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).
The issue of 'India' brand tyres being out of balance and the negative effect on steering.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 29\4\ Scan039 | |
| Date | 14th April 1930 | |
| COPY. C. From Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rn.{Mr Robinson} c. to Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} Hm.{Capt. W. Hallam - Head Repairs} c. to Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} c. to Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. to EP.{G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer} H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} X4062. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rn.{Mr Robinson}3/MJ.14.4.30. X.7518 X.4452 X.401 X.7810 'INDIA' TYRES. On Major Segrave's car we found that one of the front wheels was 1 lb out of balance. We checked the wheel up and found that this was the best result that could be obtained using the standard balance weights. The car is fitted with 'India' tyres. The position is this. We carefully specified the out of balance of covers which we will accept from Messrs. Dunlops and arranged our balance weights so that we could deal with this quantity. The 'India' tyres apparently are exempt from such specification and the result is that neither the owner or anyone else can balance wheels fitted with these tyres without adopting non-standard procedure. We think that this matter is exceedingly serious as 1 lb. out of balance is capable of completely spoiling the steering of any car we know of when driven at 80 miles per hour, and all our efforts to obtain good steering are likely to be nulified by such tyres. We therefore recommend that where India tyres are fitted to customers' cars, wheels should be carefully checked for balance and if results do not lie within our standard limits the tyres should be returned to the makers. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rn.{Mr Robinson} | ||