What brand and size tires are you putting on your "Wires"

The local goodyear store dosen't seem to want to touch them.

Want to know what every body is doing with tires these days.

Thanks
Pete

Whatever you put on it you are going to want to maintain a tire diameter of 24". That keeps the car geared to factory specs and the speedo close to true.

Go to Tire Rack and search for 14 inch tires between 165 and 195 in width. As they increase in width the aspect ratio has to decrease to stay at the desired 24 inch diameter. Tire Rack usually lists the overall diameter. What wheels do you have? Stock?

185/70-14.

I'm looking for band names too. The Goodyear guy said they don't have any tire that should be put on wire wheels??

Make sure the have the correct equipment to balance the tires or can balance them on the car.

http://www.mossmotors.com/graphics/products/PDF/980-222.pdf

Also, rim liners or 20 mil PVC tape, inner tubes and talcum powder so that the tubes won't bind.

I'm still deciding.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?customSizeSearch=&width=185%2F&ratio=70&diameter=14

I put on some really excellent Dunlop Sport 200E 175 70, less diameter than 185 but good if you have overdrive...keep to speed limits better in top, overdrive when on freeway etc.
Theses are a really good modern high performance silica tyre....as good as I could get on 14 in rims.
Plus fairly traditional tread and sidewall.
Coninental also had a very good tyre in the range, but they were dearer and Dunlop seemed good for an MG.
Any better tyre was lower ratio, so needed 15 in rims
Patrick

FWIW - when I was searching for oversized tires for my Disco, I was suggested this site, and it helped me immensely. Nice to visually compare and also for speedo correction...

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Vrederstein still provides original non profiled tires in the Classic Sprint & Sprint + models. I have the 175R14 Sprint + mounted on my Dayton Chrome wires; no tubes!

http://www.tiresunlimited.com/vred_tires.htm

I put on Kumho 185/70-14. The car had 5 different tires from the previous owner, and two sizes. The one Kumho was basically new, so I bought 3 more from the internet. Had the local British Car Service mount and balance them, adding the necessary tubes. Given the choice, had one tire not been so new, I would likely have opted for Michelin.

Repeat the comment from another, most all of the tire stores you willfind these days cannot mount/dismount tires on a wire wheel, the equipment will damage the wheel. Few can balance either, as the cone that clamps the wheel goes into the hub,which is not necessariy trued, and you need one that goes over like the knockoff does.

It has been mentioned on the site here, that you could make an adapter for them from a used hub and knockoff.

Mounted Michelin tyres on Dayton wire wheels, without tubes. When I was doing research, I did read that Michelins would hold their shape very well, even when standing still for longer periods.

So far, so good.

Eric

Michelin P175/70R14's with tubes. From Tire rack.

Aww Pete I'm sorry you're having that hassle ... my local Goodyear store's machinery accomodated 1 of my wires just fine (just 1 tire removed).

I went with Pirelli P4, 185/70 x 14, and used the existing Michelin innertubes 'cos they were still good and TWICE as thick as the Chinese crap Moss sent me (and took back.) These tires are SUPERB!! Found them on line at Discount Tire Direct for same price as Chinese knockoffs - $280 the set INC shipping >:D<

I entrusted my local vintage car shop (pic 1) with the R&R - I think I did a thread about the 2 week production to go from old tires to new. If I can find it I'll post the link - hope I never gotta go thru that s**t again.

PS with these 185/70's I get 68MPH (GPS) at 3000RPM (overdrive) - what a pleasure on the hiway :)

I have just ordered a set of 165HR14 Michelin XAS, diameter 626mm / 24.6 inches, plus new tubes and rim tape to replace the existing tyres which are 24 years old, hardend and have lost any real grip.

I have 175x70x14" Yokohama Avid 4. Mounted on 4.5" wires(5 for $400). Your car came with 155x80x14" most likely.

Balancing! Modern tire machines come with the adapters to do our wires, however, idiots throw them away at the tire shops when they never use them.

Be sure to go to the tire mfgs. web sites and read specs. They tell you what are necessary wheel sizes and outside tire diameters. Tire rack has these specs.

Your Goodyear guy was too lazy to help you. He told you to take your business elsewhere.

We have several places in Dayton where they provide customer service.

Thanks for all of the great input. In the mix for me is that my wife is an engineer at Goodyear, so that's why I'm a little hung up with the Goodyear Store. I think I'll try another one to see if they are a little more enthusiastic. Dunlop lives in the Goodyear family.

I have GOODYEAR ASSURANCE tires on my wire wheels. I have been happy with them.

Thanks for all of the good info. Gary, did you have your "Goodyears" mounted at a "Goodyear" store? I think I'm leaning towards the Dunlops. My current tires are 26 year old Michelins 185/70/14's. I HAVE to replace them though they still look good.

Thanks again,
Pete

most tire shops wont touch knock offs, unless you bring them as a loose. i work at Americas tire co and i was told we cant cause we cant torque a knock off, understandably so, but i have 195-70R14 pireli P4 with tubes, and make sure you have tape or something over the spokes on the inside so you dont rub your tube raw.

Pete,

When I bought my car 3 months ago it was fitted with Dunlop Grand Prix P175/SR75-14's. I find that the speedo is pretty well spot on (using a GPS unit to check). Also I am running 32 psi in the tyres.

All the best mate.

Andy

Dunlop SPs 185X70X14 on Dunlap wires. They have a larger than stock road patch and are heavier turning at very slow speeds, but otherwise seem to be great tires. My Goodyear dealer here (CT) carries Dunlops.

Time for the curmudgeon to chip in.

Been there done that.

I don't recomend 185/70 -14 tires on the original 4.5" wire wheels.

It's too much tire causing wobbly side walls and imprecise handling.

I've done it, it's cheap and you won't really get into any trouble. I'm just not recomending it.


185/70-14 tires really need a 5.5" wheel to work properly, that's why I ended up spending stuupid money upgrading my wire wheels. The extra inch of wheel width makes a huge difference to handling precision.

On my GT with stock 4.5" wheels, I'm again going to spend stuupid money to order a set of Vredstein 165-14 tires. I don't want to. I'd rather get cheap 185/70 tires, but there is that much difference.

Attend or ignore. That's just what I've concluded.

Kelvin.

195x60-15 (MGC)

Previous owner had 185/70-14 Lee Tires. It's ok until it rains, then it's Holiday-On-Ice.
Next set will be Kumhos from Tire Rack.

Dunlop 175/70 14 on Dayton tubeless rims. Tim

Just put new 185/70 tires on my wire wheels, they did balance them and the car doesn't shake anymore. They are great, along with the front end rebuild its like a new car.

I just spent as Kelvin calls it "stupid amounts of money" getting Dayton 15X7 center-laced 72 spoke wires to replace my Dunlop 15 X 4.5 60 spoke wires. I've mounted Kumho ECSTAS 4X 205 X R55 15s (they have the 24" diameter). Have not had a chance to drive the B yet. Still doing body and paint work with winter finally set in and stopping all serious activity. Which is why I didn't list what tires I have in the first go around. I simply don't know what they are like on the road. I got the tires from Tire Rack and had my local Tires Plus do the installation and balance for 100. They were able to do it without having weights on the outside rim, not problem. I did take Dayton's balancing instruction sheet with me and they followed it to the letter (the weights needed on these rims and tires were minimal, under an ounce, I assume due to the quality of their construction.)

When I got the B in 2005 it had the 15" Dunlops and four antique mismatched tires which promptly shredded about the second time I went down the street, tearing up the left rear fender well. Since I knew my plan for the car, I bought some used but serviceable 185s, but never pressed them into turns since I didn't want the wheels to collapse and every bushing needed replacing. The car went up on jack stands shortly thereafter and has been there ever since.

The 185/70's looked perfect but driving the car with this combination was a real step back. Changed to 175/70's and it feels perfect.
I think the rim with of 4.5" is the limiting factor and the 185/70's are to wide to show their advantages on a 14x4.5" wire wheel while the 175/70's seems to be spot on.

We have Uniroyal 175/70 14's that I bought at Walmart but I had to take them to a local independent store (who couldn't get that size) to have them mounted with new tubes.