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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - All season tires anyone?

Hi All,

Any experience with all season tires? Last spring I bought summer Yokohama A539, 165/70. Small diameter, I know. I wanted to compensate 3.7 diff installed previous year. Great tires, car is a bit more lively, but too small diameter and I hate the look. Too much space between the disc and body.

Previously I was running Uniroyals Rain Expert, 175/70, but these were 10+ years old and I had to change. Some may say this diameter is too much, but it was OK for my 1973 RWA. I want to go back for 175/70 and given last few years return of all season tires I am considering these: Nokian Weatherproof 175/70 R13. Would be good to know that I can drive during the winter too with a bit more safety... (Plus it is illegal in Czech to drive summer tires during winter season.)

Any experience? Or is this stupid idea and I should stick to summer tires?

Thanks,
S.
Stepan Marek

Go for a Vredestein quatrac 5 for all seasons of snowtrac 5 for a pure winter tyre.
The 165/70 is actually a very fitting size for a midget.
The 175/70 can be a bit wide for a std rim.
The 155/80 works great as a winter size on std rims
O K

I like Onno's response. I have never been disappointed with Vredesteins.
I used them for example on Subaru 4x4 estate car in the worst winter I can remember in the North East of Scotland and they were brilliant.
We used to call them "Freddies"!
Greybeard

Filling the wheel arches is just a fashion thing of the past few decades, the standard suspension set up on a classic car like a Midget is smaller wheels and tyres to suit the compliance of the suspension.

165/70/13 tyres gives the same "fill" as the standard Midget tyre size of 145/80/13 (so also won't compensate for diff).

175/65/13 will also give you the same "fill".

155/80/13 would be a good compromise and give a very little more "fill" and give a pleasant feel to particularly the steering and to handling.

175/70/13 actually gives less "fill" than 155/80/13.

Tyre grip is about it's tread, make up and compounds more than width.

Narrow tyres are better for winter use, they cut through more to surface.

Use this link to check for yourself about tyre size comparison. -
https://tiresize.com/comparison/

Nigel Atkins

Hi,
Sitting in the garage, waiting for old oil to get out prior filling in new and spotting the mistake in my original post. Yokos I have on are 175/60, sorry for misleading you... Tried to upload a pic, but too large from my phone.

S.
Stepan Marek

No problem, the calculator covers that size too.

Go 155/70-R13 to compare with 175/60-R13 for a better winter and possibly all year round use.

To get an idea of what 155/70-R13 tyres look like on a RWA Midget that rides around factory ride height click on my 'View vehicle profile'.

https://tiresize.com/comparison/
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 22/04/2018 and 01/05/2018

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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