Custom Tires, Custom Rims, Custom flats…..

 Today's update is not really glamorous, but progress is progress:

One of the customizations that my brother Lee wanted to make to this ’75 Super was to use his American Racing Rims and his Toyo tires.  These rims and tires were from his 2000 VW Beetle which he almost loved as much as this ’75. When it came time for him to get rid of his 2000 VW he removed the rims and tires, and put them in storage in Jason’s garage.

(Above) This is where the rims and tires came from : Lee’s 2000 VW Bug

Many times we talked about what it would take to mount these rims and tires onto his old super, but we never actually pursued it. Year’s later after his passing, I picked the Rims and Tires up from Jason, they were still in good shape just a little dirty and in need of some TLC. I promptly took them home and shined them up a bit and checked the pressure and I started daydreaming all over again about mounting them on the ’75. The day finally came, after I had received a glorious shipment of custom parts from Jon Chabot @ TopLine Parts in California, I was able to begin to fulfill this small part of my brothers dream.  I removed the old Drum style braking system and replaced it with TopLines Disc Brake conversion kit front and back with custom drilled and studded rotors (5x100mm) that would allow me to mount the 17x7.5 American Racing rims and tires.

Well, thanks to some help from my friend Matt C., the install of the new braking system and rotors went pretty smoothly and we mounted the Rims and Tires on the car with no problem. 

Now that you, my loyal blog reader are up to speed on a little history of this project, I will fast forward to today.

(Above) Taking the Super’s Tires to get fixed.

Today step in the restoration / customization involved getting the tires and rims checked for leaks, and if a leak was detected fix it.

Since the tires and rims had been sitting in Jason’s garage for a couple of years, the seals had started to leak a bit after they were installed on the ’75.

 I employed the assistance of Discount Tire, near my house. This is a fantastic company. If you ever need tires fixed or rotated, just stop by and the do it all for FREE. Discount Tire removed all the tires from the rim’s, re-sealed them and then balanced each one. The tires are as good as new.

My only improvement I would suggest to Discount Tire Management is provide WiFi service in their waiting area so business professionals could work if  they had to wait.

I know this wasn’t a really glamorous blog entry, but next time any of you readers have a problem with your tires, or rims take them to Discount Tire. This is truly a first class, customer oriented company you will not be disappointed.

Fantastic job, Thanks Discount Tire !

(-C-) Jim 2006

http://www.discounttire.com