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MG MGB Technical - Tires-Wire Wheels

I recently bought a 77 MGB with wire wheels --the tires have been flatspotted and need to be replaced (wicked vibration about 30 mph). The tires are presenly 175/70SR14 with tubes --- the owner's manual recommends 165R14. Any ideas on where on cpould obtain tires and tubes of original size?
David23

MGB with wire wheels
http://hem.passagen.se/larsragnar/
page MGB
Ingemar

Having just gone through this search, perhaps I can be of some help here. 165R14s are available from Vredenstein (http://www.vredesteinusa.com/) and Michelin (both are available with 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, there are only a few tire options that will fit your wire wheels: 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 the feel of the 175/70s since they're what you have on it now.

There's also been much debate on these message boards as to whether 185s are really too wide for the wire wheels or not. They should fit, but apparantely they bulge out a bunch.

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). Hoever, 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

Kelly Tire make a very adequate 175 70R /14...steel belted radial which can be tubed. I just bought a set for $250.00 (for 5) installed and balanced.
Colin Stafford

This thread was discussed on 22/05/2005

MG MGB Technical index

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