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MG MGB Technical - New Tires?

I'm in the process of buying new tires for my '78 MGB, and most of the local shops are saying that tires that size are no longer produced. Has anyone else come across this? or what tires have you used? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Rob

Any 185/70/14 will fit fine and are everywhere.
carl w french 1

Rob

I got 175/70R14, Dunlop D65 and they have been fine. In June 2000 I paid $89 each installed at a local place called OK Tire & Auto Service - not sure if they are a one-off store or a chain.

Barry
73B
B.J. Quartermaine

Thanks for the quick response guys.
It has 165/70R14 on now, so i wasn't sure if the size change would affect the driving/handling of the car, or cause any clearance problems.
Rob

Rod, You might want to check out www.tirerack.com they have a good selection of 175/185/ 70-14 tires to choose from.
Tony
Tony Shoviak

Go 175/70. You will get better handling and possibly a better ride.
Steve Simmons

I have a set of Bridgestone Potenza's on my 73, best tires i've EVER had on it. In the past have run Pirelli's, BF Goodrich, and Yokohama's. FWIW.
LUVMYMG

LUV, what size and which Potenzas do you have? I agree that virtually no street tire can compare to the overall ride quality of Bridgestone. They do something no other tire manufacturer does. They use a very thick sidewall to stabilize cornering, but with a narrow band of thicker, softer material midway between the tread and the rim. That band reduces road shock and helps absorb the "bumps" without losing lateral ridgidity. Traditional performance tires with consistantly stiff sidewalls promote much faster driver fatigue and translate road shock to the seat with much greater efficiency.
(No, I don't work for Bridgestone.) (Anymore.)
Jeff Schlemmer

Having just gone through this search, perhaps I can be of some help here. 165R14s (i.e. 165/80/14s) are available from Vredenstein (http://www.vredesteinusa.com/) and Michelin (both are available with or without tubes). I'm told that a few tiny Asian companies also make them, but I couldn't locate any distributors for those brands in the USA. As recently as a few years ago, a couple other companies (e.g. Kumho) made 165R14s--but no longer.

The next major concern is price. The Michelin's are super expensive. The cheapest price I found for them was $120 a tire. The Vredesteins a quite a bit cheaper, but still relatively expensive. If you go through Vredenstein USA, the price is $88 per tire including shipping. However, if you call around Vredestein distributors you might be able to find a lower price. I found a place in Denver that wanted $72 per tire including shipping. This might vary based on you location.

Of course, those prices are just for the tires. Then you have to take the tires to a local shop to get them mounted and balanced. I found this option simply too expensive.

Also, the car will handle better with a little bit wider tires. If you opt for another size, the two typical tread widths of choice are 175s and 185s. There are a couple of issues to consider here. The first of which is rolling radius. You want to keep the rolling radius as close to the original size as possible. Considering this 175/75 tires have the closest rolling radius to the 165R14s. 185/70s are also very close. 175/70s are a bit father off in terms of rolling radius. They should fit just fine, but the engine will rev a bit higher, and the odometer will read about 3-4 mph slow. Of course, you might already be used to this since you have 165/70s on it right now (the original size was 165/80).

As for clearance, you shouldn't have a problem with any of the options I've mentioned. There has been some debate these message boards as to whether 185s are really too wide or not. Unless you have wire wheels, they should fit just fine (they should fit even on the wire wheels but they might bulge out a bit).

I personally have 5" wide rostyle rims and I opted for the 175/75 Cooper trendsetter tires. They're not the easiest thing to find, but they're available. I also got a great deal--$279 including tax for 5 tires mounted and balanced. I would say the handling has definitely improved with my new tires (as compared to the 165R14s I had on it). However, some of that may just be due to the fact that the 165s were 15 years old and causing a fair amount of shaking at about 55 mph.

I hope this helps.

Jeremy
1974.5 mgb roadster
photos.yahoo.com/jeremysmgb
J. Palgon

I've been using 185/70's for about 15 years (3 sets) on my mini-lite look-alikes (5.5 rims). They really work well and make the car look more modern.

About 1-1/2 years ago I bought a very nice set of Michelins in this size at Sam's for about $63 each before taxes and mounting.
Richard Smith

I did what Jeremy did. The 175/75 cooper. This tire comes out the closest to original.
Bruce Cunha

Rob, I 've recently fitted Michelin Harmony 185/70/14 to the wire wheels on my 67 B. These are only 41/2" wide but the tires fit great and look great. On a 5" wide wheel they look even better. They are exactly the same rolling dia as the original 165 tires. Handling is superb and ride is even better. Price is around $85 tire.

Andy
Andy Preston

Jeff, they are either 185/70 or 185/65's, don't really remember and the car is at the paint shop or i'd run out and look for you.
LUVMYMG

This thread was discussed between 08/06/2005 and 11/06/2005

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