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MG MGA - Tyre Size and Availability
| I need to replace my tyres due to age (13 years old). My current ones are Hankook 165R/15 86T. I have been looking through the archives for guidance on a good make (available in the UK) and the recommendations from you all vary enormously, both on make and tyre size. Michelin appears popular, but I am having trouble locating a supplier, although I did see that Vintage Tyres were quoting £97 + vat for their 165SR-15 XZX. Seemed a bit pricey, or is this the norm nowadays? Any guidance on Manufacturer, supplier and tyre size would be most welcome. Cheers Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
| Steve, Kumho makes the PowerStar 758 in 165/80R15 size. They have a very good reputation for being a decent tire at an affordable price. I'd imagine they should be available on your side of the pond as well. |
| Andy Bounsall |
| Hi Steve, I'm running with Firestone (F-560) 165's. Good tread, quiet, good grip. I see they are £45 with citytire.co.uk, but you then have postage & fitting etc. on top. Try Blackcircle.co or any local tyre shop. regards Colin |
| C Manley |
| Steve, kwik-fit.com don't have anything suitable. try http://www.national.co.uk/order_tyres.asp Many tyre places now have the search feature which is handy. I was fussy and did not want taxi "hard" tyres, so managed to squeeze 175 tyres onto my 4" rims. this opened up the choice of available tyres massively. Good luck. Mark |
| Mark Hester |
| I've heard good reports on Vredestein tyres and they carry the 165R15 in their classic series but they're probably fairly expensive like the Michelins. Worth a try to find though. |
| Bill Young |
| Steve, I am using Firestone F-560 165 R15. Had no problem ordering these from my local supplier at around £50 each. They are a good looking tyre and suit the car and have had no problem with performance. Phil Parmenter |
| P Parmenter |
| Steve, Kumho makes the PowerStar 758 in 165/80R15 size. They have a very good reputation for being a decent tire at an affordable price. I would imagine they'd be available on your side of the pond. |
| Andy Bounsall |
| I got a set of Firestone (Firehawk I think) from the internet at about £35 each. I located a local fitter at about £5 a tyre but in the end I fit them myself. Seem to recall I had to try a few places for the correct valves as the first ones I picked were too sloppy. Mike |
| m.j. moore |
| The last I heard, Michelin no longer makes the XZX. I have a set on one of my cars that I bought from a friend. A couple years back he called all over the US and rounded up the last 5 sets he could find. Even these tires have a pretty old date code. I've also got a set of TIGAR-PIROT tires (Yugosolvian made Michelins) that were on a roadster I bought a couple years ago. No idea where they came from. I'm gonna need some new tires next year...the last time I checked the Tire Rack site they didn't have one listing for 165 X 15. Hmmmmmmmnn.... GTF |
| G T Foster |
| I spent a while searching the net a couple of weeks ago and came up with the same as you, Steve, for Michelins and Colin for the Firestones. (£175.40 for four delivered) http://www.camskill.co.uk/order.php I quite fancy these: http://www.northhantstyres.com/main%20tyre%20pages/B.F.G/1658015bfgwsw.htm But a bit too expensive at £132 + VAT (almost double the US price)! I found the Kuhmo Powerstar 758 in other sizes (for my Jag) but not 165/80R15, always out of stock. Also they are more expensive than the Firestones. |
| Neil McGurk |
| Yokohama (C Drives) tyres are popular in Australia for MGAs when people eventually get around to replacing their 20 year old Michelin XZXs! Mike |
| Mike Ellsmore |
| Steve I have just fitted Vredestein Classic Tyres to My Wires I fitted the 155R15 but they make 165s as well The Price was considerably cheaper than Michelin. The new Tyres seem to perform better than the Old Michelins I bought mine from SC parts complete with the Dunlop Tubeless wire wheels.As far as I could tell my old Michelins were some 15 years old and although with still a lot of tread I was somewhat wary of their reliability! Paul |
| P D Camp |
| Thank you for your comments so far. Most useful. Paul was the first to mention 155 tyres instead of 165. I noticed that Dominic also recommended 155 in an archive thread. What is the advantage, if any of this size? Does the thinner tyre size look ok on the car? Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
| Just been talking with an apparently very knowledgeable classic tyre dealer over on South Yorkshire. I asked him about the Firestone F560 and he does not like them. He says that Firestone have farmed out manufacture of this tyre to another company and the latest batch is not that good and scuffs a lot. His favourite is the Michelin 165HR15 XAS. Although pricey at £149 he says that the profile is ideal for the MGA. The tyre was designed specifically for the MGA-type sports cars in the mid 60s. It has asymmetric tread and a rounded profile giving light steering, excellent handling both in the straight line and in cornering. He said it is worth the extra cost in the long term. I am tempted. Comments? Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
| Steve. As engineering Manager for Bridgestone (who own Firestone Brand) I can say that we do not farm out this tyre. It is still produced by us in our French factory. We do have some older tyres that are sourced from our South America factories directly by the classic tyre companies but F560 in 165R15 is not one of them. If you go to a First Stop dealer then they should be able to supply these. I see there have been sales of this product in this year in UK so they have it in their line-up. If you have an issue then let me know. Cheers. Neil |
| Neil Purves |
| Neil, Well done for putting the record straight. Steve, I have had no scuffing with the Firestones, and with, decent air pressure, steering is not excessively hard (it's harder than a modern PAS car obvioulsy). My tracking is all ok, could be that others aren't, hence the claimed scuffing. That, or the dealer could be pushing his own vested intetests i.e £150 v's £50ea. regards Colin |
| C Manley |
| Steve, Found a photo to show the 165 on original rim. regards Colin  |
| C Manley |
| Thanks Neil, all good stuff. He indicated that it was now being made in a different facility outside Europe. I presumed another company but could be a Firestone facility? The guy is in your trade. He got the story from somewhere! No smoke without fire and all that.... He is also a classic car owner and we had an interesting chat. I was not under the impression that he was pushing the Michelin just because it meant more profit. He was seriously into tyre handling aspects and longevity. Just the messenger here trying to source a decent tyre. Cheers Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
I have found no problems with the Firestones.
 |
| Dave Swinburne |
| Hi Steve. Just checked again, they are for sure made in our Factory in Bethune, France and we have manufacturing 3-4 times per year to support current sales volume. In terms of performance F560 is okay but do not wear fast enough!! Mine are now about to be changed as they are 10 years old and still have 5-6mm tread remaining!! For safety reasons we always say that 10 years is the limit and I have to admit that they are now "interesting" when cornering in the wet. I intend to do a rough instrumented braking test on the old and new tyres in the wet to observe the difference (one of the perks of the job!!). The order code (IPC) for the tyre is 24120. The tyre dealer should be able to order this code from Bridgestone UK. If you want any more info then let me know. Neil |
| Neil Purves |
| Unfortunately there are no performance tires available in anywhere near stock sizes, although as others have pointed out, there is some touring stuff out there. If you want good tires you'll have to go to 185 x 65 - 15, which is too bad as the now unavailable 185 x 70 were perfect. And you'd need wider rims to really make them work - 5.5" does it. |
| Bill Spohn |
| Steve I fitted the 155 for two reasons- The Michelins were on my car and looked "right" and reading the archives 155 was the nearest size to the original tyres. The Vredensteins look right and seem to perform well with good adhesion in the wet & dry-regarding wear rates only time will tell ! Paul |
| P D Camp |
| This spring I replaced the Kumho Powerstar 758 165/80 tyres on my“63 MGB with Vredestein Sprint Classic tyres in the same size, and that was a great improvement. May be unfair to the Kumhos, as they were six years old, but I really like the Vredesteins. They look good, too. Tore |
| Tore |
| I had the Michelin 155R15 but they were finally 10 years old and were swapped out for Firestone 165R15 about 2 years ago. The new tyres were (logically) a big handling improvement on the 10 year old michelins. I don't think I'll wait that long before changing them again. There was plenty f tread on the Michelins, so I have resolved to do more to wear out the Firestones faster ;-) I can't remember where I bought the Firestones, but suspect it was online as the local dealers here are of the "markup 100%" variety, and on my daily driver I do the same. Must order some winter tyres now I think about it..... |
| dominic clancy |
| Last summer I replaced the Kumho Powerstar 758 165/80 tires on my '58 MGA with Kumho Powerstar 758 165/80 tyres, and that was a great improvement. No typo here, same model tires again. When tires age the rubber compound gets harder resulting in significant reduction of grip, especially on wet roads. Older tires may squeal and slip easily. New tires of the same model will have much better grip and may squeal very little. Having gone through several sets of street tires (and several sets of competition tires) in the past 230,000 miles, I am particularly fond of the Kuhmo tires. Not only are they very good value for the money, but also hard to beat for performance (short of installing race tires of course). |
| Barney Gaylord |
| What Barney says reminds me that I had the same experience when I replaced the six years old Michelins on my everyday Citroen with new, identical Michelins. May be the age of the tyres is more important than the brand. It seems six years is about the maximum age for good grip in the wet. Having said that, the steering is lighter with the Vredesteins than it ever was with the Kumhos. But heavy steering is of course an MGB problem, not so relevant for MGAs. |
| Tore |
| Just spoken with Bob West. He knows the tyre dealer who recommends the Michelins. He confirms Colin's thoughts that he had a vested interest in the tyre - he is a Michelin main dealer. There was me, nearly suckered in!. Bob keeps Vredesteins in stock and says they are fine. He used a set on a Mille Miglia entry 2 years ago and they performed well. I guess I will go over there this next week and let him fit a set and balance them on his excellent machine. Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
| Greetings all, Amoung all this discussion regarding tyres, can anyone recommend the better of the whitewall style? |
| Robert Maupin |
| Robert, if you mean the wide white walls, there are two that I know of: Bridgestone and Coker Classic. Both are made for and sold by Coker Tires. The Bridgestone tires are slightly more expensive. When I bought mine a couple of years ago, I was told by a fellow at Coker that they are actually the same tire. The extra cost of the Bridgestone tire is because it says Bridgestone on the side wall. |
| Andy Bounsall |
| I also use the Firestones with no problems. |
| John Bray |
| Mike What size are the Yokohama c drives and do they fit the standard rims. Regards Steve. |
| s foster |
| Just to complete my part of the thread. I went to Bob West's today and had a set of Firestone 560s fitted and balanced. A good wheel clean tomorrow morning, then a road test and verdict. I always enjoy the trip over to Pontefract to have a look at Bob's spares and cars. Eat your heart out TC owners, it's all there, you could spend a fortune!! Thanks to James for becoming a Kwik Fit Fitter for an hour. Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
back to the Michelin XAS, AFAIK these tyres where first on the market back in the late seventies, when I got delivery of my BMW 323i in 1981 they where on as standard, very good on the autobahn at 160 and faster (traffic allowed that then), no good in corners, they lasted very long, changed them at about 70 to 8ok km because they where to hard. asymetric profile does nothing on a front suspension and back axle like the MGA/B has. just my 2cts Siggi |
| Siggi |
| Steve, I have Yokohama 195 65 15 on 5.5" rims. Check with Bob Jane Tyres as they stock them. Mike |
| Mike Ellsmore |
| The Firestones feel quite nice and light. First impression very favourable. The wife questioned the green band round the tread. She thought they were 'wets' as per F1! Did she expect me to get slicks? Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
| Hi Steve, my local garage says he can get Firestones for £60 each incl VAT, fitting and balancing - is that a reasonable price compared to yours? cheers Cam |
| Cam Cunningham |
| Cam My bill was £6 less than that and it included new inner tubes. Additionally, your garage will not be able to balance your wires on his standard machine to the standard of Bob's adapted balancer. You will be disappointed. I believe it has something to do with the chamfered rear face of the spoked hub. Very difficult to accurately centralise on a standard balancer. Bob has adapted his machine with an installed MGA splined hub, so that the wheel is absolutely spot on when spun up. Worth a drive over to Pontefract. Have a look at his spares and cars while you wait. You will be left drooling. Steve  |
| Steve Gyles |
| Thanks Steve - saving £6 a tyre would pay for the petrol - which way did you go? - cheers Cam |
| Cam Cunningham |
| Cam Sorry, I have confused you. It was £6 on the total bill!!! Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
| Steve. Just to put your wife right, the colour stripes on the tyre are identifiers for the factory to ensure the right tread material goes to the right casing. Glad to see you went with F560, let me know if you have any issues or comments as you use it. Neil |
| Neil Purves |
| Thanks Neil, but you have confused me. The green band on mine (nearly worn off now) looks like an added extra that was painted on the middle of the tread with the tyre spinning (a la potters wheel). Can you explain the process in more detail? Nice new smell of new rubber in the garage to mix with the burnt engine oil and old leather; something you cannot replicate in new cars. Even though we rebuild them to new, they still generate those lovely old aromas. Perhaps there is a business opportunity marketing old motoring smells aerosols! Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
| Steve, there must be money in "aroma therapy", as I remember a German guy was selling air fresheners that smelled of Trabants and two-stroke as all the former East Germans wanted the nostalgic smell of home. cheers, Grant |
| G Hudson |
| Hi Steve. The tread rubber is manufactured on an extruder with a die that creates a long strip. The strip is marked in special paint which is applied in a constant stream onto the passing strip of rubber. The strip is then cut into lengths to fit the tyre and the strips moved to the tyre building machine. At the building machine the operator matches the colour lines to the tyre he is building and fixes to the casing to create the "green" tyre. The tyre is then put into a mold where it is vulcanised under heat and pressure. At this stage the mold gives the pattern and sidewall markings to the tyre. The colour lines remain on the tyre during this stage and are visible on the tyre for at least the first few days of use. A bit of usage will however see them dissappear. Neil |
| Neil Purves |
This thread was discussed between 22/10/2009 and 04/11/2009
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