409 steel wheels- tubed or tubeless?
 

Hello,
Can anyone confirm if the original sttel 16 inch 409 wheels are designed for tubeless tyres?
Reason- when I bought my 409 4 years ago, it have radial tyres with tubes in. Since I change all the tyres with new Avon 185VR16's I have had a spate of blow outs/punctures, mainly on the rear wheels. This weekend I was able to pull up quickly an dthe on removal of the tube, found a fair amount of rubber dust in the tyre, plus abrasion marks. porous area on the tube. There was nothing penetrating though the tyre. Having had varioous other tyre places look at previous punctures with no comments, I was suprised when a realtively " back yard" tyre fitter siad he was not going to fit a tube back into the tyre. He duly refittyed the tyre, inflated it and It has stayed up so far.
I have to sat that the inside of the Avon tyre is fairly rough, thus movement of a tube would abrade it.
Any thoughts appreciated.
Thanks

I don't know the answer to your question but can say that I fitted tubeless tyres to my 403 steel wheels and have had no problems and minimal air loss from them over the last three years

I have tubes fitted to my 408 tyres [16"]
However, the tyre company who fitted the tyres to my refurbished and powder coated wheels said that the internal surfaces of different tyres vary greatly.
From what you say, it could be the internal ridges in the tyres that are causing the wear and punctures to the tubes.
If your tyres are not sealing you may have to check the tyres for airtightness.
David

The tyre fitted without the tube has held its pressure OK and I had cleaned up the rims on their hidden parts before. The local garage chap pointed out that the 409 wheels do not have what he called a safety rim -ie a a way of keeping the tyre on the rim in the event of a blow out. The inner sides of the Avon tyres have hard lines in them and the evidence of rubber dust suggested abrasion.
I might get on to Vintage Tyre Suppies in Lymington UK as they are likely to be familiar with the older car issues. Thanks for assistance