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MG MGA - Selecting tyres for an MGA

What do you look for when selecting tyres for your MGA - besides size and price - speed rating, wear rating, noise rating, load rating, etc?
Should we look out for a certain durometer number as a guide to stickiness? Are silica compound tyres better? Should there be kevlar in the construction?

Any comment on Goodyear NCT5 tyres?

Mike
Mike Ellsmore

I installed a new set of Firestones at the end of this summer. Seem fine, and compare well to the Michelin XZX that they replaced.
dominic clancy

Mike, are you racing this car or just driving it? It's so hard to find tires to fit an MGA that is's almost a case of "beggars can't be choosers." My car originally came with whitewalls, and I wanted to restore it to look as original as possible. I found that I really had only one option, BF Goodrich Silvertown radials (made under license by Michelin).

Pictures here:

http://tildebang.com/mg/index11.html
David Breneman

Mike, are you looking for radials or Bias ply as origional? There are a couple of web sites you may want to visit with reasonable prices and several selections available. British wire wheel is one (britishwirewheel.com). They offer Vredestein Radial tires in several sizes and configurations for the MGA. Also you can get Bias ply tires in wide white walls from Coker Tire (cokertire.com. I have them on my 61A and they look great, although they handle and ride like a bias ply. Hope this helps..Norm

Pictures of My "A" w/ Coker wide whitewall tires

J Dick

Thanks David and Norm,
I am looking for a radial to go on 5.5" 60 spoke wire wheels - 195 55 15 size. Mostly for general touring but some club competition - hillclimb, motorkhana, sprints.
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

David, where did you get the wide white wall radials? I would like to get those for driving and keep the bias plys for show.
J Dick

Wide w/w radials are available from Coker Tire. They carry 2 brands in 165R15 - BF Goodrich Silvertown, and their own Coker Classic. When I bought my Coker Classics last summer, they told me that both tires were essentially the same except for (i) the tread patterns are a bit different, (ii) the name on the sidewall.
Andy Bounsall

Ooops! Meant to attach a photo of my car with the Coker Classic w/w's on the previous post. Here it is.


Andy Bounsall

Mike, using the size you mentioned you won't have too many choices between compounds. That size is primararly a performance type tire and the compounds used in most of these from any manufacturer will be pretty much the same and will give similar performance. My personal preference is for a little more sidewall with a 70 or 75 series at about a 185 section width. I really like the look of the Vredestein Sprint Classic. I think they look more like the period performance tires originally used on cars of this era. The general thought is that these are a good all around tire with good wet and dry performance and reasonable tread wear. They have an H speed rating which is more than adequate for most MGAs. http://www.vredestein.com/Banden_Bandtypes.asp?UsersessionID=86186945&BandgroepID=5&BandtypeID=17


Bill Young

Good question Mike - I've been contemplating new tyres on mine for a while - they are over 12 years old now so may succumb to old age before wear. They are Continental with a thin white stripe around them - would love to replace them with the same - any one any idea if they are still available in Europe? The Vredesteins look good as well Bill.
Cam Cunningham

I'm in the same boat, got two sets of full tread tyres - Michelin XZX over 15 years old on my driver and Dunlops over 20 years old on my rebuild.

I am also interested in the white line tyres (same style as the cover car on Clausagers book). I have even been contemplating the tyre trims sold by Moss and others.

Has anyone tried these or does anyone know of a source of whiteline tyres.

Longstone Tyres has the BF Goodrich W/W, but they are are over 250 USD each.

Neil
Neil McGurk

Hi, J -

I got them trough my local Discount Tire outlet. (It's a chain which goes by several names around the country.) Discount ordered them through Coker. I had to wait about 4 months to get them because Michelin only tools up for them when they have enough orders to make it worth while. I can feel the wheels flexing a little when I push it hard enough to make them squeal, but I usually drive the car conservatively enough that I've never had cause to worry about "radials destroying the wire wheels."

The manager at Discount Tire told me that the Coker tires are much more inferior than the ~$10 difference in price would suggest (and they get the same commission on whichever they order). I decided to go with the name brand - I don't want to risk the car for fifty bucks.
At the 35-PSI that Michelin reccommends, you really can't tell the difference between radial and bias ply from the "radial bulge" famous in the 1960s.

David Breneman

> The manager at Discount Tire told me that the Coker tires are much more inferior than the ~$10 difference in price would suggest...

That's interesting David. The fellow I spoke to at Coker told me that both tires are made at the same factory and are, as I said earlier, essentially the same tire. He said the extra $10 per tire was purely for the name on the sidewall. Not trying to start anything, just pointing out the other side of the story.
Andy Bounsall

Personally I am not a fan of the white wall tires. I prefer the look of black wall tires. I even chose to mount the raised white letters to the inside on all my cars. I would not buy a bias ply tire to drive as they are an inferior tire at a inflated price.
I bought 165/80R15 Kumho Power Star 758 tires for my coupe and MK11. They were $31.00 each plus shipping from Treadepot.com last July. $331.44 total for 8 tires.
To buy a set of bias ply white walls for a show car makes perfect sense. For a car meant to be driven the old car specialty tire are just too expensive. IMHO.

R J Brown

I have Firestone radials and I thought they were wearing rather quickly - they are down to below 50%. I've just dug out the receipt however and its dated May 2000. I think there is something wrong with years nowadays, they don't last as long as they used to.

The tyres look like they should last about 50-60,000 miles. The previous Michelins just didn't seem to wear at all. There was still plenty of tread when I took them off but I was concerned as to how old they might be, they were on when I got the car, and there seemed to be some micro cracks in the sidewalls.
Malcolm Asquith

I hit the throttle a smidge early coming out of a damp corner this morning and felt the back end go (what a fantastic feeling being on the edge with the icy blast of a North England gale hitting you in the back of the neck). It corrected ok and I felt in control - just. But it must have caused some concern for the cars coming the other way. So my contribution to this thread is that what ever tyre you go for (mine are Hankooks) the most important factor is to learn the boundaries (limits) of your tyres in both the dry & wet and to adjust your driving technique accordingly.

Amen

Steve
Steve Gyles

Hi, Andy - It's interesting that we got different stories from different sources. I bought mine five years ago, so the situation at Coker may have changed since then. I was told that Coker made their own branded tires, and sice they were a small operation quality control frequently suffered. They may now be sourcing their manufacture out to Michelin (who makes Goodrich tires now) or another major manufacturer.

As for RJ's comment about whitewall tires, I would not have put them on my car if it hadn't come with them originally from the factory. They were certainly an American taste that Europe did not share. But it was the 50s and, hey, style was king. When I got them I thought I'd have just about the only MG with whitewall tires, but they seem to be having a sort of rennaisance. I'm seeing them more and more often within the last few years. I think they look really good with the Glacier Blue paint, which is a color that just screams "1950s". I don't think they;d look as good with some of the more traditional colors.

The car in this picture is supposed to be Glacier Blue, unfortunately the scan makes it look green:



David Breneman

This thread was discussed between 15/01/2008 and 26/01/2008

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