Not Firestone!

Sir,

You must be Firestone shod! Mr. H. S. Winter of the Firestone Tyre & Rubber Co., is allowed two letters in your July issue, publicising Firestone Tyres—one stating how proud that all were at Firestone that everyone racing at Indianapolis used their tyres, and the other publicising the fact that the winner of the Production Car Race at Silverstone on May 11th was similarly clad and established a new lap record for the track (in its class).

I wish I could share his enthusiasm. When my new 220S arrived in January I looked a little askance at the Firestone tyres, and I was not misled. They scream like a jet passing overhead on corrugated road surfaces. I had my first blow-out at approximately 8,000 miles. At 9,000 miles they are now, thank goodness, somewhat quieter, with the tread going badly, and I had another blow-out this weekend.

My previous Mercedes 220S, which incidentally did 90,000 trouble-free miles without any major replacement or service, ran for seven years on three sets of Continental tyres without a single puncture. Needless to say, the Firestones are being replaced with Continentals forthwith.

E.R. Whitlock.
Director, Whitlock Bros. Limited.
Gt. Yeldham.

[No, I’m on Dunlop now and before that I was on Michelin “X”.—Ed.]