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MG MGA - Tyre size

I had my tyres balanced today as I have been suffering a bit of vibration between 65-70mph. I asked the fitter about their condition as they are now over 12 years old and he advised replacement. They are 165x15. Maybe it was just sales speak, but his computer was not coming up with any options for that size, just Firestone.

Looking for guidance then; what other tyre makes do you recommend (available in UK)? What about 155x15 that some people use - pros and cons.

On the subject of the vibration, I still got the severe vibration through the steering wheel, probably worse (60 -70) on some stretches of road, then smooth as a baby's whatsit on other stretches. All the bushes down the front end were replaced 2.5 years ago. What is the most likely: track rod end, damper, bushes? I will do a thorough examination tomorrow. Running wire wheels and discs.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve
My MK 2 Coupe which I purchased last March, runs on Wires with 155x15 Michelins which are about 13 years old but have only done around 8000 miles When I took them to my local tyre fitter with a view to replacing them due to age He examined them and pronounced them OK ? They show no sign of cracks and he informed me that it is sun that affects tyres and not age! I have since done around 4000 miles. I have looked at replacements and 155x 15 are available but 165 x15 have more choice Contimental,Firestone are around £50-£60 and Michelins a bit more
regards
Paul
P D Camp

Paul

Sun does have an effect but also various stuff in the air "we call it smog over here" causes the rubber to degrade. Do an archive search on tire life and see what you find.

Larry
Lawrence Hallanger

Tires should be replaced every 7 years regardless of mileage. They have a tendency to dry rot from the interior, and sunlight degrades them from the exterior. Several members of our club have had accidents from tires disintegrating at high speeds. I had a rear tire on my 1600 MGA, that had been a spare for years when a blowout occured on the interstate highway @ 80MPH. All was ok excepting pride and a disfigured fender. Tire was 12 years old, with plenty of tread, and externally looked fine.
cjh hughes

I have the Firestones, installed about 18 months ago. They are fine with all types of driving. They replaced Michelin XZX that were 10 years old, and the improvement was noticeable.

I use tubes too, as the valves available don't fit the holes in the wheels (they are too small)

I always replace all five tyres together
dominic clancy

Steve, there was a thread sometime last year (or was it the year before?) about this. I had had a huge "moment" on a damp road and was lucky to get away with it. There was also an article in the MGOC mag about this as well where a chap was killed I believe driving an MGB on very old tyres. Mine were 12 years old and like yours and those on the MGB appeared to be in sound condition with loads of tread. The article and the thread all said 10 years absolute max and just dont risk it no matter how good they look. I had a set of Vredestein Sprint S80 fitted at a local tyre place -- 165R15 on 60 spoke wires and had them balanced being assured that the machine would do wire wheels ok. Got a lot of vibration and called in at Bob Wests. James rebalanced them on their machine which has a specially made wire wheel hub.
They were so far out of balance it was ridiculous.
I would suggest the first thing is to get yours balanced properly as I believe this is quite a common problem with wire wheels not being done on the correct hub and then perhaps start looking for new ones ?
David
D C GRAHAME

Steve - I'm also starting to get a little anxious about mine - they are over 15 years old - so the grip level must be dropping off by now. What makes me want to hang on to them is they have an attract thin white stripe on them - but I think that this may be the year to finally replace them . There is a garage near me in Hesketh Bank (no too far from you either) that I use for servicing and he does a good price on tyres as well. Will check him out for prices on 165 R15s and see what he comes up with - cheers Cam
Cam Cunningham

Steve, you may have a case where the road surface is affecting how the tires track on the road resulting in the come and go vibration. Look very hard at your steering rack that there is no play in any direction where the tie rods enter the rack. If you have some slop, a crowned road may cause the wheels to both have outward pressure on them causing the vibration to go away as the play in the rack is held tight by opposing force, on a flat road the wheels will tend to flutter if there is play in the steering anywhere. Wire wheels that are out of true can also cause strange vibrations and are imposable to balance as the center of the wheel moves in reference to the rim.

As for replacement tires, search the web, there should be more available then Firestone. No offense to Dominic but after having two full sets of Firestones recalled, first in the 70's & again in the 90's you couldn't get me to use Firestones if they were free. The wifes "A" has 23 year old Dunlaps that have just started to show cracking between the treads and are going to be replaced, never had any problems except for a bad tube.

The rotting of the tires from inside out is generally a problem with radial tires. Cracking in the old bias ply tires wasn't a concern, in radials it is. About 8 years ago a friend entered the "great race" over here which is an east coast to west coast rally, in his TD. He couldn't run with his radial tires as they weren't "period correct". As my TD was apart but had bias ply tires we put my late 50's tires and wheels complete with cracks everywhere on the side walls, and hard as rocks on his car. They lasted the entire race and are still full of air in my basement. It's a shame radials aren't this durable.
J Heisenfeldt

Checked the front suspension and steering, all ok. Phoned Bob West and he confirmed all David has said above. Apparently he has adapted his wheel balancing machine specifically for MGA wire wheels, by mounting an MGA splined shaft on the machine's spindle. He says that most commercial tyre shops do not balance the wheels correctly, even though they claim to do so. Bob also balances most Healeys over his side of the Pennines.

I am going to reshod my wheels and then take them over to him.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve
As a tyre industry insider (engineer at Bridgestone) I can say that the industry line is that tyres older than 10 years should be replaced.
As others here mention, the tyre exterior will show signs of aging due to ozone and sun exposure. This is reduced if the car is kept in a cool, dark garage where there are no sources of ozone.
Most people however ignore tyres completly, only looking (infrequently) at the pressures or the front tyre tread if the wheel happens to be pointing in their direction!!
For cars used infrequently the life expectancy can fall as sitting loaded in one position for long periods can weaken the structure, especially if some pressure is lost. This also applies to leasure vehicles such as caravans and trailers. Here some say that 6 years is a maximum.

In terms of balance, the only way to get a good balance is to grip the rim as it is gripped on the vehicle. This can be approximated on some machines but it is generally not that good. Your vibration at 60-70mph is first harmonic so should be a balance issue.
Finding someone able to make dynamic balance on wire wheels is not easy.

I have run now for 9 years on my current set of Firestone tyres (also part of the Bridgestone group)with no issue and am about to replace them. I have driven more than 22,000 miles on them and still they have more than 50% of their tread left. They are however getting slippy in the wet so time to change.

Cheers
Neil
Neil Purves

Steve,
I've been doing a bit of research into tyres and sizes for my MGA rebuild and along the way I've found the following 165/80/15 tyres:
- Firestone F560
- Toyo 330
- Vredstein Sprint+
- Continental CT22
- Marshal KR11

all between about £35 and £45 a pop on tinternet. Just try "165/80/15 tyre" in google, there's quite a few discount tyre sites that give a delivery proce or a fitted price.

Good luck,

Grant :-)
G Hudson

Thanks Neil

I have been phoning around this morning and Firestone seem to be one of the very few 'known' manufacturers that make the 165 x 15 for ordinary road use - in fact I have not found any others yet. I have been quoted £47.50 + vat each from Specialised Automobile Sevices near here in Macclesfield. Michelins are available in a 'High Speed' version at considerably higher prices.

As an aside, my front dampers were down a bit on fluid level, so I topped them up over the week end. I did not have any noticeable vibration on the way into work today (up to 70mph), so may be, in their depleted state, they exaggerated the problem.

The Bob West route for balancing looks my most likely option once I have fitted new tyres.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve, others on this site have raved about the Khumo 758 as being a very good tire at a decent price. I don't know what availability is like in the UK, but you might want to check them out at http://www.kumhotyre.co.uk
Andy Bounsall

Andy

I have just spoken with my local Kumho dealer. He says that they are not available in 165 x 15. What size do you use?

As I understand it, Kumho 758 is a design (tread) pattern, not a tyre size.

Steve
Steve Gyles

I have had Toyo tires on several different cars and liked them a lot. Didn't know they had a 165/15 until Grant posted. Did a quick search and didn't see anywhere in US to get them but several sites in UK had them. Here is one. http://www.kentcustoms.co.uk/acatalog/15__Toyo_Tyres.php
Jeff Schultz

Steve,

the Kumho website lists the 758 in 165/80/15:

http://www.kumhotyre.co.uk/Tyres/TyreByTyre.html

and

http://www.kumhousa.com/Tire_SizeChart.aspx?id=55

But finding it from a dealer is probably another matter. There is a Kumho Powerstar version of the 758 tyre that I've also seen. There is a "find a local dealer" feature on the website too.

you could also try:

http://www.tyretest.com/pkw_sommerreifen/index.html

for reports on tyre performance, it's an open forum but seems fairly good, and shows the Kumho, Vredstein and Continentals as coming out slightly better than the Firestone and Toyo tyres.


Kind regards,

Grant :-)
G Hudson

Thanks Grant

I will speak with the dealer again in the morning.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve, I have 165R15 Coker Classic white walls on my car. It is the Kumho Power Star 758 that others have commented on. They are apparently available in 165-80-15. Barney mentions them on this page - http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/tires/ti101.htm
Andy Bounsall

I bought 2 sets of Kumho Power Star 758 87T BSW From Treadepot on Jul 11 07. 8 tires at $31.00 = 248.00 + freight $83.44. Total cost to me $331.44. I just checked their website and the dont list them now.
R J Brown

This thread was discussed between 13/02/2009 and 16/02/2009

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