TOPIC:

1978 1300

My car has the factory Fiat alloy wheels and is fitted with Pirelli 165/70 SR13 tyres

Although these are tubeless tyres the car has always run with tubes fitted, the advice being that the alloy wheels leak without a tube being fitted

Any advice and guidance appreciated

Thanks

Apparently the leaky alloys syndrome is not leaks through the alloy (porosity) but leaks around the rim. Corrosion around the rim will make it difficult for the tubeless tyre to seal properly, hence leaks. Cleaning up the rim usually does the trick, especially if combined with some specialised rim sealant (our tyre guy uses it all the time on the agricultural vehicles, and on car tyres that are reluctant to seal). Tubes will work okay, but you get far less punctures with tubeless, but how many miles are you doin?g and so probably not worth the effort to clean all your rims up.

Mileage is very low less than 500/year and in the last 12 months much less than that
The valve on the spare is causing problems hence I may need a new tube to fix it (changing the insert didn't fix it)
I am also contemplating an alloy wheels refurb and need to know whether then to tube or not to tube!

The rims fitted to most of the 1300s, which are designed for tubes, look the same externally as the later ones from the 1500s which were tubeless. The way to tell is to look for the recess where the tubeless valves fit on the later wheels whilst the early ones do not have this. Also the later tubeless rims have ridges on the inside of the rim to prevent the tyre from rolling off whereas the early ones are flat.
The 1st picture is of a tubeless 1500 rim and the 2nd one is a 1300 one with a tube.

I have to agree with Ian's point.
I have an early 1500 which has 1300 wheels fitted at the factory.

When I had the wheels refurbished last January the specialists pointed out that my wheels did not have the recess for tubeless valves even though tubeless tyres had been fitted.
Therefore I had them fit tubes.

Incidentally these wheels are magnesium and the normal refurbishment methods for alloy wheels do not work. The paint will flake off at the slightest provocation.as i found out when I dropped one during fitting.
The company had assumed that they were a Magnesium/ Aluminium alloy and they subsequently reworked them all which involved having them electroplated before priming and powdercoating. Quite an involved and lengthy process.