Quote:
Originally Posted by mot
I have one original tube and 6-8 very old tubes
with metal stems
the quality of rubber was MUCH better than the crap we have now
It was butyl rubber
after 60-70 years of being folded they still don't have cracks
I have 10 tires on my model As that have been on the cars for over 50 years,and they still hold air just fine,yet the 4 tubes i replaced on my other model A have ALL failed due to seam separation or valve stem separation(rubber stems)
and no.they weren't Chinese junk they were made in the USA
the tube shown is at least 30 years old and in perfect condition when I removed it from the box for the photo,no cracks after being folded all these years
most likely the reason was as stated, the vulcanizing of the stem to the tube
was a problem
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I've had exactly the same experience. I bought 2 bicycle inner tubes and took them out of the box 6 months later and they were full of cracks at every fold. Now as soon as I get an inner tube home I inflate it for storage, and when I have a spare tire for it, the tube is stored inside the tire with just enough air to fill out the shape. I hope this will help, but I still prefer old inner tubes as long as they don't have a bunch of patches.