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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - tire experience anyone?

I have a 1967 Sprite that I have now purchased Pannasport 13x5 wheels for with the correct 20mm offset. Currently the car has been working fine without rear tire rub on 165-80Rx13 tires. I would rather use the same since the speedo is correctly calibrated and I believe anything wider would be an interference problem. The only tires I can find readily are Kuhmos at about $56 and Vredesteins at about $95. Anybody know of any other options. I don't mind spending a bit more for a better quality performing tire. Does anyone have any experience with the Vredesteins in 165 or 155?
Brett
BEW Brett Wright

Brett,

I had some trouble getting 165/80/13 tyres here in the UK for my Lotus. There aren't that many suppliers as it's no longer a popular size.

In the end I bought some Goodyear Duragrip which I'm quite happy with

Simon
SA Wood

Should have added:- I have heard of other Lotus owners speaking well of the Vredesteins

Simon
SA Wood

I have Vredestein snowtrac in that size. I use them summer and winter.They were recommended by a rally driver, they are the best I ever had.
Flip Brühl

X2 Flip and Simon. When my Mum had her Subaru four wheel drive estate (station wagon) I bought a set of spare wheels at a farm sale and fitted Vredesteins as winter tyres. They ended up as year-round tyres for it and they were bloody good boots.
Later when I bought her a little Fiat that she took a fancy to it had knackered tyres and I again fitted Vredesteins. They were very popular and well recommended locally in North East Scotland, where they were locally called "Freddies".
Since then I had them on my old Mitsubishi Shogun among other things and I have always thought the Freddies were good tyres and very good value for money. They tend to look a bit chunky and industrial, but in my experience they work well.
Greybeard

Flip,
Are your Vredesteins 165's or 155's
Brett
bew wright

I have 155. They hold very good in cornering, on tarmac as well off road. Wet and dry. Much better than the Michelins I had before. They were better in a straight line and more comfortable. The Vredestein don't wear so much I do have them > 30.000 km of sometimes really fast driving. They need 0,2 atm more air pressure than the Michelins.
Flip Brühl

Just be aware that a make, and a tyre size doesn't define a specific tyre. Even a name or number isn't necessarily definitive as the compounds can be "dialled in" on the production line giving slightly different performance and this is done regularly for different markets around the world.

Road surface temperatures makes a lot of difference to both grip and wear and the tyre compounds selected for a particular market take account of this. The main benefit achieved for winter tyres in the UK is by the compound mix, chosen to work on lower temperature surfaces, rather than by the tread pattern. So they work well on cooler tarmac, not just on ice and snow. Probably why winter "Freddies" perform well in Scotland throughout the year.
Guy W

The big question is what type of vredesteins are we talking about?
Just the list that I have used.
T-track
Snow track
Quatrack
Classic

My advise would be accept all but the classic.
The classic was oval not verry grippy but looked good.
The others exelent for their specific use
T-track: is a good summer road tire
Snow track: the name says it all superb in the snow (you will be able to pull suv's over snow banks with an MGB GT) but in the summer they are a bit elastic where they move a bit to mutch on the blocks of thread.
Quatrack: best of both worlds realy good al year round tire, my wife's GT is on them now and as soon as my t-tracks wear out the midget will get them too
Onno K

I use snowtrack 2, I see they sell snowtrac 5 now, a totally different tyre.
Flip Brühl

This thread was discussed between 31/07/2015 and 02/08/2015

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