what's the deal with tubes being put in tires?

I've got a couple of decent polyglas tires I want to use but they wont keep air, is it safe to put tubes in them and use them them for driving?

why won't they hold air? and how old are they? I guess you could use tubes. I'd get repo's if you want the look. I'd be a litted worried about driving on something like those. One hard stop, one hard turn and they might just come all apart.

I'm not quite sure, they look fine but there leaking air from some where really slow.

We do it in our circle burners because the pressures are so low and going around the corners they'd leak out otherwise. I think you could tube them for daily driving but might check the leak points as in new valve stems & vigorously wire wheel smoothing the sealing beads on the inside of each side of the rim and checking the bead of the tire itself(no bumps/needs to be smooth) and lightly sanding if need be.

The rubber on the beads gets hard and wont seal.Tubes will work,i do it on ocassion.Before you install check the sidewalls for cracks and not just by looking,you need to apply some pressure.Any cracks at all give em a pitch.

Cool thanks for the info guys, wasn't really sure.

They would still work as a cool looking spare with a tube even if your're not comfortable running them on the street full time..Back when I lived in Arkansas I found a very old raised white letter "Arkansas Razorback" tire in an old barn and put it on a Chevy rally wheel and used it as a spare, great conversation piece

In the drag world some put dawn detergent rub it throught out the tire let dry mount them try it. No liability written or implied .

I would try to find out were they are leaking, possibly a rim bead leak?

Way back in a previous life I did alignments at a large chain store.

The company policy was that tubes do NOT go into tubeless tires. The claim was that it would build up heat beyond the level that the tire was designed for. Seemed reasonable to me.

On the other hand, it could also have been over-the-top CYA.

I would make the argument that aging, dry tires that don't seal well at the bead or somewhere else are already a concern that should keep their use and speed to minimums, even before any concerns about heat build-up from adding tubes.

hey when i first started in the auto business my mentor and very good mechanic Friend who took me under his wing taught me how to stop rim leaks was to clean the rim with scotch brite disk and with your finger rub used motor oil into the bead of the tire just before you install it on the tire machine
the oil will soften the bead and it will seal it .
done this many times on cars with badly pitted rims that other shops said were junk and never !honest never had one come back !
I would not do this on a race car but street car i have been doing this for over 20 yrs . no problems yet .

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with your finger rub used motor oil into the bead of the tire the oil will soften the bead and it will seal it.

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I'll try that as I have one w a slow leak and talcum powder on the tube will stop heat buildup