up the A1 at Boroughbridge. You know the situation, outside lane of a dual carriageway when things go a little wobbly. Anyway, by the time I had got into the inside lane, there was a lay-by in sight, so although 1 had not gone any distance on the tyre, it was well and truly wrecked. The spare wheel was only half inflated - where are all the footpumps when you need them? I have more pumps than cars so there should be at least one pump available, but no!

A call to our good friends Viv and Judy Littlewood got them to our rescue with a foot pump, but more surprisingly Viv later produced a more modern 'get-you-home' space saver wheel which actually fitted the wheel studs on the Roadster. When Viv suggested that he had this wheel which someone had abandoned, I did not think there was any likelihood of it ever fitting. How wrong I was. Viv was anxious that I would have no spare and this space-saver wheel was better than nothing. I tried it on the car and lowered the jack and although the diameter of the tyre is about 6" less than the standard tyre, it would certainly have got me home. So look out for a T115/70R15 tyre on a rim with 4 holes on 4 1/4" centres. This will fit 4AB, 4AC and 4AD axles. Ones for R models, A, and 4A's (if space savers exist) will need 4" centres. However there's probably some law which says you are not supposed to use a radial ply tyre on the same axle as a cross-ply...

Space-saver tyres would be a good idea, because it's a tight fit in the spare wheel compartment of a Roadster. However standard tyres for Roadsters, 5.00 x 16, are not normally on the shelves of your local tyre supplier, but I got hold of a new Avon HM Tourist easily enough, priced at £79.50 + VAT + tube + fitting and balancing.

However, if space-savers exist, then there must also be 'full-sized' tyres on rims that will fit my car. I've no idea what, so is this the project for the Roadster team, to try and identify the car they come from?

Whilst I hope this little contribution has amused you, on a more serious note I would like to say that 1 have always believed in having some reasonable tyres on a car. Punctures at any speed in any car are not nice and I think its very much false economy not to keep up with your tyres.