From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Issues with Warland rims and proposing alternatives like Goodyear or Firestone with straight-sided tyres.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 159\1\ scan0017 | |
| Date | 30th March 1920 | |
| To EY. from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to EP.{G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer} c. to BN.{W.O. Bentley / Mr Barrington} c. to Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} ORIGINAL EFC X.3725 2 RECEIVED Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}3/LG30.3.20. X.1019 RE WARLAND RIMS X.3725 X 4050 X 3943 During our last visit to Mr. Royce we took with us a Dunlop wheel fitted with a Warland rim so that we could show to him the points on it which are complained of. Mr. Royce's attitude was that he had always said and maintained that the Warland rim is not a thing we should fit to our cars but if customers insist on having Warland rims we could not do otherwise than fit them. At the same time making it clear that the customer must take full responsibility for any failure which may occur. One cannot deny the advantage of the Warland rim as a demountable rim. It does definitely overcome the labour required to fit tyres. We agree with BY.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} that until we have an alternative demountable rim to offer customers, we cannot do much on this matter. The proposition we put to Mr. Royce was that we should be prepared to recommend either the Goodyear or the Firestone demountable rims but with those rims it is necessary to use straight sided tyres. There are now an increasing number of american cars being imported into this country which have straight sided tyres fitted as standard. We know that the tyre makers over here are taking up the question of supplying straight sided tyres and we feel it is only a matter of time before the straight sided tyres will replace the beaded tyres. contd. | ||